erty was destroyed. But finding the tunnel defended by troops, Torbert retired to Harrisonburg by way of Staunton.

On the 27th, offensive demonstrations were resumed. But before they were fairly opened, the enemy suddenly burst upon Powell's flank with great force, and was with difficulty repulsed. The effect of this engagement was to cause our cavalry to fall back from Port Republic to Cross Keys. Brown's Gap remained in the enemy's possession.

The position of Early at Brown's Gap was a very strong one. It had the advantage of covering Gordonsville and Charlottesville, and of threatening Sheridan's flank and rear should he attempt to move from Lynchburg. It possessed also unusual facilities for defence. North

of it are Swift's Run and Semon's Gaps; south of it, Rockfish Gap and Jaman's Gaps. All of these are so near together that Early easily held them under his control, posting his main force at Brown's Gap, and throwing his flanks out as far as Rockfish Gap and Swift Run Gap. These are the gateways to Gordonsville and Charlottesville from Staunton and Harrisonburg. He held them firmly, and was disposed not to surrender them without a decisive battle. One or two assaults had resulted in such stout resistance from Early's troops that it was very evident that the enemy had recovered his equilibrium, and was disposed to contest every rod of the way. It was also discovered that Early was too strongly posted in the Gap to be assaulted. Two courses, therefore, remained for Sheridan: either to prosecute his advance towards Lynchburg, or to retire down the valley. To reach Lynchburg had been a prime object with Sigel and Hunter, as it was now with Sheridan. But to move with Early upon his flank and rear would have been hazardous in the extreme. There remained, then, nothing but to fall back. Mosby also was on Sheridan's flank, and the army supplies on the way up the valley were in danger, as before, when Mosby captured the train.

On the 6th October, Sheridan retreated to Woodstock, whence he sent the following dispatch :

"Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT:

"WOODSTOCK, VIRGINIA, October 7, 1864–9 P.

"I have the honor to report my command at this point to-night. I commenced moving back from Port Republic, Mount Crawford, Bridgewater, and Harrisonburg yesterday morning. The grain and forage in advance of these points had previously been destroyed. In moving back to this point the whole country from the Blue Ridge to the North Mountain has been made entirely untenable for a rebel army. I have destroyed over two thousand barns filled with wheat and hay and farming implements, over seventy mills filled with flour and wheat; have driven in front of the army over four thousand head of stock, and have killed and issued to the troops not less than three thousand sheep. This destruction embraces the Luray Valley and Little Fort Valley, as well as the main valley. A large number of horses have been obtained, a proper estimate of which I cannot now make. Lieutenant John R. Meigs, my engineer officer, was murdered beyond Harrisonburg, near Dayton. For this atrocious act all the houses within an area of five miles were burned. Since I came into the valley from Harper's Ferry, every train, every small party, and every straggler has been bushwhacked by the people, many of whom have protection-passes from commanders who have been hitherto in that valley The people here are getting sick of the war. Heretofore they have had no reason to complain, because they have been living in great abundance. I have not been followed by the enemy to this point, with the exception of a small force of the rebel cavalry that showed themselves some distance

behind my rear-guard to-day. A party of one hundred of the Eighth Ohio Cavalry, which I had stationed at the bridge over the North Shenandoah, near Mount Jackson, was attacked by McNeil with seventeen men, while they were asleep, and the whole party dispersed or captured. I think they will all turn up. I learn that fifty-six of them had reached Winchester. McNeil was mortally wounded, and fell into our hands. This was fortunate, as he was the most daring and dangerous of all the bushwhackers in this section of the country.

(Signed)

"P. H. SHERIDAN, Major-General."

During his pursuit of Early, and on his retreat down the valley, Sheridan effected an immense destruction of public property, and in accordance with orders from Government, destroyed all the grain, hay, and forage to be found, except what was necessary for his own army. The valley had been the great store-house and granary of the rebel armies in Virginia, and in order to cripple Lee it was deemed indispensable to carry out this harsh but necessary policy. It had also harbored perhaps the worst class of guerrillas to be found in the country— men who were farmers by day and robbers by night; who, under the guise of loyalty, entrapped and murdered unsuspecting Union soldiers, and had, from the outset of the war, been systematic and successful spies over the movements of the Union armies. To strike terror into this class of men and those who sympathized with or harbored them, and put a stop to their excesses, was the prime object of the Government, and a wholesale system of devastation was inaugurated by Sheridan, which, while it sometimes struck friend as well as foe, undoubtedly had on the whole a beneficial influence in restraining the operations of the guerrillas and bushwhackers, and driving them to parts of the country where it would be less dangerous for the inhabitants to harbor them. This duty was efficiently performed by Torbert's Cavalry. On the 8th of October the rebel General Rosser, while harassing Sheridan's rear, was suddenly encountered by the Union cavalry and soundly beaten, losing three hundred prisoners, eleven pieces of artillery, and a number of caissons and wagons. He was then pursued a distance of twenty-six miles.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

Position of Armies.-Early Advances.-Battle of Cedar Creek.-Opportune Arrival of Sheridan.-Disastrous Defeat of the Enemy.-Sheridan's Troops leave for the Potomac.-Devastation.

EARLY promptly renewed his advance movement on the retirement of Sheridan to Cedar Creek. The losses inflicted upon him were soon made up by re-enforcements, and a few days of repose in the fastnesses of Brown's Gap enabled him to recuperate his forces, and to take the field with twenty-eight thousand men, comprising the five divisions of infantry under Ramseur, Gordon, Pegram, Wharton, and Kershaw. While Early was advancing, the Federal commander had quietly occupied the north bank of Cedar Creek. The Army of Western Vir ginia, General Crook, held the left, its right resting on the pike; the

Nineteenth Corps, General Emory the centre, its left resting on the pike; and the Sixth Corps, General Wright, the right, connecting with the Nineteenth Corps. The First and Second Cavalry Divisions were on the extreme right, Custer being in advance in front of the Sixth Corps, and Merritt in rear of Custer, his left flank just overlap ping the right of the Sixth Corps. Thus the Sixth Corps was rendered partially a reserve. The line was formed from right to left across the entire valley, thus: Custer, Merritt, Wright, Emory, Crook, Powell The cavalry of the latter picketed the whole North Fork to Front Royal. Crook and Emory had artillery in position to command the rising ground on the opposite bank of Cedar Creek. Just in the rear of Crook, on the left, what was called the Provisional Division, under Colonel Kitchin, was encamped. Sheridan s head-quarters were fixed at a stone house about half a mile in rear of the centre. Sheridan himself had been absent on a journey to Washington since Sunday, October 16th. On Tuesday night he slept at Winchester on his return. Wright, therefore, commanded the army on the morning of the 19th, Ricketts being in command of the Sixth Corps. Against this strong position, which was considered by the Union generals almost impregnable, Early, with a boldness commendable in one who had recently suffered two severe defeats, determined to make a night attack, and, if pos sible, retrieve his reputation and drive Sheridan from the valley. He was prompted to undertake the movement from a belief that the Sixth Corps had been withdrawn, and from a report that Sheridan was absent from the army. How nearly he succeeded, and how oppor tunely he was frustrated, are among the most remarkable facts of the

war.

Just before daybreak on the morning of the 19th, Early began his movement to surprise the Union army. An impenetrable fog enveloped the whole region, favoring his designs. The three divisions with which he began his assault were massed at Fisher's Hill, and the troops were disencumbered of every accoutrement except their arms and ammunition. They were not even permitted to carry their canteens, lest their clanking should advise Sheridan of their approach. Just as the first gleam of day began to mingle with the dim moonlight, the sharp rattle of musketry on the extreme right gave notice of what was an unimportant and feint attack. As this attack began, the sentinels of the enemy along the whole line fired signal muskets from right to left. Immediately afterwards the three divisions, under Pegram, Ramseur, and Gordon, advanced in solid columns down the turnpike from Strasburg, without skirmishers, and assaulted Crook's position in front and flank. The surprise was complete, and the rebels, advancing by column of regiments, and firing rapid and terrific volleys of musketry, swept over the works almost without opposition. Crook's whole line gradually giving way, of seven guns in the breast works, six were captured, but one being saved. The enemy pressed on with fierce shouts, keeping up a deadly fire of musketry, which prevented Crook's men from rallying in the thick fog which bewildered both men and officers. The smoke, the fog, the wild shouts, and the deadly fire from an unseen foe, who poured into the encampments, capturing

camp equipage and barely aroused soldiers, were powerful agents in promoting confusion. General Crook and his division commanders did their best, under the circumstances, to meet the shock, and constantly opposed a half-organized front against the enemy. The latter, pushing up beyond and around our left, entered the encampments of the provisional division under Colonel Kitchin, routing it also, and driving those and Crook's troops on towards the pike.

Manwhile, Kershaw's Division, which had left Early's position in a southeasterly direction, and had turned north and crossed the North Fork before dawn of Wednesday, was now closing on the intrenchments of the Eighth Corps, capturing prisoners in large numbers and seizing the batteries. The left division of Crook's Corps and Kitchin's Division were now thoroughly broken up. At the same time Early, with his remaining division, had moved on up the pike towards our centre, bringing artillery, and opening with it on the lines of the Nineteenth Corps. Their opening fire was vigorous, and was followed up by an advance of their infantry across the creek, joining in the assault made by their comrades on the left, and directing itself against the lines of the Nineteenth Corps. Emory's left flank was wholly exposed by the retreat of Crook, and the attack upon it was, therefore, overwhelming. Colonel McAuley, commanding the Third Brigade of Grover's Division on the left, was ordered to swing out of his position in front and meet the flank fire of the rebels. He did so, making a gallant but ineffectual opposition; and he had scarcely left the breast works to perform the movement, when the enemy swept up into them against the unavailing fire of Grover's Division, forcing the whole division back, with the loss of eleven guns captured and left upon the field.

It was now daylight, and the enemy, having rolled up the left of the line and captured eighteen guns, which were turned on our retreating columns, was now driving in the centre. Nearly all of his force was over the creek, and his flanking column, leaving the pursuit of the Eighth Corps, was closing in on Emory's left, who, being flanked in his turn, gave way to the rear. The Sixth Corps, which was in line on the right of the Nineteenth Corps (the cavalry being in front of its right), partially in reserve, was ordered to change front, swing roundwhat had been its left before being the pivot-meet the advance of the enemy in the centre, and check it. Another order was sent to the cavaly on the extreme right, under Torbert, to move rapidly across in rear, from right to left, and check the advance of the enemy in the direction of the pike towards Middletown. The Sixth Corps, moving by the left flank, came up a short distance in rear of what had been General Sheridan's head-quarters, opened the right of its line to permit the stragglers from the left of the Nineteenth Corps to pass through, and then, in conjunction with the remainder of the Nineteenth Corps, which finally rallied and formed on its right, repulsed a tremendous charge of the enemy and held them at bay.

This served to cover the general retreat which was ordered. The enemy were steadily gaining ground on the pike towards Middletown. Great efforts were made to get away the trains of the two left corps, and most of those of the Nineteenth were saved. Most of the ambulance

train of the Eighth Corps was captured during the first hour of the engagement. In the retreat, and in the effort to cover our trains, our troops suffered severely from the fire of the enemy, who pursued closely and with great vigor. The Sixth Corps was steadily covering the retreat, however, and, by resisting the enemy's advance, gave opportunity to re-form the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps, with the Nineteenth on the right, the Sixth in the centre, and the Eighth on the left. During the retreat, General Ricketts, commanding the Sixth Corps, was severely wounded in the breast. The enemy now increased both his artillery and musketry fire to its utmost capacity, till the roar and carnage became terrific. He still pressed our left flank, as if determined to drive us away from the turnpike, that he might seize our trains and insert himself between us and Winchester. His projects were aided somewhat by the necessity forced upon us to spend much time in manœu vring to re-form the line, while he employed himself only in advancing and pouring in his destructive fire. As he pressed our left so much more hotly than the right, the cavalry divisions of Merritt and Custer were sent across thither from the right, and now a severe contest took place near Middletown, in the thickly wooded and rough country in which our left had found itself.

It was now about nine o'clock, and our troops, having got into line of battle again, were for the first time making desperate efforts to check the enemy. The Eighth Corps, on the left, and the Sixth, in the centre, were receiving the brunt of the fierce onset. Merritt and Custer had also taken part in the thick of the battle. Both sides were using artil lery as well as musketry, but the enemy brought to bear the greater weight of metal, having re-enforced their own batteries with our сар tured pieces. As the enemy's troops closed in on our own, it was clear that the momentum he had acquired was swinging him again past our flank. The flanking column of the enemy pressed severely upon Thorburn's Division and other parts of Crook's Corps, and once more forced it back. The Sixth Corps held its ground well, but the whole line was giving way, and the enemy gained Middletown. He continued to press us back towards Stephensburg or Newtown, which lies next below Middletown, on the turnpike, and about five miles distant therefrom. His artillery was served with great accuracy from the heights north of Middletown, which we had just vacated. Our principal aim henceforth was to successfully cover our trains and to draw away the army with as little loss as possible to Newtown, when another stand might be made.

Where all this time was Sheridan? He had arrived, as has been mentioned, at Winchester, twenty miles from his camp, on the night of the 18th, intending to proceed to Cedar Creek on the next morning. Unsuspicious of danger ahead, he started at about eight A. M. on the 19th with his escort at a leisurely pace. But soon the distant thunder of artillery in the direction of Middletown caused him to quicken his pace. Thinking that Early had possibly ventured to attack the position at Cedar Creek, he was desirous of witnessing the punishment which the rebel general, by all the chances of war, should receive for his temerity. Gradually the sound of the artillery swelled into a continu