Slavery and four years of war

by Joseph Warren Keifer

Years after the battle, ex-President Hayes referred to some statements in Sheridan's Memoirs thus:

"In speaking of that fight he says that, passing up the pike, sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other, coming to Cedar Creek, he struck the First Division of Getty, of the Sixth Corps; that he passed along that division a short distance, when there arose out of a hollow before him a line consisting entirely of officers of Crook's Army of West Virginia and of color-bearers. The army had been stampeded in the morning, but these people were not panic-stricken. They saluted him, but there was nothing now between the enemy and him and the fugitives but this division of Getty's. Said he: 'These officers seemed to rise right up from the ground.' This was twenty-four years afterward, but he recollects it perfectly well except names. Among them, however, he recollects seeing one, Colonel R. B. Hayes, since President of the United States, and drops the story there, leaving the impression that there were no men there—no privates, no army—simply some color- bearers and some officers.

"The fact is that in the hollow, just in the rear, was a line of men, a thousand or twelve hundred, probably, and they had thrown up a little barricade and were lying close behind it. He came up and saw these officers and did not see the men, or seems not to have seen them; but I had no idea at the time that he did not see the private soldiers in that line. He now tells that singular story of a line of officers, a line of color-bearers, and no force. The fact is that first came Getty's division, and then mine, and then came General Keifer's division, all lying down behind that barricade, but in good condition, except that there had been some losses in the morning. General Keifer was next to me, and then came the rest of the Sixth Corps, and farther down I have no doubt the Nineteenth Corps was in line. We had then been, I suppose, an hour or an hour and a half in that position."(16)

Passing from disputed, though important, points relating to the battle, all agree that when Sheridan reached his army a battle had been fought and lost to all appearance, and that the Union Army had been forced to retire to a new position. It should also be regarded beyond controversy that the Sixth Corps had been united before his arrival, that broken troops of other commands were being formed on the Sixth, and that the enemy also had been forced to change front, and was arrested in his advance.

Sheridan's presence went far towards giving confidence to his army, and to inspire the men with a spirit of success. While the army loved Wright, and believed in him, his temperament was not such as to cause him to work an army up to a high state of enthusiasm. A deep chagrin over the morning's disaster pervaded our army, and had much to do with the subsequent efforts to win a victory. Sheridan showed himself to the troops by riding along the front, and he was loudly cheered. He assured them of success before the day ended. During the lull in the day's battle some of the broken troops of the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps were reorganized.

Wright resumed command of his corps and Getty his division. Before Sheridan came Wright had instructed his division commanders that he would assume the offensive, and it was understood our army would advance about 12 M., as soon as an ample resupply of ammunition could be issued. Sheridan, however, postponed the time for assuming the offensive until 3 P.M. Early, still filled with high hopes of complete victory, about 1 P.M. pushed forward on our entire front. He did not drive in the strong line of skirmishers, and the attack was easily repulsed. It seemed to me then, as it did to Wright and others, that our whole army should have been thrown against the enemy on this repulse, and thus decided the day. Sheridan, however, adhered to his purpose to act on the defensive until later in the day. A false report that a Confederate column was moving towards Winchester on the Front Royal road caused Sheridan to delay his attack until about 4 P.M.

Early promptly realized that the conditions had changed, that the armies must meet face to face. It will be kept in mind that our army was now fronting southward instead of eastward, and Early's army was forced to face northward instead of westward, as in the morning's battle.

Early, hoping to hold the ground already won and thus reap some of the fruits of victory, retired, on his repulse, beyond the range of our guns, and took up a strong position, with his infantry and artillery, mainly on a natural amphitheatre of hills, centre a little retired, extending from a point north of Cedar Creek near Middle Marsh Brook on his left to and across the turnpike near Middletown, protecting his flanks west of this brook and east of the town with his cavalry and horse artillery. Early employed his men busily for the succeeding two hours in throwing up lunettes or redans to cover his field guns. His men were skillfully posted behind stone fences, common in the Valley, and on portions of his line behind temporary breastworks.

Early, before 12 P.M., wired Richmond he had won a complete victory, and would drive the Union Army across the Potomac. At 4 P.M. our army went forward in single line, with no considerable reserves, but in splendid style. Getty, with his left still on the turnpike, was the division of direction. My orders were to hold my left on Getty's right. Wheaton was to keep connection with my right, and the Nineteenth Corps with the right of the Sixth Corps; and the cavalry, Merritt east of Middletown and Custer on Cedar Creek, to cover the flanks. In verifying my position just before starting, I found troops of Hayes' command filling a space of two or three hundred yards between Getty's right and my left. I discovered Hayes temporarily resting on the ground a short distance in rear of his men, with his staff around him. From him I learned he had no orders to advance, whereupon I requested him to withdraw his men so I could close the interval before the movement commenced. He promptly rose, mounted his horse, and said: "If this army goes forward I will fill that gap, with or without orders." Unfortunately, orders came to him to withdraw, and with others of his corps (Eighth) form in reserve near the turnpike. His withdrawal left, at the last moment, a gap which could only be filled by obliqueing my division to the left as it was moving forward. This produced some unsteadiness in the line, and the right brigade (Emerson's) continued the movement too long, causing some massing of troops in the centre of the division, and some disorder resulted while they were under a severe infantry and artillery fire. This necessary movement also caused an interval between Wheaton's division and mine, thereby imperilling my right. Our attack, however, was not checked until we had gone forward about one mile. The enemy's centre was driven back upon his partially intrenched line on the heights mentioned. This brought my division under a most destructive fire of artillery and infantry from front and flanks. My right flank was especially exposed, as it had gone forward farther than the troops on the right.

The loss in the division was severe, and it became impossible to hold the exposed troops to the charge. They had not fired as they advanced. The division retired a short distance, where it was halted and promptly faced about. In less than five minutes it was again charging the Confederate left centre. The right of Getty's division and Wheaton's left went forward with the second charge, and an advance position in close rifle range of the enemy was gained and held. My division was partly protected by a stone fence located on the north of an open field, while the Confederates held the farther side of the field, about three hundred yards distant, and were also protected by a stone fence as well as by some temporary breastworks. The enemy occupied the higher ground, and the field was lower in the centre than on either side. The battle here was obstinate and, for a time, promised to extend into the night. Early's artillery in my front did little execution, as it was located on the crest of the hills behind his infantry line, and the gunners, when they undertook to work their guns, were exposed to our infantry fire. Wheaton's division and that part of the Nineteenth Corps to his right, though not keeping pace with the centre, steadily gained ground; likewise the cavalry. Getty, though under orders to hold his left on the pike, moved his division forward slowly, making a left half wheel. In this movement Getty's left reached Middletown, and his right swung somewhat past it on the west.