After Confederate general Jubal Early brought thousands of Southern troops to the gates of Washington, General Ulysses S. Grant formed the Union Army of the Shenandoah in August 1864, placing Major General Philip Sheridan in command. The army’s objectives were to destroy Early’s army and wreak havoc on the fertile lands of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, which was deemed the “Breadbasket of the Confederacy.” Grant ordered Sheridan to “take all provisions, forage and stock wanted for the use of your command. Such as cannot be consumed, destroy,” leaving the area so deprived that “crows flying over it . . . will have to carry their provender with them.”