Part 58 (1/2)

The princ.i.p.al peculiarities of the engagement were: (1) That an ably commanded army was surprised in its camp, and, in considerable part, driven from it at the opening of the battle; (2) that notwithstanding this, it won, at the close of the day, the most signal and complete field-victory of the war, with the possible exception of those won at Nashville and Sailor's Creek; (3) the Confederate Army was destroyed, so there was no battle for the morrow. In most instances during the Rebellion, it transpired that the defeated army sullenly retired only a short way in condition to renew the fight.

Cedar Creek, in some respects, bears a striking a.n.a.logy to Marengo.

Both were dual in character, each two battles in one day; the victors of the morning being the defeated and routed of the evening.

Sheridan's victory over Early, like that of Napoleon over Marshal Melas, left no further fighting for the victors the next day. In one other respect, also, the comparison holds good. The commander of each of the finally routed armies sent a message about the middle of the day of battle announcing to his government a great victory, to be followed at sunset with the news of a most signal disaster.

In other respects, how dissimilar? Napoleon was, from the opening to the close of Marengo, on the field, commanding in person, sharing the defeat, then the victory. Sheridan was absent and did not partic.i.p.ate in the discomfiture of his army, but was present at the final success. Napoleon, after his repulse, was reinforced by Desaix with 6000 men; but the Army of the Shenandoah, after the disaster of the morning, was reinforced only by its proper commander --Sheridan.

There was not a great disparity of numbers in the opposing armies at Cedar Creek. Probably 20,000 men of all arms were engaged on each side. Relative position and situation of troops must be taken into account, as well as numbers, in determining the strength of one army over another. Early has tried to excuse his defeat by claiming he had the smaller army. In response to this, Sheridan and his Provost-Marshal, Crownins.h.i.+eld, have tried to show that Early lost in captured more men than he claimed he had present for duty.(31) After Opequon and Fisher's Hill Early was reinforced by Kershaw's division of Longstreet's corps, Cutshaw's three batteries, and Rosser's division of cavalry with light artillery, together with many smaller detachments, all of which partic.i.p.ated in Cedar Creek. Sheridan received no reinforcements, and Edwards' brigade of the First Division of the Sixth, Currie's of the Nineteenth, and Curtis' of the Eighth Corps were each detached, after Opequon, on other duties, and were not at Cedar Creek. The surprise and breaking up in the morning of the greater parts of Crook's and Emory's corps eliminated them, in large part, from the day's battle, and left the Sixth Corps and the cavalry to wage an unequal contest.

The war closed on the b.l.o.o.d.y battle-ground of the Shenandoah Valley, so far as important operations were concerned, with Cedar Creek.

President Lincoln appointed me a Brigadier-General by brevet, November 30, 1864; the commission recited the appointment was ”for gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Opequon, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek, Virginia,” and I was a.s.signed to duty by him as Brigadier-General, December 29, 1864.

Sheridan's army returned to Kearnstown and went into winter quarters.

The Sixth Corps was, however, soon transferred by rail and steamboat, _via_ Harper's Ferry and Was.h.i.+ngton, to City Point, rejoining the Army of the Potomac, December 5, 1864.

( 1) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 64.

( 2) _Mana.s.sas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), p. 574.

( 3) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 580, Captain Hotchkiss'

Journal.

( 4) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 580.

( 5) General Ricketts was supposed to be mortally wounded. His wife a second time came to him on the battle-field. He was taken to Was.h.i.+ngton, his home, and slowly recovered. He was able again to perform some field service near the close of the war. He died of pneumonia, September 22, 1887, and is buried at Arlington.

( 6) Major A. F. Hayden, of Wright's staff, while the battle was raging in the early morning, was seen galloping towards me with one hand raised to indicate he had some important order. Just before reaching me he was shot through the body and plunged off his horse on the hard ground, rolling over and over until he lay almost in a ball. He was borne off in a blanket for dead. In February following I met him on a steamer on the Chesapeake returning to duty, and I saw him again at the Centennial in Philadelphia in 1876.

( 7) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 132.

( 8) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 53.

( 9) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 68-82.

(10) In one account Sheridan fixes his arrival at 9 A.M. In his _Memoirs_ at 10.30 A.M. (p. 86). Getty, in his report of November, 1864, says, ”Sheridan arrived at between 11 A.M. and 12 M.” I made a note (still preserved), of the time Sheridan was seen by me riding up to the rear of Getty's division.

(11) _Memoirs_, p. 82.

(12) These facts are as stated in a private letter from General Getty to the writer, dated December 31, 1893.

(13) Here is an extract from a letter of General Wright to me, dated July 18, 1889:

”Orders had been given by me for the establishment of the lines, and Getty's and your divisions (the Second and Third) were in position, and Wheaton's (First) and the Nineteenth Corps were coming into position when General Sheridan arrived upon the ground. I advised him of what had been done and what it was intended to do, and he made no change in the dispositions I had made. Indeed, as I understand, he fully approved them... . General Sheridan did later make some change in the disposition of the cavalry.”

(14) _Memoirs_, vol. ii., pp. 82, 85.

(15) Colonel Moses M. Granger, of the Second Brigade, Third Division, says: ”It is plain that our brigade was in line on Getty's right a considerable time before Sheridan's arrival.”-- _Sketches War History_, vol. iii., p. 124.

(16) This extract is from remarks of General Hayes made at a Loyal Legion banquet in Cincinnati, May 6, 1889. _Sketches War History_, vol. iv., p. 23.