CHAPTER TWELVE
AUTUMN 1864
The leaves in the Shenandoah Valley had begun to turn color even before the two armies collided at Cedar Creek. After the battle, they were not the only change afoot in the land. The 1864 Valley campaign solidified Union control of a region where Southern armies had run roughshod over Federals during the early stages in the war. Like so much of the South that autumn, it was another place wrenched from the hands of the Confederacy. Much of the credit for this success is owed to Philip Sheridan.
When the value of battlefield victories was immeasurable, Phil Sheridan was thrust into a position where defeat was unacceptable. Intensely aware of that fact, Sheridan committed his forces to combat when the situation was favorable. In September, only when Richard Anderson’s reinforcements left Early’s army did Sheridan attack. At Fisher’s Hill, he meticulously positioned and maneuvered his troops to keep his intentions hidden prior to the attack. The following month, Sheridan dispatched his better-armed and better-led cavalry to stop the harassment of his rear at Tom’s Brook.
No small credit can be given to Little Phil’s subordinates for these victories. Again, as he had throughout the spring, Sheridan relied heavily upon the skills of the officers serving under him.
Sheridan’s plan to advance directly through the Berryville Canyon at Third Winchester caused a bottleneck that put the army in serious harm. Had the Confederates been consolidated, Early could have moved to block the Federal advance. Sheridan’s lack of reconnaissance of the Berryville Turnpike nearly doomed the VI Corps’ assault. If not for the quick actions of David Russell, the attack may have been splintered. Little Phil’s over-eagerness after the morning’s delay cost Russell his life. George Crook’s assault managed to stabilize the situation, allowing for the final Union push later that day.
Sheridan again leaned on Crook’s leadership at Fisher’s Hill. The results of his assault could not have been better. Praise for these victories must be shared with Crook. At Tom’s Brook, George Custer and Wesley Merritt carried the day for the Federals.
However, all these major accomplishments were nearly undone at Cedar Creek.
Since late September, Sheridan had convinced himself the campaign was over. This idea managed to permeate itself through the entire chain of command, all the way down to the lowliest private. The complacency exhibited by the Union army almost resulted in disaster. A Confederate victory at Cedar Creek may have altered the entire campaign. This battle witnessed Sheridan’s greatest asset, his ability to inspire men to follow. Borne out on the fields north of Middletown, Sheridan’s charismatic and commanding presence uplifted his defeated soldiers. It was a turning point in what was possibly the campaign’s most important battle.
Phil Sheridan, victor of the Valley (LOC)
Even then, credit must be given to the actions of George Getty. His stand in the Middletown Cemetery allowed a crumbling army to rally. In turn, it allowed the army to launch a devastating counterattack later in the afternoon.
As it turned out at the time, Cedar Creek solidified the reelection of Abraham Lincoln. It guaranteed the war would end on Lincoln’s terms. With Atlanta in Union hands, the situation was still stalemated in the war’s most important theatre. The capture and destruction of the Shenandoah Valley showed a weary populace that Union fortunes were indeed turning. Its loss proved Jackson’s prophetic statement—once the Valley was lost, so too was Virginia. Less than seven full months later, Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.
The campaign made Philip Sheridan. It catapulted him to a place among William T. Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant as the greatest Union commanders. After the war, Sheridan headed the Department of the Missouri. Ascending to the rank of lieutenant general in 1869, Sheridan became commanding general of the army in 1884. He would be promoted to full general shortly before his death on August 5, 1888.
Future presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley, who started the war together serving in the 23rd Ohio, both parlayed their service into successful bids for the White House. (LOC)
While the events in the Valley propelled Sheridan militarily, for others, it benefitted them politically. Rutherford Hayes, who had inspired his men at Third Winchester and performed exceptionally at Fisher’s Hill, was elected to Congress during the campaign. He resigned in June 1867 to run for the governorship of Ohio. Resigning after two terms, Hayes lost in a bid to rejoin Congress in 1871. After regaining the governor’s seat in 1875, Hayes made a bid for the White House the following year and became the 19th president of the United States.
William McKinley, who carried Crook’s attack orders at Third Winchester, ran for Congress the same year Hayes was elected president. He served every term, except one, until his defeat in 1891. Returning home to Ohio, McKinley was elected governor. He served two terms before being elected to the presidency in 1896. He was the last Civil War veteran to hold the office.
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As victory rocketed Sheridan to the top echelon of Union leadership of the war, the defeat in the Valley cost Early just as much. After the loss at Cedar Creek, Early’s report to Lee included his admission that, if “the interests of the service would be promoted by a change of commanders,” Early would accept the decision. He tried in that same report to explain away the reasons behind the campaign’s results, but Lee decided Early was right. When the Second Corps left the Valley that autumn and returned to the lines around Richmond and Petersburg, Gordon was its new commander. He would continue on in that role through winter and spring, eventually leading the Army of Northern Virginia on its final march when Lee’s men laid down their arms at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
The Army of the Shenandoah voted in the presidential election knowing that their success in the autumn campaign had done much to bolster President Lincoln’s chances for reelection. (WRHS)
Early, meanwhile, retained command of a token force in the passes of the Blue Ridge until March 2, 1865. During the battle of Waynesboro, George Custer annihilated what was left of the Army of the Valley. Most of the Confederate force surrendered, yet Early and a few other officers escaped. It was the last command Early held during the war.
When Early and Gordon planned assaults, Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire made preparations to handle the influx of wounded. He was one of the most proficient surgeons the Confederacy had. In May 1863, McGuire had done everything humanly possible to keep Stonewall Jackson alive. After the bloody autumn of 1864, he stayed with the Second Corps for the rest of the war. Afterwards, he served as president of the American Medical Association and as chair of surgery at the Medical College of Virginia. On a trip through Richmond, Virginia, visitors will see the name “McGuire” on buildings and campuses dedicated to the medical world.
In an analysis of the campaign, it would appear logical to place the blame for the Confederate disaster on Early’s shoulders. That assumption would be unfair. From the beginning, his army was outnumbered close to two-and-a-half to one. Early had the cream of the Confederate infantry under his command. The Second Corps comprised some of the best units in the Confederacy. Joseph Kershaw’s division was also exceptional. Granted, Early’s cavalry was not on equal footing with the infantry; at this stage in the war, it was a shell of its former self.
With a disparity in numbers and an inferior mounted arm, Early still turned in a reasonable—if sometimes uneven—performance. His maneuvering in August befuddled Sheridan. Like his antagonist, he put his army in great jeopardy by sending a massed reconnaissance to Stephenson’s Depot. If Little Phil had chosen a different access of advance, he might have chewed the Confederates up piecemeal. Old Jube handled his men with poise at Third Winchester, shifting them from one critical area to the next. At the end of the day, numbers prevailed, and his army was driven from the field. Early’s actions at Fisher’s Hill are inexplicable. He put his weakest troops in a position that required the most strength. It resulted in a complete disaster.
An important aspect that aided Early’s soldiers was the fact that they were fighting for their very homes. Numerous regiments hailed from the Shenandoah Valley. This gave additional motivation to defeating the Northern invaders. After suffering severe setbacks at Third Winchester and Fisher’s Hill, the Confederates were re-galvanized by “The Burning” and delivered a crushing offensive at Cedar Creek. Indeed, what Early accomplished that morning was more spectacular than any of Stonewall Jackson’s great accomplishments. However determined the assault was, though, the lack of numbers and the superiority of Union cavalry won out. There was only so much a determined albeit tired and hungry army could do against a well-rested, wellfed, and better-armed enemy.
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For three consecutive years, major campaigns had crisscrossed the lower Shenandoah Valley. The one of 1864 surpassed them all in destruction and devastation. With late autumn approaching and the bleakness of winter to follow, the residents of the area could only wonder what the future would hold.
When Grant had ordered the Valley destroyed, Sheridan’s legions effectively laid waste to large tracts of the Valley. Like the Georgia countryside, large swaths of the “Confederate Breadbasket” lay in ruins. One soldier wrote home that within his eyesight “one hundred hay stacks and barns” along with “nearly every farm” were torched.
One Virginia soldier summed up the prevailing attitude of many Valley residents when he wrote, “War is all that can be heard and everybody is tired of it.” Another compared life to “like walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death … . [O]ur cause seems to be desperate.”
The Confederate cause was desperate indeed. More than 25,000 soldiers had been added to the growing casualty list of the war, attesting to the bloody autumn the Shenandoah Valley witnessed.
At the Winchester National Cemetery, the 8th Vermont monument (left) honors men from the regiment who perished during the war. The state of Massachusetts erected a monument (right) to honor Bay Staters who fell. Three Massachusetts regiments also erected monuments of their own. Of the fifteen monuments in the cemetery, ten were erected to commemorate soldiers from various New England states. (DD/PG)
