Two great reputations were made in the valley by men very unlike, Stonewall Jackson and Little Phil Sheridan.

In the earlier years of the war the Union armies had suffered many disasters there at the hands of the leader under the old slouch hat, and now Sheridan was resolved to retrieve everything, not with one victory alone, but with many.
There was firing in the valley all day long, the crackling of the rifles, the thudding of the great guns, and the occasional charge of horsemen.
The curtain of smoke hung nearly always.

Sometimes it grew thicker, and sometimes it became thinner, but Sheridan's mind was not upon these things, they were merely the veil before him, while behind it, as a screen, he arranged the men on his chess board.

When night came his whole line was pushed forward.

His vanguard held the northern part of the little town of Strasburg, while Early's held the southern part, only a few hundred yards away.