Prelude
By the late summer of 1864, President Abraham Lincoln was despondent with his prospects in the 1864 general election. After promoting Ulysses S. Grant to lieutenant general and commander of all Federal armies, in March, he believed he finally had a general who could win the war. Grant decided he would not command from Washington City, but from the field. He made his headquarters with Major General George Meade, and his Army of the Potomac. Grant envisioned a spring campaign where all Federal armies would move in concert with one another, never cease moving and keep attacking the Confederate armies with alacrity – preventing them from moving reinforcements from one theater, to another. Grant knew that his widely separated armies were not effective operating independently but had to act as one large body.
The primary Union forces were in two theaters: the east, opposing General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia; and the west, opposing General Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee. Grant elevated Major General William T. Sherman to command the Military Division of the Mississippi – which would face of against Johnston’s Army of Tennessee, in north Georgia. The plan was for Meade’s army to battle Lee relentlessly, while Sherman’s would simultaneously push Johnston’s army into Atlanta – preventing Lee from reinforcing Johnston. Grant hoped to end the war before November’s general election. But the fortunes of war are never that linear – or simple.
By late summer, Grant was literally in a protracted siege against Lee, who was bottled up in Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia – while Bill Sherman had pushed Johnston’s army into Atlanta. It was a near stalemate in both theaters, with large battles breaking out continuously and the casualty lists growing significantly – on both sides. It was this stalemate which caused Lincoln’s concerns about his prospects of being reelected. With public sentiment turning sharply against the war, and Lincoln’s Democrat adversary, George B. McClellan, promising to end the war immediately, Lincoln had reason to worry about the election, writing in his blind memorandum:
“This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.”
Lincoln’s spirits were buoyed by Sherman’s capture of Atlanta in early September, but the anti-war sentiment continued to grow, until this day, 162 years ago.
The Battle of Cedar Hill – Lincoln’s electoral lifeline
The Battle of Cedar Creek was the climactic engagement of Major General Philip Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, during the American Civil War. Fought near Cedar Creek, Middletown, and along the Valley Pike in Virginia, it pitted Sheridan’s roughly 32,000 man Army of the Shenandoah against Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early’s Confederate Army of the Valley (estimates of Confederate strength range from about 14,000 to 21,000 effectives). The battle began as a stunning Confederate success and ended as a decisive Union victory which effectively ended all major Confederate operations in the Shenandoah Valley – and buoyed President Lincoln’s odds of being reelected.
Background and Strategic Setting
“Give the enemy no rest… Do all the damage to railroads and crops you can. Carry off stock of all descriptions, and negroes, so as to prevent further planting. If the war is to last another year, we want the Shenandoah Valley to remain a barren waste.” – Lieutenant General U.S. Grant’s instructions to Major General Philip Sheridan ahead of the Shenandoah Campaign of 1864
By the fall of 1864, Sheridan had already defeated Early at Winchester (September 19) and Fisher’s Hill (September 22). He then conducted a systematic “burning” of the fertile Shenandoah Valley—the Confederacy’s “breadbasket”—destroying crops, mills, barns, and livestock over a wide area to deny resources to Lee’s army around Petersburg. Early’s outnumbered and poorly supplied army was forced into a defensive posture near Fisher’s Hill and New Market.
Sheridan, believing Early was no longer an offensive threat, left his army camped along the north bank of Cedar Creek, near Belle Grove Plantation, and rode to Winchester for consultations, leaving Major General Horatio Wright in command the Union army. Early, urged by Robert E. Lee to keep pressure on Sheridan, to prevent the transfer of Union troops east, decided on a bold gamble. On October 17, Major General John B. Gordon, and topographical engineer Jedediah Hotchkiss, scouted the Union position from Signal Knob, on Massanutten Mountain. They identified a concealed route that would allow a large part of the Confederate army to cross the North Fork of the Shenandoah and strike the Union left and rear.
The Confederate Night March and Dawn Assault
On the night of October 18–19, Early’s forces moved under cover of darkness and moonlight. Gordon led three divisions on a difficult flanking march along the base of Massanutten Mountain, fording the river at little-known crossings. Other columns, including Joseph Kershaw’s division, approached more directly. A dense early-morning fog helped conceal the Confederates.
At 5:00 a.m., the Confederates launched their attack. Kershaw’s men struck first, overrunning the surprised division of Colonel Joseph Thoburn (part of Major General George Crook’s Army of West Virginia) as many Union soldiers were still in their tents or cooking breakfast. Gordon’s column then smashed into the Union left, particularly the division under Brigadier General Rutherford B. Hayes – who would later be elected president. The entire VIII Corps collapsed, and the XIX Corps under Major General William Emory was driven back in confusion. The VI Corps, farther to the right, and given more warning, offered stiffer resistance, including a stand near the Middletown cemetery, but by mid-morning the Union army was in full retreat northward, having lost more than 1,000 prisoners and roughly two dozen cannons. As often happened, hungry Confederates paused to loot the captured camps, with Early halting the pursuit to reorganize—a decision later criticized by Gordon, who believed the XI Corps could still have been driven from the field.
Sheridan’s Ride and the Union Rally
Sheridan was in Winchester when he heard the distant sound of battle. He mounted his famous black horse Rienzi (later renamed Winchester) and galloped the roughly 12–14 miles to the front, arriving around 10:30 a.m. Along the way he met streams of retreating soldiers. His energetic presence, shouted encouragement, and personal leadership turned the battle’s fortunes. “Sheridan’s Ride” quickly became legendary in Northern art, poetry, and song. He restored order, reorganized the shaken corps, and spent the afternoon preparing a counterattack. The VI Corps, and other units, formed a new line north of Middletown.
The Afternoon Counterattack and Confederate Rout
Around 4:00 p.m., Sheridan ordered a general advance. Union cavalry, including divisions under brigadier generals George A. Custer and Wesley Merritt, played a decisive role by striking the Confederate flanks. The XIX Corps pressed the Confederate left while massed infantry assaulted the center. Confederate resistance, particularly from Major General Stephen Dodson Ramseur’s division, held for a time; Ramseur was mortally wounded while trying to rally his men. Once the flanks collapsed, the entire Confederate line broke. The retreat became a complete rout. A critical bridge, south of Strasburg, became congested and partially collapsed, forcing Early’s men to abandon most of their captured guns, wagons, and supplies. Union cavalry pursued the fleeing Confederates toward Fisher’s Hill. Early’s army lost nearly all its artillery and was shattered as an effective fighting force.
Casualties and Aftermath
Union casualties totaled approximately 5,665–5,764 (roughly 644 killed, 3,430 wounded, and 1,591 missing or captured). Confederate losses were estimated at 2,910–3,060 (about 320 killed, 1,540 wounded, and over 1,000 captured or missing). Twenty-one Union soldiers received the Congressional Medal of Honor for actions that day.
The battle ended organized Confederate resistance in the Shenandoah Valley, secured the region for the Union, and removed the Valley as a major source of supply for the Confederacy. Occurring just three weeks before the presidential election, the dramatic reversal boosted Northern morale and contributed to Abraham Lincoln’s reelection. Early never again mounted a serious offensive; most of his remaining troops were eventually recalled or scattered in later actions. Cedar Creek stands as one of the most dramatic examples of a battle turned from near-disaster to decisive victory.
Final Thoughts
The general election of 1864 would prove that a fair election could take place during a catastrophic civil war. While the Democrat Party vehemently protested allowing Union soldiers from voting while in the field, they would be allowed to do so. Of the 150,000 Union soldiers casting votes, roughly 80% cast their vote for Lincoln. With northerners believing the war was entering its final phase, and sentiment improving significantly, Lincoln received 55% of the popular vote and 212, of the 233, Electoral College votes. This margin is the sixth greatest percentage of Electoral College votes cast for any president in our history – all while the country was fighting a civil war to save itself from complete destruction. Without the success of Phi Sheridan’s 1864 Valley Campaign, capped off with the rout of Jubal Early’s army, at Cedar Creek, things may have turned out much differently.
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