220 The American Civil WarAt dawn on 19 October 1864, Confederates dashed across
the Shenandoah river and surprised camps full of sleeping
Federals. For several hours they maintained their
momentum and came near to winning the Battle of Cedar
Creek despite being outnumbered more than three-to-one.
(Public domain)
credit than he has been given for his calm,
courageous stand that diluted Confederate
momentum and restored the day for
his army.
Early has received considerable blame for
not pressing Wright more firmly to keep
astride the momentum that was his only
major advantage under the circumstances.
The Confederate commander's quandary was
compounded by the behavior of his troops:
many of the weary, lean, hungry Southerners
could not resist the array of food and
booty in the captured camps. Their absence
thinned Early's ranks and limited his
options. Early's own summary to a member
of his staff is telling: 'The Yankees got
whipped,' he said, 'and we got scared.' When
the aide prepared to leave for Richmond
with a report, Early directed him 'not to tell
General Lee that we ought to have advanced'
farther during the morning, 'for ... we ought
to have done so.'
Sheridan dashed back from Winchester to
the sound of the guns around Middletown,
sent his immense force of cavalry sweeping
around the Confederate left (for the third
time in three battles), and advanced all
across the line. With the momentum of the
Southerners' surprise attack evaporated, there
could be no doubt whatsoever about the
outcome. Early's survivors fled south once
more. All the bright hopes of the morning
had vanished in the face of unchecked
disaster. The Confederates had captured
20 cannon in their triumphant attack; now
they lost all of them, and as many more of
their own. Early's troops had inflicted
5,700 casualties on the Federal army, and
lost 2,900 themselves. They also, by day's
end, had for all intents and purposes lost
the valley for the remainder of the war.
General Lee recalled most of Early's
infantry to help with the desperate defense
of Richmond and Petersburg. Cavalry
detachments roamed the valley through the
winter of 1864-65, raiding for the scant
supplies available and harassing one another
without major results. Both sides afflicted
such of the civilian population as had not
fled, and eked out a cold, bitter, costly
existence. The small remnant with Early
collapsed after only a faint struggle at the
Battle of Waynesboro, in the southern valley,
on 2 March 1865. The General himself was
among the handful who escaped. By then,
Lee's lines beyond the mountains were close
to the breaking point.