Sheridan's Valley Campaign
|
Sheridan's Valley Campaign |
|
While I. N. was straggling, seeing pretty ladies and going on black berrying expeditions, the Confederate raid on Washington and burning of Chambersburg was focusing the attention of the Union leadership on the continuing ineffectiveness of Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley. President Lincoln was concerned with the political consequences of enemy forces operating in Union territory, including the outskirts of the capitol, only months before the 1864 presidential elections. General Grant saw that his strategy of applying pressure on all fronts to keep the Confederate forces on the defensive was not working in the Shenandoah.
Grant proposed, and the military establishment eventually agreed, to consolidate the four existing military departments in the area into a single command under Major General Philip H. Sheridan, who had distinguished himself as a cavalry commander in the Army of the Potomac. Additional troops, including a division of cavalry, were transferred from the Richmond-Petersburg area to this new force, joining the 6th and 19th Corps, which had become linked with Crook's 8th Corps under Hunter's command after being rushed to the defense of Washington. General Hunter himself was to remain in an administrative post, but instead he chose to resign.
I. N.'s diary is uncharacteristically blank for a week after August 1, but this week saw Hunter's forces chasing around Western Maryland, apparently in response to the Chambersburg raid and fears that Early was again on the march toward Washington. Grant and Sheridan travelled separately to Hunter's field headquarters, then near Monocacy Bridge, Maryland, and met on August 6. There Grant personally handed Sheridan his marching orders, which were to initiate and maintain contact with Early's forces, drive them south, and to take every opportunity to confiscate or destroy any provisions, forage and stock which might be useful to the Confederate war effort. The troops were put on trains and sent back to the Shenandoah Valley, where they camped on the banks of the Shenandoah near Halltown, just south of Harpers Ferry. Early responded by concentrating in the area of Bunker Hill, directly to the west and on the Valley Pike.
On August 9, I. N.'s diary entries resumed, in a new section of his notebook, with the heading 'Page 1st'. Perhaps I. N. felt that a new chapter was being written in the currently rather disappointing military story of his army. Colonel Wildes literally began a new chapter in his Record of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, opening with the words 'A new era had now dawned upon the Valley, and its little army, that had been buffeted about for so long, was now to enter upon a new experience'. Col. Wildes listed the addition of the 6th and 19th Corps, large bodies of cavalry under the best officers in the army, adequate supplies of clothing and food, rest, and the return of 'stragglers, the sick, and the sore and lame from over-marching when barefooted', as factors leading to the growth of strength and esprit de corps. I. N. reported resting on the banks of Shenandoah and being serenaded by the 2nd Division Band as the sun was 'disappearing behind the horizon'.
This idyllic scene ended abruptly at 4 A.M. the following day, August 10, as the army began a rapid advance up the valley to a point near Berryville. Sheridan's plan was to get south of Early and across his lines of communications, reinforcement and retreat before initiating battle. Early responded by moving his forces further south, so the following day Sheridan's forces continued their march, nearly reaching Front Royal before camping for the night 'in a cornefield in sight of Ashbey's Gap', in I. N.'s words. I. N. reported this to be a 'very hard march' during which they heard skirmishing in front nearly all day. This day, August 11, was also notable both to I. N. and to Colonel Wildes for an accidental shooting during the march.
On August 12, the army turned west toward the Valley Pike at Cedar Creek hoping to cut off the Confederate forces. Early, however, had continued his withdrawal along the Valley Pike where he remained south of the Union forces. I. N. reported that after arriving at Cedar Creek about 2 PM the troops 'drew up in line of battle on the high ground near the stream'. Although the enemy was in 'plane view' and I. N. expected a 'very big battle' and skirmishers from the 6th Corps were actually 'engaging them now', Sheridan declined to attack. The Confederates withdrew during the night to a strong position at Fishers Hill. August 13 was the second anniversary of I. N.'s enlistment in 'Uncle Sam's servise', and I. N. reflected that 'kind providence has seen fit to spare my life thus far & pray he will continue so to do'. They received no orders to move, although I. N. could hear occasional firing. On August 14, 6th Corps skirmishers again drove the enemy skirmishers back, but although I. N. again wrote that battle was 'expected yet this eve' there was no general engagement.
On August 15, I. N. reported that the 116th was assigned picket duty and that Col. Wildes was field officer of the day. Later, he wrote that Col. Wildes sent him with an order to Capt. Mallory, commanding the 116th, that he stayed all night, and that the enemy was quite near. Col. Wildes, in his Record of the 116th, states that on this day the 116th and the 14th West Virginia, under his command, were sent out to retake a signal station on Three Top Mountain, at the very tip of the Massanutten Range that separates the valleys of the North Fork and the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. This point, which may be the peak labelled Signal Knob on modern topographic maps, rises 1500 feet over the Shenandoah Valley, less than a mile away, and provides a excellent vantage point for observation and communications.
According to Col. Wildes, the attacking force was insufficient to dislodge the Confederates holding the signal station, and the Rebels took advantage of their possession of the signal station to signal troops in the Valley to attempt to cut off the attackers. Col. Wildes' force withdrew to the base of the mountain, then, after Union troops had driven off the Confederate intercepting force, advanced up the mountain a second time. This time they received an order to fall back to the foot of the mountain and remain on picket duty during the night. It was 'an exciting night for pickets' since 'firing was kept up nearly all night'. Was I. N. the messenger who relayed the order from Col. Wildes in the rear to Capt. Mallory at the front, then remained with the pickets during this 'exciting night'?
The following day, August 16, Union cavalry encountered a Confederate column in the Front Royal area, apparently advancing to reinforce Early. This appeared to confirm information Sheridan had received from Grant that a force consisting of a division of infantry, some cavalry and a battalion of artillery had left the Petersburg area and was apparently on its way to the Shenandoah Valley. Grant's message had added that Sheridan should therefore assume a more defensive posture until pressure on Petersburg forced Lee to recall these troops. Consequently, Sheridan began a 'retrograde movement' down the Valley Pike (north). I. N. wrote that his unit received orders in the evening to be ready to march at 8 P.M., and they arrived at Winchester about 4 A.M. on August 17. After a few hours of sleep and breakfast, they were 'on the march' again, through Winchester and out the Berryville Pike to Berryville, which they reached about 6 P.M.
From the signal station on Three Top, the Confederates had observed the 'retrograde movement' and followed the Union forces north. Union cavalry spread out across the Valley ahead of the advancing Confederates to slow the advance and to implement the Union strategy of removing or destroying anything of value to the war effort in any territory they abandonned.
The retreat resumed on August 18, with I. N.'s unit marching from Berryville about 7 miles north on the Charles Town road where they camped in what he felt was a good position for a fight. On August 19, they did not march, and I. N. took the opportunity to do some washing, and also obtained some flour and arranged to have it cooked. On August 20, they marched an additional 5 miles or so to the vicinity of Charles Town.
General Early's forces had continued to follow the Union withdrawal, and on August 21 he attacked the Union forces near Summit Point. Union cavalry prevented the Confederate forces from combining for an effective assault, and after dark the Union forces withdrew through Charles Town towards Halltown, where on August 22, they proceeded to erect defensive fortifications with their right flank resting on the Potomac and their left on the Shenandoah. Skirmishing continued on August 23, while the troops improved their positions. On August 24, I. N. reported that Union troops drove the Rebel skirmishers back while he was occupied with replenishing the officer's mess from supplies at Bolivar Heights.
After testing the Union defenses in front of Halltown, Early withdrew a portion of his force for a move around the Union right, apparently intending to cross the Potomac at Shepherdstown for another raid into Maryland or Pennsylvania. This partial withdrawal and flank movement was discovered by Union cavalry, however, who briefly engaged an entire Confederate Corps near Leetown on August 25, accounting for the cannonading noted by I. N. Sheridan responded with an attack on the diminished forces remaining in his front on August 26. The 116th Ohio led the Union forces into this attack and lost heavily: 3 killed and 25 wounded, although none from Company B. (I. N., however, reported that he suffered from a severe headache on the following day, August 27.) Driven back from Halltown and prevented by cavalry from crossing the Potomac, Early withdrew to a position near Bunker Hill.
After three weeks of maneuvering, both armies were now in essentially the same positions they had been in when Sheridan first arrived in the Valley. Sheridan now repeated his earlier movements by extending his lines south to Charles Town on August 28. Charles Town apparently held a fascination to the Union forces as the place where John Brown had been hanged in 1859. Col. Wildes noted that the troops always sang 'John Brown's Body' when passing through Charles Town, much to the annoyance of the citizens.
The army remained in the vicinity of Charles Town for nearly a week, occupying the same position they had held a week earlier. I. N.'s diary entries for this period report his health (not good, very much under the weather) and the fact that he received 4 months' pay ($50) on August 30. The troops 'pulled up stakes' and marched to Berryville on September 3.
Meanwhile, faced with continuing pressure on the Petersburg front and convinced that Sheridan was no more of a threat than his predecessors in command of Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley, General Lee recalled the units which he had sent to Early in August. These troops, marching from the vicinity of Bunker Hill to Ashby's Gap via Berryville, happened to run into the left of the Union line, including the 116th Ohio, on the evening of September 3, and a brief but sharp engagement was fought. This Battle of Berryville continued when Early brought up the remainder of his force on the morning of September 4. However, Early concluded that the Union forces were too well fortified to attack, and he returned to the vicinity of Winchester after dark.
The troops remained in their position September 5 and fortified it with earthworks. September 6 was quite stormy, and I. N. and two comrades built a shanty. On September 7, I. N. went foraging, getting some hay, some 'very fine apples', a small dish of bread and butter and some milk.
As part of a realignment of Union forces, the 116th Ohio marched from their position near Berryville on the extreme left of the army to a point near Smithfield on the extreme right on September 8. On this day they also learned that Captain Keyes had died of the severe wounds received in the assault on Lynchburg, after being left behind in the Union retreat. As the ranking officer in Company B, 'Cap Keyes' had evidently been quite an inspiration to I. N., but he was also highly respected by the other officers of the regiment as indicated by the special resolution they adopted in his honor.
The 116th remained in their new position for over a week, while Sheridan waited for the opportunity to deliver a knockout blow to Early. I. N.'s diary entries for this period describe the details of camp life: mail delivery, a supply train and the regimental wagon (September 9), sending a letter (September 10), entertaining a fellow regimental commander (September 11), building a table out of a gun box (September 12), more foraging, this time for grapes (September 13), the weather (stormy again on September 14), a general inspection (September 15), an issue of underwear (September 16), a general cleaning up (September 17), a regimental inspection (September 18).
As Sheridan continued to prepare for a general assault on Early's forces, pressure mounted in the press and among the Union leadership for more decisive action. Even General Grant became concerned and travelled again to the Shenandoah to meet with Sheridan on September 17 in Charles Town. By this time Sheridan had already formed plans for an attack on September 19, and Grant merely offered his approval with what is said to be his briefest command: 'Go in'. Sheridan's confidence was enhanced by intelligence indicating another recall of Confederate troops to Petersburg, and by the knowledge that Early had detached some of his forces for another raid on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Martinsburg.
The Battle of Opequon, or Third Winchester, was fought on September 19. It was the largest and costliest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley, resulting in nearly 9,000 casualties, and was a decisive Union victory. The 6th and 19th Corps advanced on the Berryville Pike towards Winchester in the early morning, crossing Opequon Creek and gradually pushing the Confederate forces back in very heavy fighting. In the afternoon, the 8th Corps, including the 116th Ohio, maneuvered around the enemy's left flank and a final coordinated attack by the entire force drove the Confederates back through Winchester. The 116th Ohio suffered 34 casualties, including 2 killed and 1 wounded from Company B.
The Confederates regrouped at Fishers Hill, about 20 miles further south, on the following day, with Sheridan's forces in pursuit.The Battle of Fishers Hill was fought on September 21 and 22. During the afternoon of the 21st, the 6th and 19th Corps gradually advanced against the Confederates who held a fortified line across the entire width of the Valley at Fishers Hill. On the 22nd, Crook's 8th Corps, including the 116th Ohio, again worked its way around the enemy's left flank, this time by climbing the side of Little North Mountain. Once behind the enemy's front lines, Crook's forces turned left and rolled up the enemy lines, acheiving almost total surprise. Being on the extreme left of this flank attack, the 116th Ohio advanced against the actual front-line troops manning the works, and consequently suffered disproportionate casualties, particularly Company B, with 1 killed and 3 wounded out of a total of 11 casualties for the regiment. As I. N. noted in his diary, however, his place at both Opequon and Fishers Hill was with the Colonel's horses, which presumably kept him relatively distant from the actual fighting.
While the rest of the army continued the pursuit of Early, the 116th Ohio stayed behind on September 23 to guard prisoners, collect captured property and bury the dead. The following day, September 24, with the prisoners sent to the rear, the regiment marched up the Valley, camping for the night near where they had been defeated at the Battle of New Market only about four months earlier. On September 25, they rejoined the remainder of the army at Harrisonburg, where they remained for the next week. I. N. took advantage of the relative inactivity by getting a boot fixed on September 26.
During their stay in the Harrisonburg area, I. N. apparently distinguished himself, at least in his colonel's eyes, for his foraging exploits. Colonel Wildes' Report explains that at the time they were very short on rations, especially the officers, and Sergeant Walker and 'Orderly Webster' were sent out daily with forage trains. On September 27, I. N.'s diary notes that he went on a forage train with Sergeant Walker and got some 'bread butter cabeach tomatoes' and 'some very fine apples'. Col. Wildes quotes Sgt. Walker's diary for September 27: 'Webster and I each got three large loaves of bread, two heads of cabbage, beets, tomatoes, onions, etc'. Although I. N. doesn't mention it, Sgt. Walker wrote that he again went out with Orderly Webster on September 29, but they got nothing. On September 30, I. N.'s and Sgt. Walker's diaries agree that they obtained 'bread butter apple butter chickens cabich sweet potatoes', with Walker adding a 'bucketfull of honey'. Col. Wildes concluded that the general results showed that Walker and Webster were good foragers.
I. N.'s diary indicates that nothing much happened on October 1, but on October 2 the 116th was sent to Dayton, about 5 miles southwest. Col. Wildes explained that this movement was made to guard some mills which were grinding grain for the army, since Rebel cavalry was active in the area and 'Bushwhackers also infested the roads between there and Harrisonburg, and frequently fired on small parties passing to and fro'.
One small party passing back to Harrisonburg on October 3 after visiting Dayton included Lieutenant Meigs, who was the son of the Quartermaster General of the Union Army and was chief of engineers on Gen. Sheridan's staff. The party was ambushed, but one of the escorts escaped and rode back to Dayton to report the attack. A detachment from the 116th was sent to investigate and found that Lt. Meigs had been killed.
Gen. Sheridan was determined to send a message to the citizens of the area, who were generally assumed to be supporters of the 'bushwhackers' if not active partisans themselves. The message was to be the burning of every building within 5 miles of the ambush, which included the village of Dayton. When the order reached Col. Wildes on October 4, he protested to Gen. Sheridan and eventually persuaded Sheridan to spare Dayton. Although much of the surrounding countryside was 'illuminated', in I. N.'s words, Dayton was not. Today there is a monument in Dayton to Col. Wildes commemorating his role in sparing the town, reputedly one of the only monuments to a Union officer in the former Confederate states.
After remaining in Dayton on October 5 ('no burning today'), the regiment pulled out on the morning of October 6, marching down the Valley Pike about 26 miles, in I. N.'s estimation, to the vicinity of New Market and Mount Jackson. The following day, October 7, I. N. reported that they continued about 15 miles, camping about 3 miles short of Woodstock. On October 8, they marched on to Fishers Hill. I. N. noted that the Rebels were following them closely, with 'quite heavy cannonading in the rear'. This was the Confederate cavalry and horse artillery, stepping up their pressure on the Union cavalry, which was implementing the Union policy of burning all supplies remaining in the abandoned territory while covering the army's withdrawal.
The Confederate cavalry's increased aggressiveness irritated Gen. Sheridan, and he ordered his own cavalry commander, General Torbert, into a decisive battle with the order to 'whip the enemy or be whipped himself'. On October 9, in the Battle of Toms Brook, the Union cavalry in two wings under Generals Merritt and Custer did 'whip' the enemy and drove them 25 miles up the Pike, through Wookstock, to the Mount Jackson area. This cavalry battle, and the disorganized rout that became known as the 'Woodstock Races', resulted in the capture of 11 pieces of artillery and virtually all other rolling stock, as well as around 350 prisoners, and effectively removed the Confederate cavalry as an effective combat unit in the Shenandoah for the remainder of the war.
The rumor reported by I. N. on this day, that four pieces of artillery had been captured 'yesterday', must have been false (unless the diary entry was actually written the next day). However, on October 10, he wrote that he actually saw five of the captured guns and about 25 wagons, apparently being driven to the rear by prisoners. The 11 guns captured at Toms Brook, in addition to the five captured at Opequon and 16 from Fishers Hill caused Union soldiers to joke that the cannons were being sent from Richmond to 'P. H. Sheridan, care of General Early'.
Col. Wildes, in his Record of the 116th, gives a much more colorful, and highly dubious, account of this battle, which he says was in plain view from his vantage point on Round Hill. Col. Wildes appears to credit the 116th Ohio with turning the flank of Rosser's division of Confederate cavalry, causing it to give way and break into a stampede, which Custer then pursued for over twenty miles. I. N., who could be expected to be with either the Colonel (or his horses) or the regiment itself, does not mention anything like this in his diary, instead stating that they were camping at Fishers Hill. There does not seem to be any other support for this claim, or, in fact, of any infantry involvement in the Battle of Toms Brook.
On October 11, the troops resumed their march through Strasburg and across Cedar Creek, where I. N. reported that they encamped on the heights and held their election. Col. Wildes in his Record of the 116th explained that this election was for state and county offices in Ohio, and was held under the law authorizing soldiers to vote in the field. Generals Sheridan and Crook, Ohio residents, also voted in these elections.
The army remained in their camp at Cedar Creek on October 12. I. N. reported that nothing strange transpired, that he received a letter from home and wrote two letters home, that the day was very pleasant and his health quite good. He then noted that he was seated on the root of a hickory tree and the withered leaves were falling around him, and that reminded him that 'we too must wither and fade away to our mother earth in the autumn of our life'.
On October 13, I. N. and his comrades were again brought back to reality by sudden shellfire from a Confederate battery across the creek. Early had continued to follow the Union forces as they moved north, and had reestablished a position at Fishers Hill. A reconaissance party had advanced as far as Hupp Hill and, seeing the Union forces in camp had opened fire on them. Two brigades of Union infantry were sent forward to investigate. As they neared Hupp Hill they found it protected by two Confederate divisions. The Union detachment was ordered to withdraw, but the 1st Brigade, which included the 116th Ohio, did not receive the order and was forced back across Cedar Creek in furious fighting.
This short but sharp action cost over 200 casualties, including the brigade commander, Col. Wells of the 34th Massachusetts. The 116th Ohio suffered one killed, seven wounded and five taken prisoner, although, as I. N. noted, none from Company B. Col. Wildes was selected to replace Col. Wells as brigade commander, and I. N. accompanied him as orderly, so as I. N. noted in his diary for October 14, he was now at brigade headquarters, 1st Brigade, 1st Division (of Gen. Crook's command, which was known as the 8th or VIII Corps or the Army of West Virginia). Command of the 116th Ohio was passed to Capt. Teters of Company H.
Everything went off smoothly on their first day at brigade headquarters, according to I. N. on October 15. The next day, October 16, I. N. reported that they marched about a mile to the front and began fortifying their new position. He also guessed that he would get a horse soon, presumably a necessity for the orderly to a brigade commander. The men were busy putting up breastworks on October 17, and I. N. reported that a man was trying to get him a horse, but griped that it would probably be an 'old plug'. Although the troops may have moved their position further to the front, I. N. reported on October 18 that brigade headquarters was moved further to the rear.
Meanwhile, General Early and the his lieutenants plotted their revenge for the three devastating reverses in the last month. From the signal station on Three Top Mountain, they could clearly see the Union positions and everything that went on in the Union camp. They formulated a plan to cross to the south side of the North Fork of the Shenandoah during the night, follow the Manassas Gap Railroad and local trails around the base of the Massanutten Mountain until they were beyond the Union lines, then recross the North Fork behind the lines. At daybreak, then would fall on the flanks and rear of the sleeping Union camp and deliver a crushing blow.
Early put this plan into action on October 19. Helped by a heavy fog and the absence of Union cavalry pickets at the fords over the North Fork, the Confederates easily overran the Union camps and pushed the Union forces back several miles. Many Union units were so surprised that they streamed to the rear with little or no resistance. Only a determined stand by a few Union brigades, including Col. Wildes', allowed most of the wagon trains and headquarters supplies escape.
By midmorning, with the Union forces apparently on the run, the Confederate advance slowed as soldiers began to plunder the captured Union camps. At the same time, the Union retreat became more orderly as the panic subsided. Gen. Sheridan, who had been at Washington for a meeting and had stopped for the night at Winchester on his return, heard the firing and galloped to the battlefield on his horse 'Rienzi'. Arriving at about the time that the Union defenses had stabilized, Sheridan succeeded in rallying the troops and returning to the offensive. Counterattacking at about 4 in the afternoon, the Union forces swept the Confederates from the field, regained their camps and all of their artillery, and captured 43 more enemy cannons, as well as more than 200 wagons and thousands of prisoners. As I. N. said, the Battle of Cedar Creek was a glorious victory, effectively ending the war in the Shenandoah Valley. The 116th Ohio lost four killed, 14 wounded and seven prisoners; one of the killed was from Company B.
General Sheridan's dramatic arrival at the battlefield, celebrated in painting and in verse as 'Sheridan's Ride', enhanced the political impact of this important victory, and, along with General Sherman's capture of Atlanta earlier in the month, was an important factor in the reelection of President Lincoln in November. Rienzi (later renamed 'Winchester' to commemorate this dash), the 'steed that saved the day', may still be seen at the Smithsonian.
I. N.'s diary for 1864 continued for another week, but there was little more to report. October 20 was spent regrouping after the climactic battle the day before; 'all quiet' on October 21; 'hot arguments' about politics around the fire at headquarters on October 22; still quite cold on October 23; 'all quiet' again on October 24; 'nothing of any interest transpires' on October 25. October 26 was different: there was cannonading in the distance ('cavalry I guess'), the regimental wagon and a large clothing train arrived, a visit from Col. Washburn, the original commander of the regiment who had been severely wounded at Snickers Ferry and not expected to live, and finally, I. N. got his horse, which despite his original misgivings, was a 'very good one'. On October 27, they were 'payed off'; I. N. received $64, and also got a new coat.
I. N.'s last diary entry for 1864, October 28, reported yet another routine day: rain last night but pleasant today; had to sleep in the ambulance last night; took the horses to the river and bathed them; health good. The next page in the notebook which served as I. N.'s diary had already been used to record the events of June and there were only a few other scattered blank pages available. Perhaps the 1864 diary continued in a different notebook which has now been lost.
In any case, nothing of much interest transpired, as I. N. might have said, for the remainder of the year. On November 18, the brigade was sent to Opequon Bridge to guard the railroad. On December 17 they fired a salute in honor of General Thomas' victory over General Hood at Nashville, effectively ending the war on the western front. On December 19 they boarded box cars and cattle cars at Harpers Ferry and were conveyed to Washington. After marching through the city, they embarked on sidewheel steamers for the James River, where they arrived on Christmas eve after a very rough passage.
Disembarking at James Landing, they marched to Camp Holly, which was to be their winter quarters with the Army of the James. 'The rebels came round to greet our coming', in Col. Wildes' words, on Christmas night, and they were in line of battle behind the works for most of the night. On December 26, they fired a salute in honor of Sherman's capture of Savannah and his presentation of it to President Lincoln as a Christmas gift. On the seige lines, salutes were live rounds fired in the direction of the enemy, who naturally responded and kept the troops up for yet another night. As 1864 came to a close, I. N. and his unit began adapting to their new environment on the Richmond-Petersburg front, a story to be continued in I. N.'s 1865 diary.
Links: