Major-General Philip Sheridan had left his Federal Army of the Shenandoah to attend a conference at Washington. He no longer considered Lieutenant-General Jubal Early’s Confederate Army of the Valley a serious threat after defeating him at Winchester and Fisher’s Hill in September. The Federals were encamped along the east bank of Cedar Creek, above the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. Their line ran northwest to southeast and consisted of three infantry corps:
- The Sixth Corps under Major-General Horatio G. Wright, commanding the army in Sheridan’s absence, held the right (north) flank.
- The Nineteenth Corps under Brigadier-General William H. Emory held the center.
- The Eighth Corps (also known as the Army of West Virginia) under Brigadier-General George Crook held the left (south) flank.
Early had received reinforcements and regrouped his Army of the Valley. However, his men were short on supplies because Sheridan’s Federals had laid waste to the Valley. Early could have fallen back to replenish his supplies, but he instead decided to launch a bold attack on the unsuspecting Federals.
Through the night of October 18 and early morning of the 19th, Major-General John B. Gordon led three Confederate divisions northeast around Massanutten Mountain and over the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. This placed them within striking distance of Crook’s unsuspecting Federals on the left. Meanwhile, two supporting divisions took positions on Gordon’s left, poised to hit Emory in the center.
At 5 a.m., the Confederates attacked through the fog between Cedar Creek and Middletown. Many Federals were still asleep when the attack began, and their lines soon disintegrated as Gordon’s forces swept through their camps. Captain Henry A. du Pont, heading Crook’s artillery, saved nine of his 16 guns and was later awarded the Medal of Honor for staving off complete disaster.
Wright came up to help stem the tide. One of his officers accompanying him called the men of Crook’s corps “a disorganized, routed, demoralized, terrified mob of fugitives.” The officer went into detail:
“Wagons and ambulances lumbering hither and thither in disorder; pack horses led by frightened bummers, or wandering at their own free will; crowds of officers and men, some shod and some barefoot, many of them coatless and hatless, with and without their rifles, but all rushing wildly to the rear; oaths and blows alike powerless to halt them; a cavalry regiment stretched across the field, unable to stem the torrent.”
As the sun rose and the fog lifted, Emory shifted his Nineteenth Corps to meet Gordon’s advance. This left a bridge over Cedar Creek open, enabling Major-General Gabriel Wharton’s supporting Confederate division to cross and attack. Intense fighting took place near the Belle Grove plantation, where the Federals held their ground long enough for their supply wagons to withdraw and the Sixth Corps to prepare defenses to the north.
The Confederates under both Wharton and Major-General Joseph B. Kershaw crashed into the Sixth Corps, which put up a fierce resistance and made brief stands as they slowly withdrew northwest toward Middletown. Early opted to concentrate most of his force against this position instead of destroying the Eighth and Nineteenth corps. Meanwhile, hungry Confederates stopped to loot captured camps.
By 10 a.m., the Confederates had captured over 1,300 prisoners, 18 guns, and several battle flags. Early ordered a halt to regroup, but Gordon advised against it. He said, “That is the Sixth Corps, General. It will not go unless we drive it from the field.” Gordon later wrote, “My heart went into my boots. Visions of the fatal halt on the first day at Gettysburg, and of the whole day’s hesitation to permit an assault on Grant’s exposed flank on the 6th of May in the Wilderness rose before me.”
Sheridan, asleep 15 miles away, woke to the sound of battle at 6 a.m. He began moving toward the fight two hours later, when the sound became “an unceasing roar.” Sheridan hurried from Winchester and arrived on the scene around 10:30 a.m., where he found thousands of demoralized Federal troops in retreat. Sheridan rode through the men, yelling at them, “Turn back! Turn back! Face the other way!” “Face the other way, boys–if I had been there this morning this wouldn’t have happened! You’ll have your own camps back before night!” He yelled at a demoralized group, “Turn about, you damned cowardly curs, or I’ll cut you down! I don’t expect you to fight, but come and see men who like to!”
When the soldiers started cheering him, Sheridan yelled, “God damn you, don’t cheer me! Fight! If you love your country, come up to the front! There’s lots of fight in you men yet! Come up, God damn you! Come up! We will lick them out of their boots!” The troops were revitalized by this spectacular display of battlefield leadership. The historian for the Vermont Brigade (of the Sixth Corps) later wrote:
“Such a scene as his presence produced and such emotions as it awoke cannot be realized once in a century. All outward manifestations were as enthusiastic as men are capable of exhibiting; cheers seemed to come from throats of brass, and caps were thrown to the tops of the scattering oaks; but beneath and yet superior to these noisy demonstrations there was in every heart a revulsion of feeling, and a pressure of emotion, beyond description. No more doubt or chance for doubt existed; we were safe, perfectly and unconditionally safe, and every man knew it.”
The Federals stabilized their wavering lines north of Middletown, after having been pushed back four miles. At 3 p.m., Early finally allowed Gordon to follow up his morning attack. A Federal officer worried aloud that the Confederates would drive them out of the Valley. Sheridan heard this and snapped, “What? Three corps of infantry and all of my cavalry; Jubal Early drive me out of the valley? I’ll lick him like blazes before night! I’ll give him the worst licking he ever had!” The strengthened Federal lines held firm against the lesser Confederate assaults.
Sheridan counterattacked at 4 p.m. The reorganized Sixth and Nineteenth corps led the effort, while Crook’s Eighth Corps was in reserve. The Federals turned Gordon’s left, which crumbled the rest of Early’s line. Brigadier-General George A. Custer led a Federal cavalry attack on Early’s rear; panic-stricken Confederates feared that this would block their escape across Cedar Creek. Confederate Major-General Stephen D. Ramseur fell mortally wounded as his division tried making a stand before being forced to fall back.
Federal cavalry attacks by Custer and Brigadier-General Wesley Merritt turned the Confederate withdrawal into a rout as Early’s men fell back four miles to Fisher’s Hill. They were forced to leave all their captured guns and supplies behind. Custer celebrated the dramatic Federal victory by hoisting “Little Phil” Sheridan off the ground and dancing with joy. Emory said of Sheridan, “That young man has made a great name for himself today.”
The Federals suffered 5,665 casualties (644 killed, 3,430 wounded, and 1,591 missing) out of about 30,000, while Confederate losses were estimated at 2,910 (320 killed, 1,540 wounded, and 1,050 missing) from roughly 18,000. Early reported to his superior, General Robert E. Lee at Petersburg:
“I found it impossible to rally the troops, they would not listen to entreaties, threats, or appeals of any kind… The rout was as thorough and disgraceful as ever happened to our army… It is mortifying to me, General, to have to make these explanations of my reverses. They are due to no want of effort on my part, though it may be that I have not the capacity or judgment to prevent them. If you think that the interests of the service would be promoted by a change of commanders, I beg you will have no hesitation.”
Early chastised his men for their conduct in this battle, writing in part, “Many of you, including some commissioned officers, yielded to a disgraceful propensity for plunder… Subsequently those who had remained at their post, seeing their ranks thinned by the absence of the plunderer… yielded to a needless panic and fled the field in confusion.” He later summed up the battle: “The Yankees got whipped and we got scared.”
Lee decided not to replace Early, who led his forces to New Market to regroup and possibly confront Sheridan once more. But after being routed three times within a month, the Confederates could no longer contend with the Federals’ superior size, supply, and armament. The troops gradually dispersed, and the Federals gained permanent control of the Valley and its vital resources.
Sheridan reported to General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant, “Affairs at times looked badly, but by the gallantry of our brave officers and men disaster has been converted into a splendid victory.” Grant received this message the next day at his headquarters. He read it aloud to his staffers, who burst into cheers. Grant passed it along to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and praised Sheridan as “one of the ablest of generals.” A 100-gun salute was ordered fired into the Confederate defenses at Petersburg in celebration. People serenaded President Abraham Lincoln at the White House, where Lincoln proposed three cheers for “all our noble commanders and the soldiers and sailors…”
Lincoln then wrote to Sheridan, “With great pleasure, I tender to you and your brave army the thanks of the nation and my own personal admiration and gratitude for the month’s operations in the Shenandoah Valley, and especially for the splendid work of October 19.” The Chicago Tribune stated, “The nation rings with praises of Phil Sheridan.”
Assistant Secretary of War Charles A. Dana traveled to Sheridan’s headquarters and woke him up late on the night of the 23rd to award him the rank of major-general in the regular army. Sheridan also received a commendation from the adjutant-general “for the personal gallantry, military skill, and just confidence in the courage and patriotism of his troops… whereby, under the blessing of Providence, his routed army was reorganized, a great national disaster averted, and a brilliant victory achieved.”
Sheridan became a northern hero, and “Sheridan’s Ride” from Winchester to the battlefield became a famous poem by Thomas Buchanan Read. The Federal victory at Cedar Creek stopped any future Confederate threat to Washington, which enabled the Federals to devote more resources to the siege of Petersburg and Richmond. This victory greatly boosted northern morale as well as Lincoln’s chances for victory in the upcoming election.
Bibliography
- Angle, Paul M., A Pictorial History of the Civil War Years. New York: Doubleday, 1967.
- Catton, Bruce, The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1960.
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2011.
- Freeman, Douglas Southall, Lee. Scribner, (Kindle Edition), 2008.
- Kallmann, John D. (Patricia L. Faust ed.), Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
- Lewis, Thomas A., The Shenandoah in Flames: The Valley Campaign of 1864. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1983.
- Long, E.B. with Long, Barbara, The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971.
- McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. Oxford History of the United States Book 6, Oxford University Press (Kindle Edition), 1988.
- Ward, Geoffrey C., Burns, Ric, Burns, Ken, The Civil War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
- Wert, Jeffry D. (Patricia L. Faust ed.), Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.