had split his country. The authors of the The Wordsworth
Dictionary of Military Biography write: “Winfield Scott
was an associate of every American president from Jef-
ferson to Lincoln, and carried out important missions
for most of them. His life spanned the most formative
years of the U.S. Army, from the inefficiency and in-
decision of the immediate post-Revolutionary years to
the peak of disciplined strength achieved at the end of
the Civil War. His own part in that progression was not
inconsiderable.”
References: Eisenhower, John S. D., Agent of Destiny: The
Life and Times of General Winfield Scott (New York: The
Free Press, 1997); information on the 1852 election in
Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections (Washing-
ton, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1985), 39–41,
280, 333; Nomination of Winfield Scott. Executive Proceed-
ings of the Senate of the United States... (Washington:
Beverley Tucker, Printer, 1854); Hymel, Kevin M., “Win-
field Scott’s Long and Illustrious Career was Tarnished by
Incessant Political Infighting,” Military History 16, no. 2
(June 1999): 70–72; Windrow, Martin, and Francis K.
Mason, “Scott, Winfield,” in The Wordsworth Dictionary
of Military Biography (Hertfordshire, U.K.: Wordsworth
Editions Ltd., 1997), 263–264.
Sheridan, Philip Henry (1831–1888) American
general
Born on 6 March 1831, Philip Sheridan was the son
of John and Mary Sheridan, immigrants from Ireland.
There is doubt about Sheridan’s place of birth; he
claimed it was Albany, New York, though others believe
it was somewhere in Ireland or on a ship en route to
America. After a tempestuous boyhood, he entered the
United States Military Academy at West Point in 1848
but was suspended for a year for fighting. He graduated
in 1853 and served in garrisons in Texas and Oregon. A
captain at the beginning of the Civil War, he served in
a staff appointment until May 1862. He was then given
command of a cavalry regiment, which fought bravely
at Boonville, Missouri (1 July 1862), after which he was
promoted to brigadier general.
When General Braxton Bragg led a Confederate in-
vasion of Kentucky, General Don Carlos Buell’s Union
force met and defeated him decisively at the battle of
Perryville (or Chaplin Hills), Kentucky, on 8 October
1862; the Union win was largely due to Sheridan’s ef-
forts. Buell followed Bragg back to Murfreesboro (Stone’s
River) and fought him again there (31 December 1862–
2 January 1863), with Sheridan again playing a leading
role in holding the first Confederate attack until his men
ran out of ammunition. He was promoted to major gen-
eral of volunteers in December 1862 and commanded
the 2 Division, IV Corps.
Sheridan commanded a corps at Chickamauga
(19–20 September 1863) and led the assault at Mis-
sionary Ridge (25 November 1863). When Ulysses S.
grant was called east to command all the Union forces
in March 1864, he took Sheridan with him to command
the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac. Under Sheri-
dan’s leadership, the Northern cavalry improved rapidly
and lost the sense of inferiority it had long suffered in
comparison to the daring exploits of Confederate gen-
eral Jeb Stuart’s Southern cavalrymen. Sheridan fought
in the Battle of the Wilderness (5–7 May 1864) and car-
ried out a cavalry raid toward Richmond that met stub-
born resistance but resulted in Stuart’s death when the
two forces met at Yellow Tavern (11 May 1864).
In August 1864, Sheridan was given command of
the newly created Army of the Shenandoah. Ever since
the beginning of the war, the Shenandoah Valley had
enabled Confederate forces to march north, protected by
the Blue Ridge Mountains and living off the crops and
cattle of the valley while they did so. In summer 1864, as
Grant waged a war of attrition against Robert E. lee in
the area around Richmond, the Southern general Jubal
early took his army up the valley and, after swinging
east, threatened Washington itself on 11 July 1864. De-
termined to eliminate this constant threat to his flank,
Grant ordered Sheridan to destroy Early’s force and take
control of the valley.
On 29 September 1864, Sheridan attacked Early at
Winchester and drove him south to Fisher’s Hill, where
Sheridan attacked him again, forcing him further south-
ward. This left the northern section of the valley in Sher-
idan’s hands, and he promptly began a scorched-earth
policy to ensure the area would never again become a
supply source for the South. In October, there were
clashes between Sheridan’s and Early’s cavalry at Fisher’s
Hill (9 October) and Strasburg (14 October). Sheridan
then traveled to Washington for a conference, and Early,
learning of his departure, decided to launch a surprise
attack in his absence.
On the morning of 19 October 1864, Early at-
tacked Sheridan’s army at Cedar Creek and drove them SheRiDAn, philip henRy