Battle on Cedar Creek

In the summer of 1864, the Severovirdzhinskaya army was forced to retreat into the trenches near Petersberg. In this situation, General Lee assigned Jubalu Airlie the 2nd Corps to advance north along the Shenandoah Valley in order to divert Grant’s army. Earley successfully went the whole valley and entered Maryland. He managed to reach Washington and carry out several attacks against Fort Stephens, but then he was forced to retreat. General Grant commissioned Phil Sheridan to lead the federal forces in West Virginia, which were called the "Shenandoah Army." Sheridan launched an offensive, very unhurried, as the presidential elections were approaching and failure could affect them ^[1] . On September 19, Sheridan managed to smash Earley in the battle of Opecon. Sherman traveled south along the valley, using scorched earth tactics to deprive the enemy of supply bases. Meanwhile, the division of Kershaw and Rosser Cavalry Division returned to Earley. At this time, the federal army camped on the Cedar River near the city of Middletown.

Sheridan decided that his army was depleted by continuous battles and was no longer capable of attacking, so he ordered Wright VI to return to Petersberg. However, on October 13, Earley's troops approached Bell Grove, turned into battle formations, and began shelling the federal camp. Colonel Tobern sent his division to battle, and the battle began with the Kershaw division, during which the northerners lost 209 people, and the southerners - 182. Sheridan recalled Wright's corps, which had already reached the Ashby Gap gorge. Sheridan himself went to Washington on October 16 for talks with Secretary of War Stanton. The cavalry corps escorted him to Front Royal. However, it was reported that the Longstreet Corps was connecting to Earley, and Sheridan returned to the camp. The report about the corps was Erly's misinformation, which hoped that this would force the feds to retreat down the valley, but this calculation did not work ^[2] .

On October 12, 1864, Lee wrote to General Earley: "It is best for you to insist and try to smash him .. I do not think that Sheridan’s infantry and cavalry are as numerous as you suppose." Earley studied the enemy’s positions on Cedar Creek and found them convenient to attack. Northerners expected attacks from the west and relied on natural obstacles in the form of a river. Sheridan thought that his subordinates would organize a competent picket chain, but General Crook's people were not accustomed to this and left the flank open.

Sheridan was under the command of the Shenandoah Army with 31,610 combat-ready soldiers with 90 artillery barrels. They were summarized in several buildings:

• The 6th corps of General Horatio Wright : divisions of Frank Wheaton , George Getty and Warren Keifer. (When Wright temporarily commanded the entire army in the absence of Sheridan, James Getty commanded his corps.)
• Parts of the XIX corps under com. William Emory: divisions of James Macmillan and Coweer Grover.
• The Army of West Virginia (sometimes called the VIII Corps) under the command of George Crook: divisions of Joseph Tobern, Rutherd Hayes and Howard Kitching.
• General Alfred Thorbert's cavalry corps: divisions of Wesley Merritt , William Pouell and George Custer .

The Army of the Valley of General Earley consisted of 21,102 combat-ready soldiers and 40 artillery barrels:

• Stephen Ramser Division: Cullen Battle, Brian Grimes , Philip Cook and William Cox Brigades.
• The division of Joseph Kershaw : the brigades of James Conner, Benjamin Humphreys, Henry Sanders and James Sims.
• The division of John Pegram: the brigade of John Hoffman, Robert Johnston and William Davis.
• The division of John Gordon : the brigade of Edmund Atkinson, William Peck and the " Stone Wall Brigade " by William Terry.
• Gabriel Warthon's Division: Logan, Edmund Reed and Thomas Smith Brigades.
• Kavdiviziya Lansford Lomax: the brigade of George Smith, Bradley Johnson, John McCausland and Henry Davidson.
• Thomas Rosser Cavdivision: Williams Wickham, William Payne and Oliver Fanston brigades.

However, there are various estimates of the size of the army Erley. Professor Jonathan Noyalas cites the figure of 14,091 people ^[3] ; General John Gordon speaks of 13,288 people, but writes that Earley himself considered this figure too high ^[4] .

Southerner Attack

On the evening of October 18, Earley began building his troops in three columns. The column of Gordon (the divisions of Ramser, Pegram and Evans) had to go the longest way, so she spoke before everyone else, immediately after sunset, at about 8:00 pm They cautiously passed a narrow defile between the Shenandoah River and the spur of Mount Massanuten. The columns of Uarton and Kershaw made at about one in the morning on October 19, and at 03:30 all three columns were in positions to attack. Rosser's cavalry prepared to attack on the western side of the valley. The payneck of Payne (300 people) was attached to the Gordon convoy in order to go to Bell Grove and capture Sheridan in his headquarters. Southerners did not know that Sheridan was not at headquarters this morning.

The attack was for the northerners a complete surprise - they were all caught in the camp and not ready for battle. The southerners were also helped by thick fog that morning. At 05:00, Kershaw's division attacked the trenches of Thorburn's division, and a few minutes later, Gordon’s column attacked Hayes’s division. Crook's division has once turned into a stampede. The federal brigade of Thomas Wilds was the most combat-ready and retreated for almost half an hour. Captain Henry Dupont managed to save 9 of his 16 guns.

John Gordon wrote about the northerners: “They were caught in a dream and woke up from volleys of muskets all around them, horrified by the Minier’s bullets piercing their tents, and by the cries of a triumphant enemy, reaching from everywhere. They jumped out of bed and found a confederate bayonet in front of their chest. Many were captured. Hundreds were shot while trying to escape. The full two corps, the Eighth and the Nineteenth, almost two-thirds of Sheridan’s army, were defeated and fled, littering the battlefield with weapons, ammunition, satchels and bodies of their comrades ” ^[5] .

In the camp of the XIX Corps, General Emory heard shooting, saw the people of Crook running and began to gather forces to repel the attack. For this, he took the detachment covering the bridge through Kedrovy Ruchey, and as a result, at 05:40 Uarton's column freely crossed the stream. Wilds Brigade Emory ordered to stop this attack - she turned around and attacked the southerners to gain time. General Wright was personally involved in this attack and was injured. A similar defensive operation was carried out by Stephen Thomas’s brigade, which delayed the enemy’s attack by almost 30 minutes. This delay allowed the headquarters and wagons to leave, and the VI Corps received time to prepare for defense at convenient heights north-west of Bell-Grove plantation.

Three divisions of the 6th corps managed to line up in the battle line, but the crowds of the running did not allow them to hold their position, so they retreated a little to the north. The Macmillan division and the Merritt's cavalry extended their line from the west. At 07:15, the division of Kershaw attacked the northerners and pushed back, and the people of Gordon attacked the division of Wheaton and also forced her to withdraw. Two federal divisions, as a result, took up a position north of Middletown, where they were joined by the Getty division, knocked out of positions at the city cemetery. This division occupied the cemetery as early as 08:00 and held a comfortable position for almost an hour, and Earley even suggested that he was dealing with the whole of the VI Corps. He ordered all artillery to concentrate the fire on the cemetery and eventually forced the Getty to leave the position. Getty joined his corps, which, after being wounded by Wright, was commanded by Ricketts, and after being wounded by Ricketts, the command was transferred to Getty himself.

Sheridan's arrival

At the start of the battle, Sheridan was at Winchester. At 06:00 pickets said they heard cannonade in the distance. Sheridan did not attach importance to this message. Later, new messages arrived, but Sheridan did not take them seriously again, but ordered a saddle horse, and he set about having breakfast. At 09:00 he went to the army with three staff officers, meeting on his way a detachment of cavalry of 300 men, who followed him. On the way, he noticed that the sounds of battle were approaching and, therefore, his army was retreating. Arriving at Newton, Sheridan ordered Captain William McKinley to form a line to intercept the fugitives. At 10:30, Sheridan arrived on the battlefield and began to restore order in his frustrated units and form a battle line north of Middletown. His appearance inspired the soldiers and he shouted: “Back, guys! Arrange them to hell, damn it! At night, we still drink coffee by the Cedar River! ” ^[6] Gordon wrote:“ It was a classic case of veni, vidi, vici . He stopped and built his panicked army. While we waited, he reorganized his regiments, brigades and divisions, and turned them back to the positions from which they had recently fled to punk ” ^[7] .

"Fateful stop"

Meanwhile, General Earley unexpectedly decided to stop the offensive. He told John Gordon: “Well, Gordon, glory is enough for one day. Today is the 19th. A month ago we moved in the opposite direction ” ^[8] . Gordon replied that it was necessary to deliver another blow and then, perhaps, the entire army of the enemy would be destroyed, but Earley said: “ No need, they will leave” ( No use in that; they will all go directly ).

It happened around 10:00. The two armies stopped about a mile apart, perpendicular to the Valley-Pike road. At 13:00, Airlie nevertheless gave the order to attack the enemy with the proviso that it was worthwhile to attack only if its fortifications are not very strong. Gordon's division launched an attack on the XIX corps. Divisions Kershaw and Ramser were intended to develop the attack. However, the southerners fired only one salvo at the enemy, and then retreated.

Sheridan Counterattack

Sheridan's promise to drink coffee over the Cedar Creek meant that he was going to counterattack. He formed a battle line of parts of the corps of Wright and Emory, and put cavalry on the flanks. Crook's army remained in reserve. At 16:00 the attack began. The cavalry attacked the flanks of the southerners, and the main line attacked to the front, hoping to unfold smoothly in the south-east. For about an hour the southerners held positions. The first left flank flinch and George Custer 's cavalry broke through to the rear. Many Southerners panicked when they saw that their retreat was blocked by the federal cavalry. After this successful breakthrough, Sheridan concentrated his forces on the site of the Ramser division. General Ramser was mortally wounded and his division began to retreat. Confederate artillery was able to help retreating, but still control over the army was lost.

Brian Grimes , who took command of Ramser's division, later wrote in a report: “The order was still maintained at that moment. An order was issued to retreat and it was executed, but the left flank faltered and no threats and efforts could stop them. The highest ranking officers made great and repeated efforts to keep the people running, but all these efforts were in vain. "

The situation was complicated when the bridge collapsed south of Strasbourg. Southerners had to throw all the guns and wagons seized in the morning, as well as their own. Sheridan pursued the enemy until midnight. Southerners retreated to Fishers Hill and from there to New Market.

The federal army lost only 5,665 people: 644 killed, 3,430 wounded and 1591 missing. The approximate losses of the southerners were 2,910 people: 320 killed, 1,540 wounded and 1,050 missing ^[9] . General Stephen Ramser , who died at the hospital in Bell Grove and was surrounded by his former friends - officers of the federal army, was mortally wounded. In turn, the Sheridan army lost the killed generals Daniel Beadullah and Charles Lovell.

The battle led to the crushing defeat of the Confederate army. Southerners could no longer threaten the North from the Shenandoah Valley and could not successfully defend their own economic base in the valley. Airlie eventually continued to experience difficulties in supplying his army. The victory helped Lincoln significantly in the presidential election and glorified Sheridan. Grant ordered a salute in his honor from a hundred guns near Petersberg and assigned Sheridan the rank of Major General of the regular army.

The battle on Cedar Creek attracted the attention of poets mainly in connection with Sheridan. Hermann Mellville wrote the poem “General Sheridan in the Battle of Cedar Creek”:

Philip Sheridan - the rider
Cleaner other kings.
Once - and our victory.
And - bloody porridge.
Drank a full cup
The enemy among the poplars. ^[10] .

Two future US presidents took part in the battle. Rutherford Hayes served as a colonel and commanded the 2nd Division of the 8th Corps, and William McKinley served in the same corps in staff positions with the rank of captain ^[3] .

• Bohannon, Keith S. “The 'Fatal Halt' Versus 'Bad Conduct': John B. Gordon, Jubal A. Early in the Battle of Cedar Creek.” In The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, edited by Gary W. Gallagher. Military Campaigns of the Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8078-3005-5 .
• Coffey, David. Sheridan's Lieutenants: His Generals, His Wilmington, DE: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005. ISBN 0-7425-4306-4 .
• Cullen, Joseph P. "Cedar Creek." In Battle Chronicles of the Civil War: 1864, edited by James M. McPherson. Lakeville, CT: Gray Castle Press, 1989. ISBN 1-55905-024-1 . First published in 1989 by McMillan.
• Gallagher, Gary W. "The Shenandoah Valley in 1864." In Struggle for the Shenandoah: Essays on the 1864 Valley Campaign, edited by Gary W. Gallagher. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-87338-429-6 .
• Lewis, Thomas A. The Guns of Cedar Creek. New York: Harper and Row, 1988. ISBN 0-06-015941-3 .
• Patchan, Scott C. “The Battle Of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864.” Blue & Gray Magazine XXIV, no. 1 (2007).
• Welcher, Frank J. The Union Army, 1861-1865 Organization and Operations. Vol. 1, The Eastern Theater. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. ISBN 0-253-36453-1 .
• Wert, Jeffry D. From Winchester to Cedar Creek: The Shenandoah Campaign of 1864. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. ISBN 0-671-67806-X .
• Whitehorne, Joseph WA The Battle of Cedar Creek: Self-Guided Tour. rev. ed., Middletown, VA: Cedar Creek Battlefield

• Order of Battle at Cedar Creek
• 10 Facts about Cedar Creek
• Early morning attack. Map.
• Animated battle map