October 19,1864…“Battle of Cedar Creek” Attack: CSA General Jubal Early has been operating against Grant and Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and as far north as Chambersburg,Pa.which the rebels put to the torch just months before. Jubal Early The Valley was the bread basket for the Confederacy and Early and Lee understand its importance. The CSA Army is loosing the fight by degrees and see an opportunity when Union General Sheridan orders the VI Corp to Petersburg,Va., reducing his Union forces to a size worth attacking to defeat and drive from The Valley. Lee and Early seize the opportunity. Early has engaged Sheridan for 5 days and is hoping on Lee’s recent advice to “endeavor to crush” Sheridan out of The Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan has recalled the VI Corp after advice, but leaves on October 16th for a conference in Washington with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Early will take the initiative and attack just before dawn on October 19, a successful 3 pronged surprise attack that rolls up the Union flank under General Crook so fast the Union soldiers were half dressed as they ran from their camps.By 10AM Early has pushed the Union army off the battlefield. The successful CSA attack stalls however when so many of Early’s hungry and exhausted men fall out of ranks to pillage the Union camps for food and supplies. John B. Gordon Early himself seems half-hearted to continue the attack advising CSA Major General John B. Gordon to continue the attack only if seemed to be successful. This order given at approx. 1:00PM has given the Union time to stop their route and reform lines for a counterattack, that the Confederates do not expect. Gordon will speak of this timely delay after the war. He stated.. “My heart went into my boots. Visions of the fatal halt on the first day at Gettysburg, and of the whole day’s hesitation to permit an assault on Grant’s exposed flank on the 6th of May in The Wilderness rose before me.” Philip Sheridan Defense: The epic poem “Sheridan’s Ride” by Thomas Buchanan Read told the dramatic story of the timely ride by Union General Philip Sheridan who was in Winchester on Oct.18 the eve before the battle. Returning from his conference wih Secretary of War Stanton and LIncoln, Sheridan felt that Early was not in a position to attack. The next morning he is advised by pickets that artillery can be heard, and Sheridan feels it is Union artillery making a display and not a threat. He has breakfast about 6am and is advised the sound of battle southeast of Winchester is increasing. Union command is under Union Major General Horatio G. Wright in Sheridans absence, who is under full attack as his 7 divisions are being driven from the field in disarray after Early’s dawn attack. The Union will have fast losses including 1,300 taken as prisoners as well as lose 24 artillery pieces to the rebels. Time is short and the Union army has crumbled and is in trouble by just 10am. Sheridan is riding hard since 9am to the battle on his horse Rienzi with a few staff and is reinforced by approx. 300 cavalry along the way, when they meet the beginning of the Union army in full retreat. Cavalry units are spread out in line to stop the pell mell retreat of the Union army. Sheridan is yelling “Come on back, boys! Give ‘em hell, God damn ‘em! We’ll make coffee out of Cedar Creek tonight, as the soldiers stop their retreat and start to reform, understanding Sheridan’s words mean a bold counterattack. It is a fact that the day will be turned against Early’s army due to their pausing their successful advance when Early’s men stop to pillage the Union camps for food and supplies. This buys the Union army the time to stop their retreat, reform and attack Early, pushing him back in a full route when Union cavalry under Custer and Wharton charge past the Confederate flanks in a planned envelopment. The rebel army has no choice but to fall back in their own retreat that will bring them back to New Market, and the end of their brave defense of “The Valley”. The Battle of Cedar Creek is a deafening blow to the south regarding control of the Shenandoah and the food supplies it afforded the Confederate army. Lee will never again be able to bring his army north through the valley to attack the north again. Henry A. DuPont The defense by the Union forces during the initial route was as in most battles held by a few brave few while others just ran. One of the few brave Union officers that day that in fact bought time as well as established a rallying point for the confused Federals was a young Union Captain Henry A. DuPont,just 26 years old as acting chief of Union General Crook’s artillery. For his actions, DuPont will be one of 12 Union soldiers at The Battle of Cedar Creek to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. He will later enter business and politics, serving in Senate seats for Delaware from 1906-1917. Men liked DuPont saved the battle for the Union. Battle outcome: Dramatic Union victory. Soldiers: Union-31,600 approx./ CSA-21,102 Casualties: Union – 5,764 (569 killed) / CSA – 2,910 (320 killed) November 15,1864..“Sherman’s March to the Sea” William Tecumseh Sherman General William T. Sherman has destroyed Atlanta and is confident he can break his supply lines and march his 60,000+ army east to the sea at Savannah. Sherman will live off the land and “make Georgia howl”, inflicting the demoralization to the state that he knows will break the south. Lincoln’s concern for the possible failure of the plan devised by Grant and Sherman is expressed clearly. Less of a battle than a movement of an army of soldiers 60 miles wide that will forage and steal with terror and violence encountering resistance in several small battles that did little to stall the main advance that had been split into columns, confusing the Confederate cavalry as to the Federals final destination of Macon, Augusta or Savannah. Practicing a “scorched earth” policy, Sherman’s “bummers” will burn and kill livestock and stores they cannot carry with them. Infrastructure that could assist the Rebel army such as buildings and bridges are destroyed. Railroads are torn up and tracks twisted into ” Sherman’s bowties”. He will reach the outskirts of Savannah on December 15, opposing a 10,000 man CSA force and rice fields flooded to slow his advance. He will punch through to reach the U.S Navy under Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, finally being resupplied after 5 weeks of marching and fighting. Over 300 miles and one month later he will arrive in Savannah. The basic strategy and tactics of the plan are a success. December 21,1864.. Sherman wires President Abraham Lincoln “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.” December 15,1864… Battle of Nashville John Bell Hood The final battle of the Western Theater of the Civil War, CSA Lt. General John Bell Hood will have a final stand with the CSA Army of Tennessee. A skilled and devoted CSA General ( he lost an arm at Gettysburg) who believed in attacking, he will suffer a beating at Franklin after his assaults, and choose to take up defensive positions outside of Nashville. George Thomas Union Major General George Thomas ( the “Rock of Chickamauga”.), will wait for to reinforce his cavalry before his attack on Hood, Knowing he is up against the skilled Confederate cavalry General Nathan Bedford Forrest. This will take up to 2 weeks, a result delays and a snow storm that makes Lincoln comment “This seems like the McClellan and Rosecrans strategy of do nothing and let the rebels raid the country.” Note: George Thomas was a Virginian who stayed loyal to the blue..his mother and sister turned his home portraits upside down on the wall after he went with the Union. Major General George Thomas will untimately take Nashville from actions combined with the Navy, rolling up the Confederate lines and taking large numbers of prisoners. The CSA Army of Tennessee under Hood is reduced, no longer a fighting force. Nathan Bedford Forrest CSA cavalry General Nathan Bedford Forrest will fight 3 days of rear guard actions covering Hood’s retreat back to Franklin. Battle Outcome: Union victory. Soldiers: Union-55,000 / CSA-30,000 Casualties: Union – 3,061 ( 2,940 approx. KIA or wounded) / CSA – 6,000 (1,500 KIA or wounded) Feb. 17, 1865…Sherman captures Columbia, S.Carolina William Tecumseh Sherman Union General William Tecumseh Sherman has been marching and destroying the Georgia countryside and infrastructure since leaving Atlanta and marching east to the coast. He has captured Savannah, delivered to Lincoln as a Christmas present just days before. Commander in Chief General U.S.Grant orders Sherman to take his troops aboard steamers and meet in Virginia to assist in confronting Lee. Sherman has instead a different plan, as he requests to Grant that his men stay on the ground and start marching north though S.Carolina. Sherman will march his “bummers” destroying the agriculture and infrastructure, finally taking the state capital at Columbia, S.Carolina on Feb. 17, 1865. Most of the inner city is burned, although Sherman will later state he did not order the burning of the city. Some felt the fires were actually started by retreating Confederates burning stores, mostly cotton. Sherman will continue his march into N.Carolina, although the damage his men did to this “reluctant Confederate State” was minimal. The fall of Fort Fisher and Wilmington,N. Carolina closes the last port for Rebel blockade runners on the Atlantic coast. The Union iron ring is closing. Sherman, Grant and President Lincoln will meet together for the first time during the war at City Point, N. Carolina. April 2, 1865 ..Fall of Petersburg, Virginia April 2 ,1865…Fall of Petersburg,Virginia as General Grant withstands the last attacks from the Confederates as he is dug in around the city. Counter attacks by Union forces including the Battle of Five Forks will begin to compress Lee’s dwindling forces. Lee’s last attack comes on April 1 and he will continue abandoning his trenches around Petersburg, Virginia. This concludes a siege that lasted since June 9, 1864 and included dozens of battles and skirmishes along the 30 mile trench line that extended from Petersburg to Richmond. Lee will abandon the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia on April 3, 1865. President Lincoln will travel on April 4th to Richmond, visiting Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ “White House”, actually taking a moment to sit in the former Confederate Presidents’ office chair.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 03:44:24 +0000
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