Stonewall Jackson and the foot cavalry

During the Civil War, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson used the Blue Ridge Tunnel to shuttle his "foot cavalry" between the Shenandoah Valley and the Piedmont.

Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign relied on rapid troop movements, and the tunnel allowed him to cross the Blue Ridge in hours rather than days. The tunnel's military value to the Confederacy was significant enough that Union forces eventually targeted the Virginia Central line.

Union General George Custer destroyed much of the Virginia Central line in March 1865, in the war's final months, but the tunnel itself survived intact. After the war the line was repaired and continued service under the consolidated Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.