Sheridan Takes Command in the Shenandoah Valley, August 1864

Gen. Philip Sheridan, 1864. Library of Congress.

President Abraham Lincoln described Philip Sheridan in 1864 as having "a long body, short legs, not enough neck to hang him, and such long arms that if his ankles itch he can scratch them without stooping." Lincoln had just given him one of the war's key commands.

A new department

Confederate Gen. Jubal Early's raid into Maryland in July 1864 exposed how poorly the Union armies around Washington and in the Shenandoah Valley worked together. Lincoln merged them into a new Middle Military Department. Ulysses S. Grant proposed other generals; Lincoln turned each down, and was himself doubtful of Sheridan, at 33, as too young and inexperienced.

• In Washington, Sheridan met Lincoln and War Secretary Edwin Stanton. Both had doubts; Lincoln ended by saying he "hoped for the best."
• Walking to the War Department, Stanton stressed that success mattered politically as well as militarily. Sheridan understood: Lincoln's re-election in November depended on victories.
• On August 6, at Monocacy Junction, Grant ordered him to defeat Early and to destroy the Valley's resources, leaving a "barren waste."

The Army of the Shenandoah

Sheridan called his command the Army of the Shenandoah, based at Harpers Ferry. Of about 50,000 men, nearly 10,000 guarded the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. His field army, just under 40,000 once assembled, combined:

• the 6th Corps, from the Army of the Potomac;
• the 19th Corps, from the Department of the Gulf;
• the 8th Corps, or Army of West Virginia;
• three cavalry divisions, two from the Army of the Potomac.

First moves

On August 10, Sheridan marched south to get below Winchester and cut off Early, then south of Martinsburg, with Alfred Torbert's cavalry leading. Early pulled back around Winchester, kept the Valley Pike, and by August 13 was at Fisher's Hill, three miles south of Sheridan at Strasburg.

Then word came of Confederate reinforcements. Robert E. Lee sent Joseph Kershaw's infantry, Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry and Wilfred Cutshaw's artillery under Richard Anderson — 6,100 men, bringing Early to nearly 21,000. Union commanders overestimated Early's strength, and Sheridan feared his 26,000 at hand were too few.

Signal Knob

A Confederate signal station on Signal Knob, atop Massanutten Mountain, watched every Union move — "better than if they were in our camps," Sheridan wrote. He sent George Crook's men to take it.

• August 14: the 12th West Virginia climbed up and drove off the few defenders; hours later a larger Confederate force took it back.
• The next morning: the 14th West Virginia, backed by the 116th Ohio, tried again through underbrush so dense a man could barely get through. They fought most of the day against more defenders before being pulled back.

Grant now advised Sheridan to "be cautious and act on the defensive" until pressure on Richmond and Petersburg forced Lee to recall the reinforcements. Sheridan took it as an order: he withdrew north to wait.

Sources

Based on "Sheridan Takes Command of the Army of the Shenandoah," Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, National Park Service, in the series Drive the Enemy South; a work of the United States government in the public domain.