Hearts Touched by Fire

by Harold Holzer

  He rapidly made the changes necessary in the lines, and then ordered an advance. The cavalry on the left charged down on the enemy in their front, scattering them in all directions. The infantry, not to be outdone by the mounted men, moved forward in quick time and charged impetuously the lines of Gordon, which broke and fled.10 It took less time to drive the enemy from the field than it had for them to take it. They seemed to feel the changed conditions in the Union ranks, for their divisions broke one after another and disappeared toward their rear. The cavalry rode after them and over them, until night fell and ended the fray at the foot of Fisher’s Hill. Three battle-flags and twenty-two guns were added to the trophies of the cavalry that day. Early lost almost all his artillery and trains, besides everything that was captured from the Union army in the morning.11

  REDUCED FAC-SIMILE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S CONGRATULATIONS TO GENERAL SHERIDAN ON THE BATTLE OF CEDAR CREEK.

  The victory was dearly bought. The killed or mortally wounded included General Bidwell and Colonels Thoburn and Kitching, besides many other officers and men. Among the killed in the final charge by the cavalry at Cedar Creek was Colonel Charles Russell Lowell. He had been wounded earlier in the day, but had declined to leave the field.

  The battle of Cedar Creek has been immortalized by poets and historians. The transition from defeat, rout, and confusion to order and victory, and all this depending on one man, made the country wild with enthusiasm.

  The victory was a fitting sequel to Winchester, a glorious prelude to Five Forks and Appomattox. In this battle fell mortally wounded on the Confederate side Major-General Stephen D. Ramseur, four years before a classmate of the writer at West Point. A Union officer—a friend—watched by his side in his last moments and conveyed to his southern home his last words of affection.

  There is little more to record of events in the Valley. Part of the night after its defeat Early’s army rested in the intrenchments on Fisher’s Hill, but before dawn the next day it retreated to New Market. Rosser, with the Confederate cavalry, acted as rear-guard, and was driven by the Union cavalry beyond Woodstock. While Early remained at New Market reënforcements were sent him in the way of convalescents and one brigade from south-western Virginia. He contented himself, however, with remaining on the defensive.

  The winter of 1864–65 was passed by Sheridan’s command at Kernstown, where better protection could be given the troops and a short line of supplies secured. He moved to this position in November. About this time I moved under orders with my division of cavalry into Loudoun Valley and reduced it to a state of destitution, so far as supplies for the enemy were concerned, as had been done in other parts of the valley. On December 19th Torbert with two divisions of cavalry marched through Chester Gap in another raid on the Virginia Central Railway; but this attempt, like the others, was unsuccessful. The local troops and Valley cavalry succeeded in delaying Torbert until infantry was hurried by rail from Richmond, when he was forced to retire. As a diversion in favor of Torbert’s expedition Custer’s cavalry was moved up the Valley to engage the cavalry of Early. Near Harrisonburg he was attacked and surprised and was forced to retreat.

  In making these expeditions the troops suffered intensely from cold, bad roads, and miserable camps. This was especially so with Torbert’s column in crossing the mountains. It is difficult to imagine a more disagreeable duty for a mounted soldier than marching over sleety, slushy, snowy or icy roads in winter, and bivouacking without the means of protection. It is demoralizing to men and ruinous to horses.

  After the failure of these expeditions no further movements were attempted in the Valley, and most of the infantry of Sheridan’s army was sent either to the Army of the Potomac at Petersburg, or elsewhere where it was needed. In February Sheridan made arrangements to march from the Valley with the cavalry with a view to interrupting and destroying, as far as possible, the lines of supply through central Virginia. After accomplishing this it was intended that he should either move west of Richmond and join Sherman’s army, or return to the Valley, or join Meade’s army in front of Petersburg, as might be most practicable. February 27th the movement commenced, the command consisting of two superb divisions of cavalry which had been recruited and remounted during the winter, under myself, as chief-of-cavalry. The march to Staunton was made without noticeable opposition. On the morning of March 2d Early was found posted on a ridge west of Waynesboro’. The veteran soldier was full of pluck and made a bold front for a fight, but his troops were overcome, almost without even perfunctory resistance, by the advance regiments of the column, and Early, with a few general officers, barely escaped capture by flight. All Early’s supplies, all transportation, all the guns, ammunition and flags, and most of the officers and men of the army were captured and sent to the rear.

  From this point Sheridan moved unmolested to the Virginia Central Railroad, which was destroyed for miles, large bridges being wrecked, the track torn up, and the rails heated and bent. The command was divided and sent to the James River Canal, which was destroyed as effectually as the railroad. This done, the cavalry proceeded to White House, on the Pamunkey River, where it arrived on March 19th, 1865.

  * * *

  1 On the 18th of July General Grant suggested Franklin for the command of the projected Middle Military Division, and, on this being objected to, proposed the assignment of Meade, with Hancock to command the Army of the Potomac and Gibbon for the Second Corps.—EDITORS.

  2 In an unpublished narrative, addressed to the Adjutant-General, and dated May 30th, 1872, Emory states that all the infantry was placed under command of Wright; that Wright ordered the column to march at 2 A.M., the Sixth Corps leading, followed by its train, the Nineteenth Corps next, followed by its train, then the Eighth Corps; that he (Emory) moved with the Nineteenth Corps at the appointed hour, and at the crossing of the Opequon was halted by General Wright in person, the head of the Sixth Corps not having passed yet; that the subsequent march was obstructed by the trains of the Sixth Corps [see above]; that, hearing a lively cannonade, after sending forward all his staff-officers in succession for instructions, he finally disregarded the order of march, and putting his corps in motion rode on to General Sheridan, who at once confirmed his action. The Sixth Corps was still engaged in crossing the Opequon. Owing to these delays, it was midday before the Nineteenth Corps reached its position.

  —EDITORS.

  3 General Emory, in his official narrative, says of the section on the right at this point:

  “Grover’s division was placed in line of battle on the right of the Sixth Corps, and Dwight’s division was placed in échelon on the right of Grover’s. Not many minutes elapsed before receiving orders to charge the enemy. I ordered Grover’s division to charge, holding Dwight’s in reserve. The charge was made with great bravery, dispersing the enemy’s first line; but this first success seemed to throw our men off their guard, and give them too much confidence, and they rushed, without orders, with impetuosity upon the second line of the enemy, which had the protection of woods and stone walls, and they met with a bloody repulse.

  “Simultaneously with this repulse, and a moment or two preceding it, I saw that the charge of the Sixth Corps, on my left, had been repulsed. Quickly drawing a brigade of Dwight’s division from the right, I placed it on the line occupied by Grover’s division, behind which that division rallied in good order, considering the terrible repulse they had met. The enemy rose from their sheltered position and charged in mass on our lines. A small point of woods projected at right angles from the right of my line; in this I posted Colonel Nicholas W. Day, 131st New York Volunteers, with his regiment, and as the enemy came down on our lines with loud yells they received the fire of this regiment in the flank and rear, and at the same time receiving a very spirited fire in front, they broke and fled.”—EDITORS.

  4 “Breckinridge was scarcely in position before our cavalry on the left was discovered coming back in great confusion followed by the enemy’s, and Breckinridge’s
force was ordered to the left to repel this cavalry force, which had gotten in rear of my left, and this with the assistance of the artillery he succeeded in doing. But as soon as the firing was heard in rear of our left flank the infantry commenced falling back along the whole line, and it was very difficult to stop them. I succeeded, however, in stopping enough of them in the old rifle-pits, constructed by General Johnston, to arrest the progress of the enemy’s infantry, which commenced advancing again when confusion in our ranks was discovered, and would still have won the day if our cavalry would have stopped the enemy’s; but so overwhelming was the latter, and so demoralized was the larger part of ours, that no assistance was received from it.

  “The enemy’s cavalry again charged around my left flank and the men began to give way again, so that it was necessary for me to retire through the town.”

  —Letter from General Early to General Lee, dated October 9th, 1864.

  5 An officer who was in this last charge, and who had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the enemy in consequence of the breaking of his bridle-curb, says: “The confusion, disorder, and actual rout produced by the successive charges of Merritt’s division would appear incredible did not the writer actually witness them. To the right a battery with guns disabled and caissons shattered was trying to make to the rear, the men and horses impeded by broken regiments of cavalry and infantry; to the left, the dead and wounded, in confused masses, around their field-hospitals—many of the wounded, in great excitement, seeking shelter in Winchester; directly in front, an ambulance, the driver nervously clutching the reins, while six men in great alarm were carrying to it the body of General Rodes.” General Torbert, chief of cavalry, also says in his report of the battle of Winchester: “This day the First Division (Brigadier-General Merritt) alone captured 775 prisoners, about 70 officers, seven battle-flags, and two pieces of artillery.”—W.M.

  6 It may be here remarked that Sheridan was, as a rule, opposed to combinations involving long marches. He had no faith in their successful accomplishment. It is therefore easy to believe that he looked upon this movement of the cavalry as a means of turning the Confederates out of the position at Fisher’s Hill, provided his infantry was not successful in the present project.—W.M.

  7 General Wright wrote to General Sheridan, October 16th, inclosing Longstreet’s intercepted message, and adding:

  “If the enemy should be strongly reënforced in cavalry he might, by turning our right, give us a great deal of trouble.… I shall only fear an attack on my right.”

  To this Sheridan replied, the same day, from Front Royal:

  “The cavalry is all ordered back to you.… Close in Colonel Powell, who will be at this point.… Look well to your ground, and be well prepared.”

  In his official report of the campaign General Sheridan says:

  “During my absence the enemy had gathered all his strength,…striking Crook, who held the left of our line, in flank and rear, so unexpectedly and forcibly as to drive in his outposts, invade his camp, and turn his position. This surprise was owing, probably, to not closing in Powell, or that the cavalry divisions of Merritt and Custer were placed on the right of our line, where, it had always occurred to me, there was but little danger of attack.”

  The italics in these quotations are not in the originals.—EDITORS.

  8 General Emory states in his “Narrative” that the Nineteenth Corps promptly repulsed the first attack on them but, the enemy having gained their rear through the capture of Crook’s camps, then fell back about a mile and a half to a new line that “under the circumstances would have done honor to the best regular troops in the world.” They were not again attacked, but by order of General Wright fell back in perfect order, about a mile, when “the Nineteenth Corps was again halted, and the men immediately facing about commenced throwing off their kits and stripping to renew the fight.” About noon General Emory says he was again ordered by General Wright to retire to the position in which General Sheridan found the army on his arrival.—EDITORS.

  9 In his “Personal Memoirs” (New York: C. L. Webster & Co., 1888), Vol. II., General Sheridan says that toward 6 A.M. of October 19th word was brought to him (at Winchester) of the artillery firing at Cedar Creek. Between half-past 8 and 9 o’clock, while he was riding along the main street of Winchester, toward Cedar Creek, the demeanor of the people who showed themselves at the windows convinced him that the citizens had received secret information from the battle-field, “and were in raptures over some good news.” The narrative continues:

  “For a short distance I traveled on the road, but soon found it so blocked with wagons and wounded men that my progress was impeded, and I was forced to take to the adjoining fields to make haste.…

  “My first halt was made just north of Newtown, where I met a chaplain digging his heels into the sides of his jaded horse, and making for the rear with all possible speed. I drew up for an instant, and inquired of him how matters were going at the front. He replied, ‘Everything is lost; but all will be right when you get there;’ yet, notwithstanding this expression of confidence in me, the parson at once resumed his breathless pace to the rear. At Newtown I was obliged to make a circuit to the left, to get around the village. I could not pass through it, the streets were so crowded, but meeting on this detour Major McKinley, of Crook’s staff, he spread the news of my return through the motley throng there.

  “When nearing the Valley pike, just north of Newtown, I saw about three-fourths of a mile west of the pike a body of troops, which proved to be Ricketts’s and Wheaton’s divisions of the Sixth Corps, and then learned that the Nineteenth Corps had halted a little to the right and rear of these; but I did not stop, desiring to get to the extreme front. Continuing on parallel with the pike, about midway between Newtown and Middletown I crossed to the west of it, and a little later came up in rear of Getty’s division of the Sixth Corps. When I arrived, this division and the cavalry were the only troops in the presence of and resisting the enemy; they were apparently acting as a rear-guard at a point about three miles north of the line we held at Cedar Creek when the battle began. General Torbert was the first officer to meet me, saying as he rode up, ‘My God! I am glad you’ve come.…’

  “Jumping my horse over the line of rails, I rode to the crest of the elevation, and there, taking off my hat, the men rose up from behind their barricade with cheers of recognition.… I then turned back to the rear of Getty’s division, and as I came behind it a line of regimental flags rose up out of the ground, as it seemed, to welcome me. They were mostly the colors of Crook’s troops, who had been stampeded and scattered in the surprise of the morning. The color-bearers, having withstood the panic, had formed behind the troops of Getty. The line with the colors was largely composed of officers, among whom I recognized Colonel R. B. Hayes, since President of the United States, one of the brigade commanders. At the close of this incident I crossed the little narrow valley, or depression, in rear of Getty’s line, and, dismounting on the opposite crest, established that point as my headquarters.… Returning to the place where my headquarters had been established, I met near them Ricketts’s division, under General Keifer, and General Frank Wheaton’s division, both marching to the front. When the men of these divisions saw me they began cheering and took up the double-quick to the front, while I turned back toward Getty’s line to point out where these returning troops should be placed.

  “All this had consumed a great deal of time, and I concluded to visit again the point to the east of the Valley pike, from where I had first observed the enemy, to see what he was doing. Arrived there, I could plainly see him getting ready for attack, and Major Forsyth now suggested that it would be well to ride along the line of battle before the enemy assailed us, for although the troops had learned of my return, but few of them had seen me. Following his suggestion I started in behind the men, but when a few paces had been taken I crossed to the front, hat in hand, passed along the entire length of the infantry line; and it is from thi
s circumstance that many of the officers and men who then received me with such heartiness have since supposed that that was my first appearance on the field. But at least two hours had elapsed since I reached the ground, for it was after midday when this incident of riding down the front took place, and I arrived not later, certainly, than half-past ten o’clock.”

  —EDITORS.

  10 General Emory says in his “Narrative”:

  “This electric message from General Sheridan put every man on his feet.… Very soon the pickets came in, quickly followed by the enemy’s infantry. Our first line [Grover] then rose up en masse and delivered their fire, and the enemy disappeared. There was not a sound of musket or gun for twenty minutes following. The First Division was deployed to the right of the Second, and the charge commenced.… The enemy resisted at every strong fence and ditch and other obstacle with great bravery, but still the line swept on. The First Brigade (Colonel Edwin P. Davis) of the First Division (Dwight’s), which was on the extreme right, with unparalleled intrepidity and fleetness completely enveloped the enemy, so that one hour before the sun set … the troops were in complete command … of the camp they had occupied in the morning.”

  11 It may be here remarked of this battle, as well as that at Winchester, that General Early speaks of the repulse of cavalry charges where no repulse occurred. Cavalry, even after successful charges, from the nature of the arm, is oftentimes obliged to retire and reform preparatory to making a new charge, or allowing other cavalry to charge.—W.M.

  CHAPTER 13

  REPELLING HOOD’S INVASION OF TENNESSEE.

  Henry Stone, Brevet Colonel, U.S.V., Member of the Staff of General Thomas.