Ashby Gap

Infobox Mountain Pass
Name = Ashby's Gap
Photo = Ashbys_gap.png|thumb|right|300px Caption = The view west into Ashby's Gap (2007)
Elevation = 1100 ft./335 m.
Location = Virginia USA
Range = Blue Ridge Mountains
Coordinates =
Topographic

Transversed by =

Ashby Gap, more commonly known as Ashby's Gap is a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountain on the border of Clarke County and Fauquier County in Virginia. The gap is traversed by U.S. Route 50. The Appalachian trail also passes across the gap.

Geography

At 1100 ft (335 m) the gap is 500 ft below the adjacent ridge line to the north, and 700 ft above the Shenandoah River, which runs north, west of the gap. The gap is also just south of the border between Fauquier County and Loudoun County. To the west lies Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley and to the east lies Virginia'sPiedmont region. Just south of this gap is Sky Meadows State Park.

History

The earliest known use of the gap was as part of a trail of the Native Americans. Upon European colonization, the gap was first referred to as the "Upper Thoroughfare of the Blue Ridge". It was later named "Ashby's Bent" when Thomas Ashby received lands along Goose Creek, and settled Paris, Virginia at the eastern entrance to the gap (shown in photo). Later it came to be called Ashby's Gap, and eventually became the crossing of the Blue Ridge for Millwood Pike, which is modern U.S. Route 50.

Importance during American Civil War

During the American Civil War, Ashby's Gap was often used by the Confederate Army and Union Army in the several Shenandoah Valley campaigns. The nearby ridgetop was used by the Signal Corps.

In July of 1861 Confederate General Thomas Jackson lead his troops through Ashby's Gap on his way from Winchester to Piedmont Station (present day Deleplane) where they boarded railcars on the Manassas Gap Railroad and were taken to Manassas Junction where the First Battle of Manassas was underway. This marked the first usage of railroads for strategic use in a war.

In June 1863, Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry held this gap to prevent Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker from interfering with Robert E. Lee's army as it marched north toward Pennsylvania in the Gettysburg Campaign.

ee also

* U.S. Route 50 in Virginia for additional historical information.