Tom's Brook, 1864: the bow, the charge and the 'Woodstock Races'

On the morning of October 9, 1864, two cavalry generals who had been classmates at West Point faced each other across a small stream in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. The Union one took off his hat and bowed; the Confederate one bowed back, and both sides cheered. By afternoon the Confederate cavalry was running so hard that the Union troopers chased it as far south as Woodstock. Soldiers called the battle of Tom's Brook the "Woodstock Races."

"General Custer saluting Confederate General Rosser at the Woodstock races, Oct. 9, 1864" — sketch by Alfred R. Waud, Library of Congress.

After the Burning

In early October 1864 the Union general Philip Sheridan had just finished "The Burning" — the deliberate destruction of the Shenandoah Valley's crops, barns and mills. Now he was pulling his Army of the Shenandoah back north. Jubal Early's Confederate Army of the Valley followed cautiously, its cavalry snapping at Sheridan's rear.

Early had told his cavalry commander, Thomas Rosser, to "continue the pursuit and harass the enemy as much as possible," and Rosser took him at his word. On October 8, as Sheridan's army neared Strasburg, the cavalry clashed near the village of Tom's Brook, about six miles south of the town. Some of Rosser's own men thought he was pushing too far: Early's infantry was about twenty miles behind, too far to come to their rescue.

Sheridan had been pleased with the retreat and furious at the Confederate cavalry for harrying it. That evening he called in his cavalry chief, Alfred Torbert, and told him to go out in the morning and "whip that Rebel cavalry or get whipped yourself!"

Custer and Rosser had been at West Point together.

The fight

Custer's column moved up the Back Road at about 6 a.m. As it came in sight, Rosser recognised his old classmate at its head. Custer halted, raised his hat, bowed and shouted: "Let's have a fair fight and no malice!" Rosser bowed in return, and both sides raised a cheer.

Then the Union line advanced. Pennington's men overran the skirmishers of the 35th Virginia Battalion, but his 18th Pennsylvania was stopped on the Back Road by the 1st and 2nd Virginia Cavalry. On the Pike, Lomax's small force held Lowell's Reserve Brigade in check, and Devin was sent to try to get round its left.

By late morning Custer was stuck too, and decided to commit everything: he sent the 18th Pennsylvania and the 8th and 22nd New York west to swing around Rosser's left flank. Peirce's guns and Major James Breathed's Confederate battery hammered at each other, and the Union's greater numbers began to push Munford back. Custer himself led the 5th New York up the slope south of the brook. Just as the fight there peaked, his flanking column burst out behind Munford's left.

Munford tried to turn men to face it and could not. The Confederate line broke. "My men could see that their only chance was in a run," Munford admitted later, "and a quick one at that." A staff officer remembered panic and "a scene of wild confusion," with the road carrying the artillery, ammunition wagons and wounded left wide open.

The rout

Artillery was abandoned as the gunners ran for it; one of Munford's troopers called it "undoubtedly the greatest stampede" his brigade had ever seen. A few attempts to stand farther south made no difference. Only Captain John Shoemaker's battery kept its head, firing and falling back in turns — leapfrogging — all the way to Mount Jackson.

Early sent infantry north when he heard, but it was far too distant to help.

Following the defeats at Third Winchester and Fisher's Hill, the battle showed how completely the Union cavalry now outclassed the Confederate — and it broke the morale of Early's horsemen for good.

Blame

The Confederates turned on each other. Early blamed Rosser, and so did many of Rosser's officers: "Rosser should never have risked that fight," wrote Major Edward McDonald of the 11th Virginia Cavalry, and a private in the 3rd Virginia said he was being blamed for being "too rash." Rosser answered that he had done exactly what Early ordered — harass the enemy as much as possible.

Early had the last, bitter word. Told that Rosser's brigade was called the Laurel Brigade, he said he had never known the laurel was a running vine, and a pumpkin vine would suit it better.

Visiting

Most of the battlefield is private land, but more than 500 acres are preserved. A walking trail at Shenandoah County Park leads to a historic marker. The battle is part of the story told at Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park; in the Park Service's series on the 1864 campaign it comes between The Burning and the skirmish at Hupp's Hill.

Sources

Written from "Battle of Tom's Brook", Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, National Park Service, part of its series Drive the Enemy South; a work of the United States government in the public domain. Quotations are from participants as cited there.