Part 2
Part 2
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October 4-5: The Fifth New York Cavalry is detailed to burn houses and barns within a three mile radius of Dayton.
October 5: Sheridan starts the refugee wagons down the Valley Pike from Harrisonburg.
October 6: General mission of destruction begins. Sheridan pulls out of Harrisonburg with the infantry and artillery and Kidd's brigade of Michigan cavalry of the First Cavalry Division as a rear skirmish line. Col. Daniel Macauley's infantry brigade is assigned to burn and round up livestock along the pike. The other two First Cavalry Division brigades under Colonels Lowell and Devin move down the Middle Road and the Broadway Road respectively. Custer's Third Division moves down the Back Road; that evening it fends off attacks by Rosser's division at Brock's Gap.
October 7: Custer fans out to the east from the Back Road. His rear is attacked again, and he loses part of the cattle heard and some mobile forges.
October 8: Custer, Lowell, and Devin enter the pike near Edinburg and are reunited with the rest of the army. They continue burning, relieving Macauley's infantrymen of that duty.
October 9: The burning ends. The Union cavalry defeats the Confederate cavalry under Rosser and Lunsford Lomax at the battle of Tom's Brook in Shenandoah County. Jubal Early is still following the track of the Union forces down the pike.
October 19: Sheridan defeats Early at the battle of Cedar Creek. Early summoned the last of his strength and at dawn attacked Sheridan's forces in their camps at Cedar Creek north of Strasburg. With the element of surprise on his side he experienced success early in the day, but the starving Confederates stopped to eat in the camps from which they has just driven the Union soldiers, and the momentum was lost. That pause to fill drawn and empty stomachs gave the Northerners time to get their wits about them and regroup. (One Confederate soldier reportedly said, "I ain't eat in three day and neither has my horse.") Even without that fatal respite, the Confederates would have had little chance for a permanent success. Early's hungry and ill-supplied troops lacked staying power, and they were driven from the field later in the day. The Union victory largely ended Confederate resistance in the Shenandoah Valley.
November 8: Abraham Lincoln is reelected president of the United States.
The following is excerpted from a description of the Battle of Tom's Brook from the 1992 National Parks Service's study of the Shenandoah Valley Civil War sites:
Description of the Battle of Toms Brook
Principal Commanders: /c/ Maj. Gen. Thomas Rosser, Maj. Gen. Lunsford Lomax; /u/ Brig. Gen Alfred Torbert.
Forces engaged: /c/ Two cavalry divisions (Rosser and Lomax) about 3,500; /u/ Two cavalry divisions (Merritt and Custer) about 6,300. (Rosser and Custer had been roommates at West Point. The story is told that Rosser and Custer rode to the front of their respective lines on the Back Road before the battle and saluted each other.)
Phase One. Disposition of forces: On 8 October 1864, the Confederate Cavalry under overall command of Maj. Gen. Thomas Rosser harried the withdrawing U.S. cavalry on the Valley Pike and the Back Road. The SC Cavalry were enraged by the destruction of the Valley they had witnessed in the last week and were attempting to arrest further destruction. Rosser had been dispatched to the Valley from Petersburg to command the CS cavalry. At dark, Rosser halted his division of three brigades (about 2,500 men) on the Back Road in the vicinity of Spiker's Hill and pushed skirmishers beyond Tom's Brook to Mt. Olive. Maj. Gen. Lunsford Lomax's Division of two brigades and a battery of horse artillery (about 1,000 men) bivouacked on both sides of the Valley Pike behind Jordon Run just south of the hamlet of Tom's Brook.
Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt's U.S. Cavalry division (about 3,500 men) under overall command of Brig. Gen. Alfred Torbert encamped at the base of Round Hill. Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer's division of two brigades (about 2,500) bivouacked " behind Tumbling Run" northeast of Mt. Olive on the Back Road. Upset by Rosser's aggressive tactics of the previous days, army commander Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan ordered Torbert to move at daylight of 9 October and "whip the rebel cavalry or get whipped himself."
Phase Two. U.S. Advance on Valley Pike: Torbert planned to bring an overwhelming force against Rosser's division on the Back Road while holding Lomax's division at bay with a reinforced brigade on the Valley Pike. Lomax's main battle line was deployed behind Jordon Run on both sides of the Valley Pike, supported by six guns. His front line was dismounted, while he maintained a strong mounted reserve on the Pike.
At dawn, Lowell's brigade (Merritt) advanced to Tom's Brook on the Pike, deployed, and pushed forward "one-quarter of a mile" where it found Lomax's main line, dismounted behind Jordon Run. The CS line was supported by six guns placed on either side of the Valley Pike and a strong mounted reserve. While Lowell was engaged, Kidd's brigade rode north along Tom's Brook to connect and cooperate with Custer. Devin's brigade followed but veered off on the Harrisville Road (or overland) and advanced to the vicinity of St. Johns Church, maintaining a connection with the force on the Valley Pike and at the same time extending a skirmish line to connect with Kidd's brigade on the right.
Phase Three. Custer's Advance/Fighting on Back Road: Rosser dismounted most of his troopers behind Tom's Brook at the base of Spiker's Hill behind stone fences and rudimentary fieldworks (his brigades from left to right, Munford, Payne, and the Laurel brigade). Rosser's six guns unlimbered along the crest of Spiker's Hill slightly behind a second line of barricades. A mounted reserve was maintained on the ridge; the right was extended toward the Middle Road (no longer in existence) with mounted skirmishers.
Advancing beyond Mt. Olive, Custer pushed forward three regiments of dismounted skirmishers against the main CS position. Three other regiments and Wells' brigade were kept mounted and maneuvered for position behind the skirmish line. A battery of artillery unlimbered on the hill in front of present-day St. Matthews (or Sand Ridge) Lutheran Church and engaged the Confederate artillery on Spiker's Hill. When Kidd's brigade made contact with Custer's left, Custer extended his right flank along the shoulder of Little North Mountain, supporting the movement with a battery. Kidd deployed over the hill driving Rosser's skirmishers before him, and unlimbered another battery to enfilade the CS position. The Confederate line was gradually forced back into a horseshoe around the front of Spiker's Hill. A regiment of U.S. cavalry (probably of Devin's brigade), moving on the Middle Road from Harrisville arrived on a hill overlooking Sand Ridge Road (the intersection of the Middle Road) and to the right and rear of Rosser's Main force. Reacting to this threat, Rosser ordered a withdrawal. His men raced to mount their horses. At this point, Wells' brigade attacked Spiker's Hill up the Back Road, taking few casualties. At the crest, Wells encountered Munford's brigade and a mounted melee ensued. Rosser's force retreated, partly down Back Road to Pugh's Run, partly on sand Ridge and Middle roads toward Woodstock. Custer and Kidd's troopers pursued. General Sheridan is said to have watched the action from Round Hill, where there was a U.S. signal station during the battle.
Phase Four. Fighting on the Valley Pike: In the meantime, fighting continued along the Valley Pike. Lowell's brigade drove CS pickets back to Jordon Run and deployed on both sides of the Pike. The 1st Michigan (Kidd's brigade) supported Lowell's right flank, while Devin's brigade moved ****her to the right along the Middle Road beyond St Johns Church. As Devin maneuvered, Lomax counterattacked down the Valley Pike, driving the Reserve brigade back to Tom's Brook. Lowell, in turn, attacked until stopped by artillery. At Last, Devin reached a position from which to operate against the flanks of both Lomax and Rosser. He advanced the 9th NY and other elements against Lomax's left and rear (probably down current rte. 657), making Lomax's position untenable. The Confederates began to retreat up (down) the pike toward Woodstock.
Phase Five. Rear Guard Action at Pugh's Run: Rosser retreated, losing at least two of his guns at Spiker's Hill. Munford's brigade attempted a stand behind Pugh's Run on the Back Road, but this position was quickly breached. The CS cavalry continued to retreat to Columbia Furnace, losing the rest of its artillery and all of its wagons. Perhaps 150 CS prisoners were captured during this phase of the retreat.
Phase Six. Rear Guard Action at Woodstock: Lomax retreated up (down) the Valley Pike to Woodstock, where he was joined by a confused portion of Rosser's command. The forces attempted to stand behind Pugh's Run but were soon scattered. Union troopers pressed forward, driving the CS cavalry to Mt. Jackson. Lomax lost five pieces of artillery and his rolling stock during this rout – two pieces at Woodstock, two at Edinburgh, and the fifth beyond Stony Creek. The Union cavalry retired to the vicinity of Woodstock where it bivouacked for the night.
The flight of the CS Cavalry was referred to by Valley residents and victorious Union troopers as the "Woodstock Races."
Casualties: /c/ 350 (20k/50w/280m&c); /u/ 57 (10k/47w).
Summary:
(From The Burning, Heatwole)
With his arrival at Strasburg Sheridan considered the systematic destruction of the Valley to be concluded. Along the Valley Pike, Middle Road, and Broadway Road, Merritt's regiments alone had destroyed 630 barns, 47 flouring mills, 4 sawmills, 1 woolen mill, 3,982 tons of hay, straw and fodder, more than 3,000 head of livestock, 560 barrels of flour, 2 tanneries, 1 railroad depot, 1 locomotive engine, and 3 box cars. (It is estimated that some 2,000 barns were destroyed.)
Rosser came under harsh criticism from Jubal Early, but he had done all that he was capable of during under the circumstances. His vastly outnumbered men and horses had been campaigning hard with little or no sustenance for three days, and their nerves were raw. Trooper Whittle had written in his diary on the evening of the 8th, " I am fearfully hungry & no chance of anything. We have ridden very hard."
Sheridan's victory at Cedar Creek on the 19th was seen as a major turning point in the war in the government and military circles of the North. Early was no longer considered a threat, and the evidence of daily desertions by disheartened Confederates into Grant's lines at Petersburg made it evident that Lee would never again be able to detach units to the Valley. Colonel Hayes of the Twenty-third Ohio Infantry wrote that there would be "no more supplies to rebels from this valley" and that "no more invasions in great force by this route will be possible."
What Sheridan accomplished in the Shenandoah Valley did a great deal toward helping Lincoln win re-election in November. His opponent, former army commander George McClellan, appealed to the large portion of the populace that had grown weary of the gruesome casualty lists, which for so long seemed to have been generated without any gain to the union cause. Just before the election and following the victory at Cedar Creek, a Union cavalryman in Colonel Powell's division at Front Royal observed in a letter home that the Confederates, at least, still hoped the Lincoln administration would be turned out and a negotiated peace would result.
The burning of the Valley, however, created conditions that could no longer support a mobile Confederate force in numbers that would be of more than a passing concern to the Union high command. Equally important, the flow of supplies to Lee's army would necessarily reduced from a bountiful flood to a miserable trickle. And the Union troops in the field, exhilarated by their telling victories over the Confederates in the Valley, who were once perceived as invincible, could see the end of the war in sight. They would give Lincoln the votes he needed to enable him to bring the conflict to a successful conclusion.
Daniel Snyder of the Eleventh Virginia Cavalry wrote to his wife late in the fall:
"Oh I do trust you have been spared the destruction and desolation of home that many others have been called upon to experience above (south of) Strasburg (the entire width of this Valley from mountain to mountain) to 12 miles above Harrisonburg is complete destruction as far as the necessary supplies to subsist man or beast are concerned. You recollect the many fine barns, mills, etc. that met the eye on your way through it last winter. Nothing remains now but a pile of ashes and rubbish to mark the spot."
The Rockingham Register and Advertiser of February 24, 1865, reported that "the present winter will stand out, in all coming time as one of the hardest, one of the severest ever known in this latitude. It commenced very early, and has continued, with but a few days of intermission until the present period, within a week of the first spring month – March."
Respectfully,
SgtCSA
Bringing the