216 The American Civil Warat supply depots as far north as the Potomac
river. Early's energetic deployments
convinced Sheridan that he faced far more
enemy strength than actually existed. Finally,
on 19 September, Sheridan hurled two corps
through a narrow canyon east of Winchester
and brought Early to pitched battle.
In bitter fighting that swirled across fields
and woodlots between Red Bud Run and
Abraham's Creek, exploding shells took a
steep toll among ranking officers. Federal
General David A. Russell, an accomplished
brigade commander who had graduated from
West Point and served in the ante bellum
army, fell instantly dead when a shell
fragment went through his heart. A piece of
shell hit Confederate General Archibald
C. Godwin in the head and killed him
instantly. The highest-ranking casualty
on either side was Confederate General
Robert E. Rodes, perhaps the best division
commander in the Virginia Theater, who also
died from a shell fragment in the head.
Despite being direly outnumbered, the
Southern infantry east of Winchester held
their ground and inflicted staggering
casualties on Sheridan's attackers. The
moment of decision came from behind the
sturdy defenders, northwest of the scene of
the heavy fighting. A wall of Union cavalry
swept into the northern outskirts of
Winchester and simply overwhelmed the
Confederate horsemen in front of them.
Early had no choice but to collapse his
outflanked main line and fight for time to
get away before the enemy's mounted troops
could deploy entirely behind his army. He
succeeded in that effort, aided by the onset
of darkness, falling back 20 miles (32km) to a
strong position at Fisher's Hill.
George S. Patton, who had done so well at
New Market, fell mortally wounded by
another exploding shell during the retreat.
Artillery fragments reaped an especially
deadly harvest of braided officers on this
Early's Confederates fought Sheridan's Federals to a
standstill east of Winchester on 19 September 1864,
but Northern cavalry eventually overran Early's left
and decided the day. (Public domain)
day. The Third Battle of Winchester extracted
more than 5,000 casualties from Sheridan's
attackers. Early lost 1,700 men killed and
wounded. He reported 1,800 men missing,
but declared that many of them were
'stragglers and skulkers,' not prisoners.
Twice more in the next month Early
would fight Sheridan. Each time the
formula would resemble that of Winchester:
Early's indomitable infantry would attack
successfully or bloodily repulse their
enemies, then Confederate cavalry on Early's
left flank would collapse and unravel the
entire line.
Sheridan pressed briskly forward toward
Fisher's Hill on 20 September and on the
21st he skirmished as necessary to secure the
ridges opposite Early's new position. Keeping
steady pressure on his outnumbered and
reeling opponent made good sense. General