 He was given his old Stonewall Brigade and Brigadier General William W. Loring's Division, which were not fully assembled until Christmas 1861.In the meantime, Jackson assembled all local cavalry forces into a new regiment under the command of Colonel Turner Ashby, and then used Ashby's force to conduct raids destroying sections of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.Jackson soon conceived a grand scheme to retake control of western Virginia (later the state of West Virginia) by conducting a large expedition along the Potomac River valley along the northern boundary of Virginia.