Battle of Berryville, 1864: The Collision That Opened Sheridan's Valley Campaign

Berryville battlefield marker, placed by Confederate veterans in the 1890s. NPS photo

In early September 1864, US Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan marched his Army of the Shenandoah south and reached Berryville, Virginia, on September 3. Confederates attacked as the Federals made camp, with limited results. Overnight, Lt. Gen. Jubal Early brought up his army — but by daylight found the Federal position too strongly entrenched, and after dark on September 4 he withdrew to Winchester.

On a collision course

Grant was pressing Sheridan to strike deep into the Shenandoah Valley, but Sheridan wanted to wait until he was sure Early had sent troops to reinforce Robert E. Lee at Richmond and Petersburg. On August 30 he sent two cavalry divisions to Berryville to scout and cut Confederate communications.

At the same moment, Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, leading a 3,700-man Confederate detachment from the 1st Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, set off east to recross the Blue Ridge. When Sheridan advanced on September 3, he apparently had no idea his 7,000-man Army of West Virginia (8th Corps) was heading straight for Anderson.

A warning that morning. Two companies of Mosby's Rangers under Captain Samuel Chapman, hearing of Federals near Berryville, hit the 6th New York Cavalry in the Gold family's farm field, about half a mile south of town. Splitting into two wings and charging with the rebel yell, they killed, captured and scattered the New Yorkers. Despite their seven-shot Spencer repeating carbines, the Federals lost 42; the rangers lost five. It did not stop Sheridan — but it showed that Mosby meant to harass every Federal move into the Valley.

The battle, September 3

1. Pickets driven in. Camped west of Berryville that afternoon, 8th Corps commander Maj. Gen. George Crook posted Col. Joseph Thoburn's 1st Division astride the Berryville Pike, facing Winchester, with pickets under Col. Robert Rodgers about 1.5 miles farther west. Anderson's leading troops soon drove them back.
2. Kershaw's plan. Confederate division commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Kershaw sent his Mississippi brigade, hidden by woods, to swing round Thoburn's left flank, and his South Carolina and Georgia brigades straight down the Pike.
3. A weak line. Thoburn hurried the 11th West Virginia, 15th West Virginia and 123rd Ohio forward to join the pickets along some old, shallow earthworks south of the Pike — "hardly to be dignified by that name," grumbled Lt. Col. William Weddle of the 1st West Virginia, "not being over two or three feet high and affording very little protection." Crook sent the rest of Thoburn's division north of the Pike, and ordered Col. Isaac Duval's 2nd Division up to crush the Confederate right.
4. The Federal left gives way. Before Duval arrived, Kershaw opened with two batteries and sent the Mississippians in. The 15th West Virginia and 123rd Ohio fired one volley and fell back. The South Carolinians scattered the 2nd Maryland Eastern Shore and 1st West Virginia from the earthworks — Weddle was lightly wounded by a bayonet — and north of the Pike a Georgia brigade chased Thoburn's half-deployed reinforcements toward Berryville. "It is with mortification," Thoburn later reported, "that I report the giving way of the command on the left…the men and officers feel their disgrace…"
5. The stone wall. Duval's division came up on Thoburn's left and held behind a stone wall. A volley from their 1861 Springfield rifles stopped the Mississippians; then Federals under Col. Rutherford B. Hayes climbed the wall and counterattacked with bayonets, driving the Mississippians and South Carolinians about a quarter mile back to the old earthworks. North of the Pike, the Georgians stalled under fire from the 14th West Virginia and Thoburn's rallied units.
6. Stalemate. As darkness fell, both sides kept firing at each other's muzzle flashes; Federal Capt. William McKinley wrote that "the heavens were fairly illuminated by the flashes of our own and the enemies' guns." Darkness, rain and low ammunition ended the fighting.

Thoburn's report of the day:

"The enemy moved upon my left flank from out of the cover of the woods and also from a corn-field. As the enemy advanced a battery was opened upon our front, and the left of the line at once gave way. I reformed my line and repelled several assaults of the enemy, the men standing to their arms all night."

September 4: Early pulls back

Arriving later, Sheridan moved the 8th Corps about half a mile east overnight to line up with the 19th Corps, forming a strong defensive line with the 8th Corps and most of the cavalry on the left. On the morning of September 4, Early came up with reinforcements; while Kershaw skirmished with the 8th Corps, Early led two divisions north against the Federal right. Facing the 19th Corps — with the 6th Corps only a mile beyond — he chose not to attack. His topographical engineer, Maj. Jedediah Hotchkiss, wrote that they "had some skirmishing with the enemy, whom we found well-fortified in our entire front." That night Early withdrew toward Winchester.

Outcome

Estimates vary, but the two days cost about 600 casualties — roughly 300 killed, wounded, captured and missing on each side. The battle is usually called a draw, though the Federals held the ground. Sheridan went on to win at Third Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Tom's Brook and Cedar Creek: the Federal momentum in the Valley had begun.

Visit: Virginia historical highway marker J-30 marks the battle, on the eastbound side of Virginia State Route 7 Business, just west of US Route 340.

Sources

Based on "Battle of Berryville," Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park, National Park Service, part of the series Drive the Enemy South; a work of the United States government in the public domain. Quotations are from 1864 soldiers' letters and reports.