colonelcy of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry.
Sheridan then saw combat in most
of the major encounters in the West:
Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga,
Chattanooga. Grant was so impressed
by his dash at Missionary Ridge in the
victory at Chattanooga that he invited
him east for the coming campaign
against General Lee, appointing him the
Army of the Potomac’s chief of cavalry.
Praise and controversy
To his admirers, Sheridan was “Grant’s
flail,” smashing the Confederates from
Yellow Tavern to the Shenandoah
Valley, which he thoroughly scourged.
The valley was also the scene of his
greatest triumph: his 10-mile (16-km)
ride from Winchester to Cedar Creek,
during which he rallied his demoralized
troops, reeling from a surprise attack,
and turned the tide of battle. On arrival,
he was surrounded by thousands of
cheering men. George Armstrong
Custer raced up, threw his arms around
Sheridan’s neck and, as Frank Burr of
the 2nd Michigan Cavalry put it, “kissed
him in the face of the army. ‘Little Phil’
was the supreme incarnation of war.”
Sheridan’s Ride was commemorated in
a poem of that name, which so delighted
Sheridan that he changed the name of
his black charger, Rienzi, to Winchester.
In April 1865, it was Sheridan who
cut Lee’s final avenue of escape at
Appomattox. “Sheridan’s pursuit of
Lee,” in Grant’s opinion, “was perfect
in its generalship and energy.” Some
officers still resented his success, and
Sheridan, moreover, had his problems
with military authority. In 1862, he
had been arrested on a charge of
insubordination, and three years later
on the battlefield at Five Forks, he
summarily stripped General Gouverneur
K. Warren of his corps command for
reasons later deemed untenable. Yet
Theodore Lyman of George Meade’s
staff spoke for most officers when he
grudgingly admitted, “Sherman is our
first military genius, while Sheridan is
most remarkable as a ‘field fighter,’
when the battle is actually engaged.”
Grant was chief of the many who
envied the field fighter’s battlefield
magnetism. “Gallant Phil” himself,however, merely ascribed it to his
penchant for fighting alongside his
men. At the Battle of Stones River,
where he pulled his division out of the
shattered grove of cedars that they had
defended against repeated Confederate
attacks, while losing a third of their
comrades, Sheridan was bareheaded,
having lost his hat in the melee. After
the battle, his soldiers honored him by
providing him with one of their own.Sheridan was unsparing of himself and
never spared others. He was curt,
sarcastic, and combative even with his
staff, and his picturesque profanity was
legendary. In a rout of Confederate
cavalry at the Battle of Five Forks, he
galloped all over the field, urging his
men on to greater efforts: “Come on;
go at ‘em! They’re all getting ready
to run now!” Even when one soldier
collapsed before him, blood spurtingfrom his neck, Sheridan, declaring he
was not a bit hurt, ordered him to pick
up his gun and get moving.
After the war Sheridan, headstrong
and undiplomatic as ever, continued
to flourish in army life. For years he
was effectively in charge of the Indian
wars in the West, where his opponents
included Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
Even after his marriage at the age of
44, he remained in active service.
From 1871, Sheridan involved himself
in the preservation of the Yellowstone
area. He opposed any development of
the region and to ensure this, ordered
it to be protected by the 1st U.S.
Cavalry, an arrangement that
continued until it was taken over by
the National Park Service in 1916.The highest rank
In 1883, Sheridan was made general-in-
chief of the army. After suffering one of
a series of heart attacks in 1888, he was
promoted to the highest rank—General
of the Army of the United States—
equivalent to a modern four-star general.
He died soon afterward, and was buried
in Arlington National Cemetery.PHILIP SHERIDANTIMELINESHERIDAN WITH HIS FAMILY, 1888Sheridan’s saber
The sword Sheridan carried was an ornate version of the
1840 model cavalry saber, nicknamed the “wristbreaker”
because it was so heavy. The gilded scabbard is engraved
with the names of the battles in which he fought.The Valley Campaign of 1864
This sketch of Sheridan outside his tent shows him
listening intently to a report of the day’s fighting despite
the late hour. As a general, he liked close contact with
his troops and a “headquarters in the saddle.”“He belongs to the very first
rank of soldiers, not only of
our country but of the world.”
ULYSSES S. GRANT ON PHILIP SHERIDAN■ March 6, 1831 Born in Albany, New York, the
third of six children, to Irish immigrants John and
Mary Sheridan; grows up in Somerset, Ohio.
■ June 1853 Graduates from West Point, 34th in
a class of 52, and is commissioned a second
lieutenant in the infantry.
■ March–May 1861 With the advent of war, is
promoted to first lieutenant, then captain. Holds
various staff positions, including quartermaster
general of the Army of Southwest Missour i.
■ May 27, 1862 Arrested for insubordination—
refusing to “steal” horses for the army. Appointed
colonel of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry.
■ July 1, 1862 After the Battle of Booneville, is
promoted to brigadier general.
■ December 31, 1862 Promoted to major
general after the Battle of Stones River.
■ November 25, 1863 Impresses Grant with his
assault on Missionary Ridge.
■ April 5, 1864 Takes command of the Army of
the Potomac’s cavalry corps.
■ May 9–23, 1864 Leads a massive cavalry raid,
battling Jeb Stuart’s troopers at Yellow Tavern,
where Stuart is fatally wounded.
■ June 12, 1864 On a raid to disrupt Confederate
supply lines in western Virginia, is defeated by
General Wade Hampton at Trevilian Station.
■ August 7, 1864 Takes command of the Army of
Shenandoah, charged by Grant with destroying
the Valley’s usefulness as a Confederate granary.
■ October 19, 1864 Gallops from Winchester,
Virginia, to Cedar Creek, to rally his troops—an
episode known as “Sheridan’s Ride.”
■ April 9, 1865 Cuts off Lee’s escape at
Appomattox, forcing the Confederate surrender.
■ March 1867 Appointed governor of the Fifth
Military District, covering Louisiana and Texas, but
is soon removed by President Andrew Johnson
after a clash over Reconstruction policy.
■ August 1867 Appointed chief of the Military
Department of Missouri, responsible for
operations against the Lakota and Cheyenne.
■ March 4, 1869 Promoted to lieutenant general
on Grant’s accession to the presidency.
■ June 3, 1875 Marries Irene Rucker, 22 years his
junior. They have four children.
■ November 1, 1883 Succeeds Sherman as
general of the Army.
■ August 5, 1888 Dies of a heart attack in
Nonquitt, Massachusetts, at the age of 57.