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- Feb 23, 2013
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Part I - Genesis of the Battle of Cedar Creek
Keith Rocco's painting Reverse the Trenches depicts a dramatic moment during the Battle of Cedar Creek when outflanked and surprised Union troops were forced to cross to the opposite side of their breastworks to meet the Confederate morning assault.
Cedar Creek was the decisive final battle in the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign waged between the Union Army of the Shenandoah led by Maj. Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan and Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early's Confederate Army of the Valley. During the summer of 1864, Early's mission had been to threaten the Federal capital, Washington, D.C., thereby tying up as many Union troops as possible in the manner of his predecessor Stonewall Jackson in 1862. Early's small army had even moved through Maryland almost unopposed until brushing aside a blocking force at Monocacy and getting into the suburbs of Washington itself before being stopped by Federal troops hastily rushed from the Army of the Potomac. ( For more on Early's Raid please see: http://civilwartalk.com/threads/jubal-earlys-1864-raid-on-washington-d-c.103669/ )
Early then had fallen back into Virginia and for the months of July and August played a game of cat-and-mouse with the larger Union forces, even winning small battles at Cool Spring and Kernstown. Finally his luck had run out, however, when Lt. Gen. U. S. Grant sent Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan to take charge of the newly-christened Army of the Shenandoah with orders to crush Early, which he did at the twin September battles of Opequon/Third Winchester and Fisher's Hill. Early then withdrew his shattered army south to recuperate and await reinforcements from the Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg.
Above, Lt. Gen. Jubal Anderson Early and his nemesis Maj. Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan, seen as he appeared at this time sporting a full beard often omitted in drawings and paintings depicting Cedar Creek. Below, map of the entire area covered by the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign showing the principal engagements.
Attribution: Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com
By the middle of October Early had received the division of Maj. Gen. Joseph Kershaw which largely made up for the losses he had incurred at Winchester and Fisher's Hill, so he decided to resume the offensive. At this time Sheridan fortuitously was away attending a conference to decide what the next moves of his army would be now that the Confederate threat had been apparently neutralized. His army was scattered about the vicinity between the town of Strasburg north to the village of Middletown along the banks of meandering Cedar Creek and on the sprawling plantation known as Belle Grove. This area marked the north end of the geographic feature known as Massanutten Mountain, an elevation which dominated the landscape, as seen in the photo above taken from the much lower Hupp's Hill.
This drawing by artist-correspondent James E. Taylor who covered the campaign making highly detailed drawings depicts Early's second-in-command, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon viewing the spread-out Federal camps along Cedar Creek from the Confederate signal station on Three-Top or Massanutten Mountain's Signal Point; behind him stands Early's topographer Maj. Jedidiah Hotchkiss making notes. From this vantage point it was easy to discern the Federal camps had been positioned for convenience rather than proper military security, many being unsupported by the others, and therefore vulnerable to a surprise attack.
Next, Part II The Confederate attack at dawn.
Cedar Creek was the decisive final battle in the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign waged between the Union Army of the Shenandoah led by Maj. Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan and Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early's Confederate Army of the Valley. During the summer of 1864, Early's mission had been to threaten the Federal capital, Washington, D.C., thereby tying up as many Union troops as possible in the manner of his predecessor Stonewall Jackson in 1862. Early's small army had even moved through Maryland almost unopposed until brushing aside a blocking force at Monocacy and getting into the suburbs of Washington itself before being stopped by Federal troops hastily rushed from the Army of the Potomac. ( For more on Early's Raid please see: http://civilwartalk.com/threads/jubal-earlys-1864-raid-on-washington-d-c.103669/ )
Early then had fallen back into Virginia and for the months of July and August played a game of cat-and-mouse with the larger Union forces, even winning small battles at Cool Spring and Kernstown. Finally his luck had run out, however, when Lt. Gen. U. S. Grant sent Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan to take charge of the newly-christened Army of the Shenandoah with orders to crush Early, which he did at the twin September battles of Opequon/Third Winchester and Fisher's Hill. Early then withdrew his shattered army south to recuperate and await reinforcements from the Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg.
Above, Lt. Gen. Jubal Anderson Early and his nemesis Maj. Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan, seen as he appeared at this time sporting a full beard often omitted in drawings and paintings depicting Cedar Creek. Below, map of the entire area covered by the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign showing the principal engagements.
Attribution: Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com
By the middle of October Early had received the division of Maj. Gen. Joseph Kershaw which largely made up for the losses he had incurred at Winchester and Fisher's Hill, so he decided to resume the offensive. At this time Sheridan fortuitously was away attending a conference to decide what the next moves of his army would be now that the Confederate threat had been apparently neutralized. His army was scattered about the vicinity between the town of Strasburg north to the village of Middletown along the banks of meandering Cedar Creek and on the sprawling plantation known as Belle Grove. This area marked the north end of the geographic feature known as Massanutten Mountain, an elevation which dominated the landscape, as seen in the photo above taken from the much lower Hupp's Hill.
This drawing by artist-correspondent James E. Taylor who covered the campaign making highly detailed drawings depicts Early's second-in-command, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon viewing the spread-out Federal camps along Cedar Creek from the Confederate signal station on Three-Top or Massanutten Mountain's Signal Point; behind him stands Early's topographer Maj. Jedidiah Hotchkiss making notes. From this vantage point it was easy to discern the Federal camps had been positioned for convenience rather than proper military security, many being unsupported by the others, and therefore vulnerable to a surprise attack.
Next, Part II The Confederate attack at dawn.
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