370

SHERIDAN'S RIDE FROM WINCHESTER.

plunder, eat, and rest after sixteen hours of hard service, and during that lull in the pursuit Wright re-formed his lines, and took a position for the purpose of changing front and advancing upon the foe, or making an orderly retreat toward Winchester.' It was now about ten o'clock. The Nationals had lost, since daybreak that morning, twelve hundred men made prisoners, besides a large number killed and wounded; also, camps and equipage, lines of defenses, and twenty-four pieces of artillery.

At that critical moment Sheridan appeared upon the field. He had returned from Washington, and slept at Winchester the night before. He had heard the booming of cannon up the valley early in the morning, but supposed it to be the noise of a reconnoissance only. After breakfast he mounted his horse, and moved leisurely out of the city southward. Before he reached Kernstown he met the van of the fugitives from the army, who told him a piteous tale of disaster. He immediately gave orders for parking the retreating train on each side of the turnpike. Then directing his escort to follow, he put his horse upon a swinging gallop, and at that pace rode nearly twelve miles, to the front. The fugitives became thicker and thicker every moment. He did not stop to chide or coax, but as his powerful horse thundered on over that splendid stone road, he waved his hat, and shouted to the cheering crowds: "Face the other way, boys! Face the other way! We are going back to our camp. We are going to lick them out of their boots!" The man and the act were marvelously magnetic in their effects. The tide of disordered troops was instantly turned and drawn after the young general by a wonderful and irresistible influence, akin to the faith of the Christian believer. His presence was an inspiration. As he

dashed into the lines, and rode along the front of forming regiments, he gave to each stirring words of cheer and encouragement, and declared, in substance, to all, "We'll have all those camps and cannon back again." The men believed him, and showing their faith by their works, secured a speedy fulfillment of the prophecy.

1 This line was formed on the lands of David Dingee and Abraham Stickley, about a mile from the tollgate, at the northern end of the village.

DEFEAT OF THE CONFEDERATES.

371

General Wright, as we have seen, had already brought order out of confusion, and had made disposition for an advance upon the foe. Sheridan approved his arrangements, and at about three o'clock gave the order, "The entire line will advance. The Nineteenth Corps will move in connection with the Sixth. The right of the Nineteenth will swing toward the left, so as to drive the enemy upon the pike." It was followed by an immediate forward movement. Already, at one o'clock, Emory had quickly repulsed an attack, which inspirited the whole army. Now a general and severe struggle ensued. The

BRIDGE NEAR STRASBURG,1

pressing close upon each other's heels, the fugitives fled through Middletown and Strasburg to Fisher's Hill, leaving the highway strewn with abandoned hinderances to speedy flight. As they

pressed along the narrower dirt road beyond Strasburg, the way became clogged by masses of men, wagons, cannon, and caissons; and at a little bridge. over a small stream in a deep channel, Early, hard pressed, felt compelled to abandon his guns and train. With the remnant of his ruined army he escaped to Fisher's Hill. That army was virtually destroyed; and, with the exception of two or three skirmishes between cavalry, there was no more fighting in the Shenandoah Valley. That night

1 This is a view of the bridge, half a mile from Strasburg, where Early lost his artillery. Sheridan's sharpshooters killed the artillery horses, which fell on the bridge and clogged the way. The little clear stream comes out of the base of a hill near by. A little beyond it is seen Fisher's Hill, and in the far distance a peak of the Massanutten range.

2 This house was also the head-quarters of General Shields, and to it he was taken when he was wounded on the 22d of March, 1862. See page 869, volume II. Shields was wounded on a ridge a little to the northwest of the house.

372

VISIT TO THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

the National troops occupied their old position at Cedar Creek. Sheridan's promise, "We will have all the camps and cannon back again,” had been kept. The conqueror returned to Kernstown, near Winchester, and there, in the house of Mrs. Francis Mahaney, he established his head-quarters for awhile. Government and people united in praise of the young leader, and there was joy in every loyal heart because of his achievements. Art and song celebrated "Sheridan's Ride" from Winchester to the front; and when, less than three weeks afterward, General McClellan resigned, and thereby created a vacant major-generalship in the regular army, the victor in the Shenandoah Valley was substantially rewarded by a commission to fill his place.

• Nov. 4, 1864.

a

The writer, with friends already mentioned (Messrs. Buckingham and Young), visited the theater of Sheridan's exploits in the Shenandoah Valley, from the Opequan and Winchester to Fisher's Hill, early in October, 1866.' We left Gettysburg in a carriage, for Harper's Ferry, on the morning of the first, and followed the line of march of the corps of Howard and Sickles, when moving northward from Frederick, in the summer of 1863. We passed through the picturesque region into which the road to Emmettsburg led us, with the South Mountain range on our right, dined at Creagerstown, twenty miles from Gettysburg, and rode through Frederick toward evening, stopping only long enough to make the sketch of Barbara Freitchie's house. Then we passed along the magnificent Cumberland road over the lofty mountain range west of Frederick, into the delightful Middletown Valley. From the road, on the summit of that range, we had some of the most charming views to be found anywhere in our broad land. The valley was smiling with plenty, for the most bountiful crops, gathered and a-gathering, were filling barns and barracks on every side. We passed through the valley, and following the line of march of a portion of McClellan's army, reached the summit of South Mountain after dark, where we lodged. We visited the battleground there the place where the gallant Reno was killed-early the next morning, and rode on to Sharpsburg. There we remained long enough to visit the Antietam battle-ground, the National Cemetery, McClellan's headquarters, and other localities of special interest, and after a late dinner, went down the Antietam Valley to the Potomac, at the mouth of the Antietam Creek. Then we passed over the rugged hills west of Maryland Heights, and descending through gorges, passed along the margin of the river at the base of that historical eminence at twilight, and at dark reached Harper's Ferry.

Having visited places of interest at and around Harper's Ferry, we left that picturesque place in the afternoon of the 3d, for Winchester, where we arrived in time to ramble over the hills and among the fortifications on the northern side of the town, before nightfall. We spent the following morning in visiting Kernstown, and places of interest in the city of Winchester; and in 1 See page 400, volume II.

See page 468, volume II. volume II. Sheridan and Milroy occupied

* See page 59. See page 466, volume II. 5 See page 470, volume II. See page 475, Among these were the quarters of different commanders during the war. Mr. Logan's house (see page 366). Banks's was at the house of George Seavers, on Water Street. "Stonewall Jackson" occupied the house of Colonel Moore. We visited the site of old Fort Frederick, on Loudon Street, at the northern end of the city, and drank from the fort well, which is one hundred and three feet deep, where, during the French and Indian war, Washington often appeased thirst. We also visited the grave of General Daniel Morgan, the Hero of the Cowpens: it is in the Presbyterian church-yard, covered by a broken marble slab.

VISIT TO THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

373

the afternoon, Colonel Russell, the post commander, kindly took us in his carriage to the Opequan Ford, where Sheridan's army crossed,' and on the following morning he sent us on our way up the valley, in an ambulance, as far as Middletown. There we dined, and hiring a light carriage, went on to Stras burg, stopping at Cedar Creek on the way. After making arrangements for taking the stage for

Harrisonburg, that evening, we rode to Fisher's Hill, along an excellent road, making the sketch of the bridge seen on page 371. That road crosses a little stream at Fisher's Hill, over a picturesque stone bridge, and turning at a right angle, passes along a shelf in the almost perpendicular acclivity, in a gradually rising course, to the summit. There we found

the lines thrown up

by Early well preserved. And from that eminence we had a very extended view of the rolling valley in the direction of Winchester, overlooking Strasburg at our feet, and Middletown a little beyond, with the lofty range of the Blue Ridge on our right, and the Massanutten Mountains nearer. We sup ped at Strasburg that evening, and at nine o'clock took passage in a crowded stage-coach for Harrisonburg, fifty miles up the valley.3

Let us here leave, in winter quarters, the troops destined to capture Richmond and Lee's army, and consider the events of the important campaign of General Sherman in Georgia.

1 See page 364.

2 At this bridge, where the road turns at an acute angle and is very narrow, a large number of prisoners were taken from Early. This bridge was choked by the fugitives, and there was no other way for them to reach the shelter of the works on the summit of the hill. The sycamore tree seen at the left was an Anak of the primitive forest, twenty feet in circumference,

See page 400, volume II.

374

THE OPPOSING ARMIES.

CHAPTER XIV.

SHERMAN'S CAMPAIGN IN GEORGIA.

1961.

T the same time when the Army of the Potomac moved from the Rapid Anna toward Richmond, at the beginning of May," General William T. Sherman, who had succeeded General Grant in the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, marched southward from the vicinity of Chattanooga, with nearly one hundred thousand men,' having for his chief objectives, the destruction of the Confederate army under General Joseph E. Johnston, then at Dalton,

May 6.

in Northern Georgia, and the capture of the city of Atlanta.

General Sherman received his orders from Lieutenant-General Grant to advance, on the 30th of April, and he moved on the 6th of May. On that morning the Army of the Cumberland lay at and near Ringgold; that of the Tennessee at Lee and Gordon's Mill, on the Chickamauga, and that of the Ohio near Red Clay, on the Georgia line north of Dalton. The Confederate army then lay in and about Dalton. To strike that position in front was impracticable, for between the armies lay a rugged mountain barrier known as the Rocky

Face Ridge. Through it, at an opening called Buzzard's Roost Gap, a

1 His forces were composed as follows: Army of the Cumberland, Major-General GEORGE II. THOMAS, commanding. Infantry, 54,568; Artillery, 2,377; Cavalry, 3,S2S. Total, 60,773. Number of guns, 130. Army of the Tennessee, Major-General J. B. MCPHERSON, commanding; Infantry, 22,437; Artillery, 1,404; Cavalry, 624. Total, 21,465. Number of guns, 96. Army of the Ohio, Major-General J. M. SCHOFIELD, commanding; Infantry, 11,153; Artillery, 679; Cavalry, 1,697. Total, 13,559. Number of guns, 23. Grand aggregate number of troops, 98.797, and of guns, 254.

About this number of troops were kept up during the campaign, the number of men joining from furlough and hospitals about compensating for the loss in battle and from sickness. "My aim and purpose was," says Sherman in his report, "to make the Army of the Cumberland 50,000 men, that of the Tennessee 35,000, and that of the Ohio 15,000."

2 Johnston's army was composed of about 55,000 men -45,000 (according to Sherman's estimate) heavy infantry and artillery, and 10,000 cavalry under Wheeler. It was arranged in three corps, commanded respect. ively by Generals W. J. Hardee, J. B. Hood, and Leonidas Polk.