Book/Stop Recommendations for Cedar Creek

[DugGapRob]

I am hoping to visit Cedar Creek this summer having found reference to my ancestor's wounding there in a postwar letter from Peter McGlashan. I'm especially interested in learning Confederate locations, especially the 50th Ga. & Simms's Brigade. If anyone has any reading recommendations before or locations to visit, it'd be greatly appreciated.

 

[MWood1841]

looks like Simms Brigade was positioned in the far south section of the now Cedar Creek/Belle Grove NPS footprint.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

If anyone has any reading recommendations

Scott Patchan is reportedly working on a Cedar Creek book as a sequel to his excellent Last Battle of Winchester, but I don't think there's a release date.

 

[Jamieva]

For now it would be Werts From Winchester to Cedar Creek

 

[gjpratt]

looks like Simms Brigade was positioned in the far south section of the now Cedar Creek/Belle Grove NPS footprint.

View attachment 536664

View attachment 536665

This phase of the battle was preceded by the crossing of Cedar Creek a little further south. Kershaw's Division (which of course included Simms; Brigade) crossed at Bowman's Mill Ford. That site is well marked and well preserved. They then overran Thoburn's camp, another site welll preserved by the SVBF and accessible.

 

[Bruce Vail]

I didn't realize I-81 was so close to the battle site. I've driven through it dozens of times without knowing I was covering the same ground as my Confederate family ancestor who served in Cox's Brigade.

 

[gjpratt]

Edited ; looking for photos/maps that can be posted

 

[rpkennedy]

For now it would be Werts From Winchester to Cedar Creek

Agreed.

Ryan

 

[ETNConfederate]

Ted Mahr's Cedar Creek book is definitive. Hard to find, and expensive even as H. E. Howard books go. Jump on it if you find it for under $60.

Been to Cedar Creek twice. Mount Carmel Cemetery hits differently, once you realize exactly what happened there.

I cover the battle in my upcoming book, release date is still in work.

 

[Jamieva]

I didn't realize I-81 was so close to the battle site. I've driven through it dozens of times without knowing I was covering the same ground as my Confederate family ancestor who served in Cox's Brigade.

It parallels rt 11 (the valley pike) for almost the entire length of the Valley. If you truly want to follow your ancestors drive rt 11 not 81

 

[51st Georgia]

I am hoping to visit Cedar Creek this summer having found reference to my ancestor's wounding there in a postwar letter from Peter McGlashan. I'm especially interested in learning Confederate locations, especially the 50th Ga. & Simms's Brigade. If anyone has any reading recommendations before or locations to visit, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Please share anything you find since I am a 51st Georgia descendent (though my GG Grandfather was captured at Fort Sanders in Knoxville) and they were Simms boys also

 

[DugGapRob]

Please share anything you find since I am a 51st Georgia descendent (though my GG Grandfather was captured at Fort Sanders in Knoxville) and they were Simms boys also

Will do. Although I have no ancestors in the 51st, I feel connected. I was born and went to school in Terrell Co. (Company F), lived most of my life in Lee (Company B), and worked most of my life in Dougherty (Company K).
Speaking of Fort Sanders, I just picked up Digby Seymour's Divided Loyalties: Fort Sanders And The Civil War In East Tennessee.

 

[JeffBrooks]

The Guns of Cedar Creek by Thomas A. Lewis is an enjoyable read, if you go in understanding that it is more a work of literature than a deeply researched history book. The author cares much more about the personalities of the participants than about the intricate details of the battle.

 

[JeffBrooks]

Scott Patchan is reportedly working on a Cedar Creek book as a sequel to his excellent Last Battle of Winchester, but I don't think there's a release date.

That would be wonderful. I loved Shenandoah Summer and just started reading The Last Battle of Winchester.

 

[DugGapRob]

The Guns of Cedar Creek by Thomas A. Lewis is an enjoyable read, if you go in understanding that it is more a work of literature than a deeply researched history book. The author cares much more about the personalities of the participants than about the intricate details of the battle.

I'll definitely add that to the list. Thanks!

 

[LCYingling3rd]

I am hoping to visit Cedar Creek this summer having found reference to my ancestor's wounding there in a postwar letter from Peter McGlashan. I'm especially interested in learning Confederate locations, especially the 50th Ga. & Simms's Brigade. If anyone has any reading recommendations before or locations to visit, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Hello, you are getting excellent advice. Unfortunately, I am down south for the winter, otherwise I would enjoy touring with you; I have ancestors that fought on both sides at Cedar Creek, and I have been studying it since I found that fact out in the late 1980's.

I did pick up a copy of Theodore Mahr's excellent book on the battle back in the 1990's when it was a bit more reasonably priced. It is available on Amazon and a bit pricey, however, if you can find a reasonable copy. I think it is worth it. Of all the Cedar Creek books he gets into the most detail at the Regimental level. I don't have my copy with me, or I would check the index to see how often the 50th GA is mentioned. That is the best book in my mind.

I also agree that Jeffery Wert's excellent "From Winchester to Cedar Creek" book is the next best Cedar Creek book. That book would be interesting because I recall that it covers the coming and going of Kershaw's Division to and from the Shenandoah Valley. It was Sheridan hearing that Kershaw had left the Valley that prompted his assault at Winchester on September 19, 1864.

What was said about Thomas A Lewis's book, "The Guns of Cedar Creek" is true. He focuses on the personalities of some of the characters in the battle. I have a soft spot for that book because I got to meet him and talk to him at one of the reenactments where he was the announcer. A great fellow. And I like the book because he does give the best descriptions of some of the generals.

Another book that I like is Jonathan Noyalas' "The Battle of Cedar Creek: Victory from the Jaws of Defeat." He is a professor at Shenandoah University in Winchester. A great historian and super nice fellow! It is not as detailed as Mahr or Wert, yet it is a good introduction. And he provides an interesting argument that the 19th Corps fought far better than their reputation indicates.

Interestingly, a very good little paperback book is Joseph W. A. Whitehorne's "Battle of Cedar Creek: A Self Guiding Tour." I believe you can download and print out the pdf here:

https://www.history.army.mil/html/books/070/70-25/cmhPub_70-25.pdf

If not, you can pick it up at Cedar Creek. I highly recommend that you stop at the small (tiny really) NPS Visitors Center in a little strip mall on RT 11 in the village of Middletown. The Rangers there are excellent and will be glad to help - possibly even arranging a tour. I would also suggest that you visit the small Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation shop and museum just south of Middletown. They organize the annual Cedar Creek Reenactment and have preserved a large segment of the battlefield across the street from their little museum shop. They have a decent bookstore and fledgling museum.

I will also highly recommend you stopping up the road at the wonderful Court House Museum in Winchester, VA. The 1850's Court House has been transformed into a lovely museum by the Shanandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation (SVBF). A wonderful organization, they are primarily responsible for preserving nearly all (literally!) of the southern end of the Cedar Creek Battlefield - particularly where Kershaw's' Division Forded the Creek and climbed the hills to assault Thoburn's Army of West Virginia position. Not only is the Courthouse Museum excellent, but the people there can be a big help since they preserved so much of Cedar Creek, and they too have a nice bookshop.

Enjoy your touring. The more you learn before you go, the better. The SVBF has also preserved a large segment of Fisher's Hill south of Strasburg, VA Although Kershaw and the 50th GA would not have been at the battle of Fisher's Hill on 9/22/64, they would have camped there prior to the battle of Cedar Creek and would have marched form there into battle. You could start your tour at Fisher's Hill and wind your way through Strasburg to Bowman's ford and, using Joe Whitehorne's self-guided tour book, follow the path of the 50th through the 8th Corps camps, through the 19th Corps camps past the beautiful Belle Grove Plantation (also a wonderful stop) and up onto Red Hill where Kershaw's troops dislodged the Union 6th Corps. You can follow their progress through Middletown to the Miller Farm property, also recently acquired for preservation by the SVBF, where the Confederate troops formed for the afternoon assault. Although it was Ramseur's Division right at the Miller farm, Kershaw's Division was on Ramseur's left on the road that runs past the farmhouse.

As a side note. Just south of Cedar Creek and north of Strasburg, VA (right off of I-81 actually) is Hupp's Hill. There was a minor skirmish there on October 13, 1864, just before the battle of Cedar Creek. That is worth a stop for you. I believe Kershaw was engaged in that fight. There is a small Visitor's Center there with a very nice little museum. It has quite a few Cedar Creek artifacts. There are also some very well-preserved trenches and artillery lunettes there.

This CivilWarTalk website has annual gatherings, called Musters, to tour battlefields, museums, meet, talk and have a grand time. I was lucky enough to attend the 2023 Muster what was a tour of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields. The staff of the SVBF was wonderful and provided excellent tours of battlefields they have preserved. It was wonderful. We were actually some of the first people to get to see the Miller Farm property. And we had a fantastic tour of where Kershaw fought at Cedar Creek.

Enjoy.... If I can think of any other resources for you, I will post them.

Lew

 

[lelliott19]

I am hoping to visit Cedar Creek this summer having found reference to my ancestor's wounding there in a postwar letter from Peter McGlashan. I'm especially interested in learning Confederate locations, especially the 50th Ga. & Simms's Brigade. If anyone has any reading recommendations before or locations to visit, it'd be greatly appreciated.

That's awesome. When are you going? I have a friend who lives up there and knows all about Cedar Creek - we spent a week there a few years ago and he took us all over the battlefield and the Valley. He and his brother grew up in a house that is now part of the SVBF preserved land.

Anyway, I agree with all the book recommendations so far and would add that the letters/memoirs of Bryan Grimes shed some light on Confederate positions at Cedar Creek. Extracts of Letters of Major-Gen'l Bryan Grimes, to His Wife: Written While in Active Service in the Army of Northern Virginia. Together with some Personal Recollections of the War, Written by Him after its Close, etc. can be found here: https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/grimes/grimes.html

You might also enjoy reading Scott Patchan's work on Thoburn in preparation for your visit.

We visited Cedar Creek as part of the 2023 CWT Muster event as mentioned in some of the posts above. The content showing some of the stops is located in this thread.

We're Going Live from Winchester: the official 2023 CWT Muster | Traveler's Companion - Visit Historic Sites

It was a great day. Thanks for all your work to plan this to the team 😉

civilwartalk.com

 

[lelliott19]

Also there's a pretty enlightening confederate account by John Seymour McNeily (E/21st MS) of Barksdale/Humphreys' brigade in The Times Dispatch. (Richmond, VA), November 13, 1904, 26.

The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, November 13, 1904, Page 2, Image 26

The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, November 13, 1904, Page 2, Image 26, brought to you by Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

 

[LCYingling3rd]

That's awesome. When are you going? I have a friend who lives up there and knows all about Cedar Creek - we spent a week there a few years ago and he took us all over the battlefield and the Valley. He and his brother grew up in a house that is now part of the SVBF preserved land.

Anyway, I agree with all the book recommendations so far and would add that the letters/memoirs of Bryan Grimes shed some light on Confederate positions at Cedar Creek. Extracts of Letters of Major-Gen'l Bryan Grimes, to His Wife: Written While in Active Service in the Army of Northern Virginia. Together with some Personal Recollections of the War, Written by Him after its Close, etc. can be found here: https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/grimes/grimes.html

You might also enjoy reading Scott Patchan's work on Thoburn in preparation for your visit.
View attachment 536854


We visited Cedar Creek as part of the 2023 CWT Muster event as mentioned in some of the posts above. The content showing some of the stops is located in this thread.

We're Going Live from Winchester: the official 2023 CWT Muster | Traveler's Companion - Visit Historic Sites

It was a great day. Thanks for all your work to plan this to the team 😉

civilwartalk.com

I will have to order that book. I have several of his books on the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign and would love it if he was working on a Cedar Creek book as well.

I really enjoyed our stop at the "Thoburn's Redoubt" site which the SVBF had preserved. Your friend provided such a wonderful description of what happened there. The fact that he grew up right there digging up artifacts as he played made me jealous! LOL What a spectacular place to have a childhood. Of course, your awesome presentation down at the bottom of the hill at the ford was wonderful! I truly appreciated that!

I was lucky to have been back there last year for the 160th Anniversary events. Our friends of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation were able to make announcements about three more wonderful preservation efforts including the Hite Farm property just below the Thoburn's Redoubt site. That makes it certain that essentially all the ground Kershaw's Division fought on will be preserved for future generations to study, honor, and enjoy!

 

[DugGapRob]

Hello, you are getting excellent advice. Unfortunately, I am down south for the winter, otherwise I would enjoy touring with you; I have ancestors that fought on both sides at Cedar Creek, and I have been studying it since I found that fact out in the late 1980's.

I did pick up a copy of Theodore Mahr's excellent book on the battle back in the 1990's when it was a bit more reasonably priced. It is available on Amazon and a bit pricey, however, if you can find a reasonable copy. I think it is worth it. Of all the Cedar Creek books he gets into the most detail at the Regimental level. I don't have my copy with me, or I would check the index to see how often the 50th GA is mentioned. That is the best book in my mind.

I also agree that Jeffery Wert's excellent "From Winchester to Cedar Creek" book is the next best Cedar Creek book. That book would be interesting because I recall that it covers the coming and going of Kershaw's Division to and from the Shenandoah Valley. It was Sheridan hearing that Kershaw had left the Valley that prompted his assault at Winchester on September 19, 1864.

What was said about Thomas A Lewis's book, "The Guns of Cedar Creek" is true. He focuses on the personalities of some of the characters in the battle. I have a soft spot for that book because I got to meet him and talk to him at one of the reenactments where he was the announcer. A great fellow. And I like the book because he does give the best descriptions of some of the generals.

Another book that I like is Jonathan Noyalas' "The Battle of Cedar Creek: Victory from the Jaws of Defeat." He is a professor at Shenandoah University in Winchester. A great historian and super nice fellow! It is not as detailed as Mahr or Wert, yet it is a good introduction. And he provides an interesting argument that the 19th Corps fought far better than their reputation indicates.

Interestingly, a very good little paperback book is Joseph W. A. Whitehorne's "Battle of Cedar Creek: A Self Guiding Tour." I believe you can download and print out the pdf here:

https://www.history.army.mil/html/books/070/70-25/cmhPub_70-25.pdf

If not, you can pick it up at Cedar Creek. I highly recommend that you stop at the small (tiny really) NPS Visitors Center in a little strip mall on RT 11 in the village of Middletown. The Rangers there are excellent and will be glad to help - possibly even arranging a tour. I would also suggest that you visit the small Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation shop and museum just south of Middletown. They organize the annual Cedar Creek Reenactment and have preserved a large segment of the battlefield across the street from their little museum shop. They have a decent bookstore and fledgling museum.

I will also highly recommend you stopping up the road at the wonderful Court House Museum in Winchester, VA. The 1850's Court House has been transformed into a lovely museum by the Shanandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation (SVBF). A wonderful organization, they are primarily responsible for preserving nearly all (literally!) of the southern end of the Cedar Creek Battlefield - particularly where Kershaw's' Division Forded the Creek and climbed the hills to assault Thoburn's Army of West Virginia position. Not only is the Courthouse Museum excellent, but the people there can be a big help since they preserved so much of Cedar Creek, and they too have a nice bookshop.

Enjoy your touring. The more you learn before you go, the better. The SVBF has also preserved a large segment of Fisher's Hill south of Strasburg, VA Although Kershaw and the 50th GA would not have been at the battle of Fisher's Hill on 9/22/64, they would have camped there prior to the battle of Cedar Creek and would have marched form there into battle. You could start your tour at Fisher's Hill and wind your way through Strasburg to Bowman's ford and, using Joe Whitehorne's self-guided tour book, follow the path of the 50th through the 8th Corps camps, through the 19th Corps camps past the beautiful Belle Grove Plantation (also a wonderful stop) and up onto Red Hill where Kershaw's troops dislodged the Union 6th Corps. You can follow their progress through Middletown to the Miller Farm property, also recently acquired for preservation by the SVBF, where the Confederate troops formed for the afternoon assault. Although it was Ramseur's Division right at the Miller farm, Kershaw's Division was on Ramseur's left on the road that runs past the farmhouse.

As a side note. Just south of Cedar Creek and north of Strasburg, VA (right off of I-81 actually) is Hupp's Hill. There was a minor skirmish there on October 13, 1864, just before the battle of Cedar Creek. That is worth a stop for you. I believe Kershaw was engaged in that fight. There is a small Visitor's Center there with a very nice little museum. It has quite a few Cedar Creek artifacts. There are also some very well-preserved trenches and artillery lunettes there.

This CivilWarTalk website has annual gatherings, called Musters, to tour battlefields, museums, meet, talk and have a grand time. I was lucky enough to attend the 2023 Muster what was a tour of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields. The staff of the SVBF was wonderful and provided excellent tours of battlefields they have preserved. It was wonderful. We were actually some of the first people to get to see the Miller Farm property. And we had a fantastic tour of where Kershaw fought at Cedar Creek.

Enjoy.... If I can think of any other resources for you, I will post them.

Lew

I certainly appreciate all of this info. I will definitely work this into my itinerary and reading list.