R i g h t a r d i a: The other Union general that whipped the confederacy

Union Cavalry General Philip Sheridan

Many Americans think it was William T. Sherman's march to the sea that ended the war. The were many other great union leaders that made major contributions to the war effort such as Philip Henry Sheridan.

Throughout the Civil War, the Confederacy sent armies out of Virginia through the Shenandoah Valley to invade Maryland and Pennsylvania and threaten Washington, D.C.

Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early, following the same pattern in the Valley Campaigns of 1864, and hoping to distract Grant from the Siege of Petersburg, attacked Union forces near Washington and raided several towns in Pennsylvania.

Ulysses S. Grant, reacting to the political commotion caused by the invasion, organized the Middle Military Division, whose field troops were known as the Army of the Shenandoah.

He considered various candidates for command, including George Meade, William B. Franklin, and David Hunter, with the latter two intended for the military division while Phillip Sheridan would command the army.

All of these choices were rejected by either Grant or the War Department and, over the objection of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who believed Sheridan to be too young for such a high post.

Sheridan took command in both roles at Harpers Ferry on August 7, 1864. His mission was not only to defeat Early's army and to close off the Northern invasion route, but to deny the Shenandoah Valley as a productive agricultural region to the Confederacy.

Grant told Sheridan:

The people should be informed that so long as an army can subsist among them recurrences of these raids must be expected, and we are determined to stop them at all hazards. ... Give the enemy no rest ... Do all the damage to railroads and crops you can. Carry off stock of all descriptions, and negroes, so as to prevent further planting. If the war is to last another year, we want the Shenandoah Valley to remain a barren waste.

Sheridan got off to a slow start, needing time to organize and to counter the reinforcements reaching Early.

Grant ordered him not to launch an offensive "with the advantage against you," yet Grant expressed frustration with Sheridan's lack of progress.

The armies remained unengaged for over a month, causing political consternation in the North as the 1864 election drew near.

Grant and Sheridan conferred on September 16 at Charles Town and agreed that Sheridan would begin his attacks within four days.

On September 19, Sheridan beat Early's much smaller army at Third Winchester and followed up on September 22 with a victory at Fisher's Hill.

As Early attempted to regroup, Sheridan began the punitive operations of his mission, sending his cavalry as far south as Waynesboro to seize or destroy livestock and provisions, and to burn barns, mills, factories, and railroads.

Sheridan's men did their work relentlessly and thoroughly, rendering over 400 mi.² uninhabitable.

The destruction presaged the scorched earth tactics of Sherman's March to the Sea through Georgia—deny an army a base from which to operate and bring the effects of war home to the population supporting it.

The residents referred to this widespread destruction as "The Burning." The Confederates were not idle during this period and Sheridan's men were plagued by guerrilla raids by partisan ranger Col. John S. Mosby a famous confederate raider.

Although Sheridan assumed that Jubal Early was effectively out of action and he considered withdrawing his army to rejoin Grant at Petersburg. Early received reinforcements and, on October 19 at Cedar Creek, launched a well-executed surprise attack. Sheridan was absent from his army, ten miles away at Winchester.

Hearing the distant sounds of artillery, he rode aggressively to his command. He reached the battlefield about 10:30 a.m. and began to rally his men. Fortunately for Sheridan, Early's men were too occupied to take notice; they were hungry and exhausted and fell out to pillage the Union camps.

Sheridan's actions are generally credited with saving the day (although Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright, commanding Sheridan's VI Corps, had already rallied his men and stopped their retreat.

Early had been dealt his most significant defeat, rendering his army almost incapable of future offensive action. Sheridan received a personal letter of thanks from Abraham Lincoln and a promotion to major general in the regular army as of November 8, 1864, making him the fourth ranking general in the Army, after Grant, Sherman, and Meade.

Philip Henry Sheridan making his famous ride from Winchester (1868)

A famous poem, Sheridan's Ride, was written by Thomas Buchanan Read to commemorate the general's return to the battle. Sheridan reveled in the fame that Read's poem brought him, renaming his horse Rienzi to "Winchester," based on the poem's refrain, "Winchester, twenty miles away."

The poem was widely used in Republican campaign efforts and some have credited Abraham Lincoln's margin of victory to it.

Of interest, Lincoln defeated retired General George Brinton McClellan in the election of 1864. McClellan had been the commander of the Union army before Lincoln replaced him with the more aggressive and able Grant.

Gen. George S. Meade had also been Sheridan's commander and had reprimanded Sheridan for not performing his duties of screening and reconnaissance as ordered near Spotsylvania. Sheridan went directly to Meade's superior, General Grant, recommending that his corps be assigned to strategic raiding missions.

Many historians think if McClellan had been a more aggressive general and pursued confederate forces after victories, the war would have been over by 1863.

Meade's reprimand was responsible for Sheridan being reassigned directly under Grant where Sheridan rapidly rose to the rank of major general.

That led to Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley which was the beginning of the end of the confederacy.