Ashby Gap

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Ashby's Gap
The view west into Ashby's Gap (2007)
Elevation	1100 ft./335 m.
Location	Virginia  United States
Range	Blue Ridge Mountains
Traversed by	U.S. Highway 50

Ashby Gap, more commonly known as Ashby's Gap is a wind gap (or pass) at 1100 feet in the Blue Ridge Mountain of Virginia leading from northeastern Virginia to the lower Shenandoah Valley. Ashby's Gap is the western demarcation point for the border between Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, while the mountain ridge at the gap forms the border between both Loudoun and Fauquier with Clarke County.

[edit] Early use

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

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