Sheridan's Cavalry and the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign

"Chasing the Rebs Through Strasburg," sketched by Alfred R. Waud, September 1864. Library of Congress.

For three years Confederate cavalry had the reputation of dashing cavaliers who beat the Federals again and again. When the war returned to the Shenandoah Valley in 1864, that changed.

The commanders

• Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, the new face of Union cavalry, had proven himself in the West.
• Gen. Jubal A. Early, Lee's hot-tempered "Bad Old Man," led the Confederate Army of the Valley — aggressive and effective, but with a bias against cavalry that helped undo him.

Sheridan had nearly 43,000 troops to Early's about 13,000, and his horsemen held an overwhelming edge in numbers and firepower — "nothing short of awesome," in historian Stephen Z. Starr's phrase.

Third Winchester, September 19

Before dawn, Union cavalry chief Alfred Torbert sent Wesley Merritt's division to Seiver's Ford on Opequon Creek, William Averell up the Valley Pike, and George Custer and Charles Lowell toward Locke's Ford. James Wilson's troopers, with Spencer carbines and sabers, swung around the Confederate right; later Merritt and Averell rode into the Confederate left. Confederate Gen. Stephen Ramseur admitted: "we whipped their infantry but their cavalry, 7,000 or 8,000 strong, broke our cavalry on the left [and] got in behind us." It was one of the war's largest cavalry battles.

Fisher's Hill

Early fell back to Fisher's Hill near Strasburg and dismounted Maj. Gen. Lunsford Lomax's cavalry to stretch his line — a misuse of horsemen. Defeated again, he blamed them in a report to Lee: flanked, "a panic seized them," and they broke, "many of them fleeing shamefully." With Early out of the way, Sheridan ordered "The Burning" of the Valley. Confederate Brig. Gen. Tom Rosser called it a "smoky trail of desolation."

Tom's Brook, October 9

As Sheridan withdrew, Rosser harried him — until Sheridan turned. Custer routed Rosser on the Back Road and Merritt routed Lomax on the Valley Pike; the Confederates fled in what became known as the "Woodstock Races." It was the most decisive Union cavalry victory in the East.

Cedar Creek, October 19

Early's last major stand came at Cedar Creek, near Middletown. He sent Gabriel Wharton's division against George Getty west of town instead of up the Valley Pike, and Union cavalry seized a gap on the Pike. At 4 p.m. the horsemen struck the Confederate left — "regiment after regiment, brigade after brigade, in rapid succession was crushed," Gen. John Gordon recalled — and chased the fleeing army, taking prisoners, wagons and cannon.

The end of the cavalier

Early was beaten and Confederate resistance in the Valley ended, as Sheridan had promised Grant. Sheridan grasped the value of a well-equipped mounted arm; Early leaned on infantry and artillery, and that choice helped end the Army of the Valley.

Sources

Based on "Cavalry in the 1864 Fall Shenandoah Valley Campaign," 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. Stephen Z. Starr's history is quoted briefly; the participants' words are from 1864 sources.