DK - The American Civil War

THE VALLEY CAMPAIGN

With Sheridan’s triumph at Cedar

Creek, the guns began to fall silent on

one of the most significant battlegrounds

of the war.

THE VALLEY REDEEMED

Having been disputed for nearly three years,

the Shenandoah Valley, cleared of Confederate

armies and ravaged agriculturally, ceased to

be of strategic importance. Union military

activity was largely relegated to chasing partisans

and the ever-elusive Confederate guerilla leader,

John Singleton Mosby, and his men.

CAMPAIGNS MILITARY AND POLITICAL

Sheridan’s victories at Winchester, Fisher’s

Hill, and Cedar Creek, coming on the heels

of Farragut’s triumph at Mobile Bay

286–87 ❯❯ and Sherman’s capture of Atlanta

292–93 ❯❯, bolstered President Lincoln’s

chances for re-election 236–37 ❯❯.

TWILIGHT OF AN ARMY

After Cedar Creek, Early’s demoralized divisions

regrouped and lingered through the winter

of 1864–65 near Staunton, at the headwaters

of the Shenandoah River. On March 2, 1865, at

the Battle of Waynesboro, Sheridan defeated

“Old Jube” for the last time, capturing 1,600

men and 11 guns, almost all that was left of the

Confederate Army of the Valley.

AFTER

Armstrong Custer’s jeering horsemen
nicknamed the galloping stampede the
“Woodstock Races” as the Confederates
retreated for more than 20 miles (32km).

The Battle of Cedar Creek
Secure in his control of the lower
valley, and believing Early’s divisions to
have withdrawn, Sheridan departed for
Washington. But Early was closer than

Arrogant and acerbic, rumpled and

careless of appearance, Early was a

graduate of West Point who had quit the

Army to become a country lawyer. With

the outbreak of the Civil War, the native

Virginian returned to uniform as an

outstanding Confederate brigade and

divisional commander, seeing action at

First and Second Bull Run, Antietam,

Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and other

major battles. Lee called him “my bad

old man” for his profanity, but prized his

craftiness, resolve, and fearlessness.

Custer torching the Valley

War artist Alfred Waud sketched General

George Custer’s division retiring from the

Mount Jackson area on October 7, 1864,

burning agricultural resources along the way.

The Battle of Fisher’s Hill

A period Currier & Ives lithograph depicts the moment

when Federal cavalry drove Confederates from their

entrenchments during the Battle of Fisher’s Hill,

September 22, 1864.

Sheridan realized, and had lost none of

his audacity. Though outnumbered four

to one, he still hoped to prevent

Sheridan from reinforcing Grant, and

planned a surprise attack on the Union

army encamped behind Cedar Creek,

12 miles (19km) south of Winchester.

On the night of October 18, as

Sheridan arrived back in Winchester,

Early’s men were hugging a precipitous

mountain trail as they rounded

the lightly picketed Union left

flank. Dawn on the 19th

opened with a Rebel yell and a

thunder of guns. The Union

soldiers were caught literally

in their beds. Thousands fled

to the rear in panic. Wagons,

supplies, some 24 cannons,

and 20 battle flags fell to

Early’s men; but barefoot,

famished, and in rags, most of

them turned aside to plunder,

and Early called off the

pursuit. “This is glory enough

for one day!” he exulted.

Increasingly alarmed,

Sheridan arrived at the scene

to see the shambles of his

army pouring rearward.

Ordering up fresh troops

from Winchester, Sheridan

rode along the wagon-

thronged Valley Pike,

cursing, cajoling, coaxing,

and cheering; waving his hat

forward. “Come on back,

boys! Give ‘em hell, God

damn ‘em! We’ll make

coffee out of Cedar Creek

tonight!” Increasing his pace

almost to a gallop, he kept it

up for nearly 12 miles

(19km), roaring

encouragements and

waving his hat, until by

some miracle of inspiration the army

began to steady, then to reform its lines.

By 4:30 p.m., the tide was turning. An

overwhelming wave of bluecoats then

rolled back into its former camps. In the

chaos, the Confederates turned in flight.

As Union cavalry slashed at their flanks,

fleeing soldiers clogged the Valley Pike so

thickly that at one place a small bridge

collapsed. Everything the Confederates

had captured, and more, they now lost,

to the point where Early’s army nearly

ceased to exist. “When we left the field

that evening,” General John B. Gordon

acknowledged, “the Confederacy had

retired from the Shenandoah.”

The number of

bushels of wheat

that were destroyed or seized by Sheridan’s

troops in the valley, along with 77,176

bushels of corn, and 874 barrels of flour.

435,802

CONFEDERATE GENERAL 1816-94

JUBAL ANDERSON EARLY