Shenandoah Strategy
by Mort Kunstler

Jackson at Glen Burnie, Winchester, VA, Winter 1862

     By January of 1862, Confederate General Thomas ”Stonewall” Jackson had already established a reputation as a tenacious thinker. Both revered and feared for his strategic prowess, Jackson had taken the same studious work ethic that had served him as a teacher at the Virginia Military Institute, and applied it in the field.
     The past year had been filled with both victory and defeat for the general’s beloved Confederacy and the coming year would witness his greatest achievement, later christened the "Valley Campaign.” A brilliant and aggressive tactician, Jackson relied heavily on his maps, which were important implements in his arsenal of weapons. He grew dependent on the mapmaking skills of his talented cartographer, Jedediah Hotchkiss.
     Following the successful New Year's Day Romney Expedition in which Jackson’s men pushed back a concentration of Federal troops and destroyed nearly 100 miles of the B&O railroad tracks while commandeering stores of confiscated supplies, Jackson returned to his temporary home in Winchester, Virginia.
     Although his winter headquarters were located at the Graham house, Jackson sometimes stopped at Glen Burnie, home of the prestigious Wood and Glass families. This estate was constructed in the late 1700s and served as an encampment for Confederate cavalry and artillery units. The surrounding acreage was fought over during all three battles of Winchester in 1862, 1863 and 1864. Jackson and his wife also visited the Glen Burnie grounds on occasion during January of 1862.