History of the Nineteenth Army Corps

by Richard B. Irwin

Far down the road from among the crowd of fugitives, where no man on that field cared to look, came a murmur like the breaking of the surf on a far-off shore. Nearer it drew, grew louder, and swelled to a tumult. Cheers! The cheers of the stragglers. As the men instinctively turned toward the sound, they were seized with amazement to see the tide of stragglers setting strongly toward the south. Then out from among them, into the field by the roadside, cantered a little man on a black horse, and from the ranks of his own cavalry arose a cry of "Sheridan!" Through all the ranks the message flashed, and, as if it had been charged by the electric spark, set every man on his feet and made his heart once more beat high within him.

This was Wednesday, and Sheridan, before finally setting out for Washington, had told Wright to look for him on Tuesday. Rapidly despatching, as has been seen, his business at the War Office, Sheridan left Washington by the special train he had asked for at noon on the 17th, accompanied by the engineers charged with the duty of selecting the position that Halleck wished to fortify. They slept that night at Martinsburg, and rode the next day, the 18th of October, to Winchester. There Sheridan learned that all was well with his army and was also told of the reconnoissances projected for the next morning. He determined to remain at Winchester in order to go over the ground the next morning with the engineers. Aroused about six o'clock by the report of heavy firing, he ascribed it to the reconnoitring column, and thought but little of it until, between half-past eight and nine, having finished his breakfast, he became uneasy at the continued sound of the cannon. Then mounting "Rienzi," accompanied by his staff and followed by his escort, he rode out to join his army where he had left it, fourteen miles away, on the banks of Cedar Creek. The fight of the morning had come to an end an hour ago. Riding at an easy trot half a mile out on the hill beyond Abraham's Creek,(9) he was shocked to see the tattered and dishevelled head of the column of stragglers, every man making the best of his way toward the Potomac, without his arms, his equipments, or his knapsack, carrying, in short, nothing but what he wore. Most of these must have been shaken out of the ranks when Kershaw surprised the camp of Thoburn. If this be so, they had travelled more than thirteen miles in little more than three hours.

This appalling sight brought to Sheridan's mind the Longstreet message, "Be ready when I join you, and we will crush Sheridan." Should he stop his routed army at Winchester and fight there? No, he must go to his men, restore their broken ranks, or share their fate. How he rode on has been made famous in song and story, yet never so well told as in the modest narrative, stamped in every line with the impress of the soldier's truthful frankness, than in the entertaining volumes that were the last work of the great leader's life.(10)

Once arrived on the field, about half-past ten or perhaps eleven o'clock, Sheridan lost no time in assuming personal command of the army. Establishing his headquarters on the hill behind Getty, he proceeded to complete the dispositions he found already in progress. He saw at a glance that the line on which Wright had placed Getty was well chosen; and though knowing nothing of the break that had taken place during the accidental loss of direction by the left wing of Getty's corps, and so wrongly inferring from what he saw that Getty was a mere rear-guard, he yet adopted the position for his fighting line, sent his staff officers with orders for the rest of the troops to form on that line, and thus actually completed the arrangements begun by Wright. It sufficed that Emerson, Wheaton, and Emory should face about, as they were already about to do, and should form on the prolongation of Getty's line. This they did promptly and in perfect order. Wright resumed the command of the Sixth Corps and Getty of his own division. Then feeling his left quite strong enough under Merritt's care, Sheridan sent Custer, for whom he had other designs, back to the right flank.

It was past noon before all this was accomplished. Then Sheridan, content with the position and appearance of his own army, and perceiving that Early was getting ready to attack him, acted on the suggestion of Major George Forsyth, his aide-de-camp, and rode the length of the line of battle in order to show himself to his men. A tumult of cheers greeted him and followed him as, hat in hand, he passed in front of regiment after regiment, speaking a few words of encouragement to each. Sheridan possessed in a degree unequalled the power of raising in the hearts of his soldiers the sort of enthusiasm that, transmuting itself into action, causes men to attempt impossibilities, and to disregard and overcome obstacles. Almost from the moment of entering the valley he had gained the confidence of the infantry, to whom he had been a stranger. By the cavalry he had long been idolized. The feeling of an army for its general is a thing not to be reasoned with or explained away; once aroused, it belongs to him as exclusively as the expression of his face, the manner of his gait, or the form of his signature, and is not to be transferred to his successor or delegated even to the ablest of his lieutenants, whatever the skill, the merit, or the reputation of either. The mere presence of Sheridan in the ranks of the Army of the Shenandoah that day brought with it the assurance of victory.

Emory at first formed his corps in two lines, the First division under Dwight, whom Sheridan had released from arrest, on the right, and Grover on the left; but soon the whole corps was deployed in one line in the order from right to left by brigades of McMillan, Davis, Birge, Molineux, Neafie, Shunk.

When the line of the Old Forge road was abandoned by Wright, Early moved forward and occupied it. Between one and two o'clock he advanced Gordon and Kershaw to attack Wheaton and Emory. Seeing that the weight of the attack was about to fall on the right, Sheridan sent Wheaton to the support of Emory. However, Gordon's onset proved so light that no assistance was needed, for, after three or four volleys had been exchanged, the attack was easily and completely thrown off. Kershaw's movement was even more feeble.

Several causes now delayed the counter attack of Sheridan. Crook was endeavoring to re-form the stragglers on his colors behind Merritt. Apprehension of the coming of Longstreet was only dissipated by the information gained from prisoners during the afternoon, and finally arose a false rumor of the appearance of a column of Confederate cavalry in the rear toward Winchester; and this seemed plausible enough until at last word came from Powell that he was still holding off Lomax. Then Sheridan gave the signal for the whole line to go forward against the enemy, beginning with Getty on the left, as a pivot, while the whole right was to sweep onward, and, driving the enemy before it, to swing toward the valley road near the camps of the morning.

About four Getty started, and the movement being taken up in succession toward the right, in a few minutes the whole line was advancing steadily. From that moment to the end the men hardly stopped an instant for anything. The resistance of the Confederates, though at first steady, and here and there even spirited, was of short duration. For a few moments, indeed, the attack seemed to hang on the extreme right as McMillan, rushing on even more rapidly than the order of the combat demanded, found himself suddenly enveloped by the right wheel of the brigade of Evans, forming the extreme left of the division of Gordon and of the Confederate army. But while McMillan was thus attacked and his leading troops were called to meet the danger, this, as suddenly as it had come, was swept away by the swift onset of Davis directly upon the front and flank of Evans. To do this Davis had not only to act instantly, but also to change front under a double fire; yet he and his brigade were equal to the emergency, and McMillan joining in, together they not only threw off the attack of Evans, but bursting through the re-entrant angle of Gordon's line, quickly swept Evans off the field. Knowing this to be the critical point of his line, because the wheeling flank, Sheridan was there. "Stay where you are," was his order, "till you see my boy Custer over there."

Then upon the high ground appeared Custer at the head of his bold troopers, making ready to swoop down upon the broken wing of Gordon. Almost at the same instant, the whole right of the line rushed to the charge, and while Custer rode down Gordon's left flank, Dwight, with McMillan and Davis, began rolling up the whole Confederate line. Meanwhile, on the left centre the Union attack likewise hung for a moment, where Molineux, on the southerly slope of a wooded hollow, saw himself confronted by Kershaw on the opposite crest, only to be reached by climbing the steep bare side of the "dirt hill." But the keen eye of Molineux easily saw through the difficulties of the ground, and when he was ready his men and Birge's, rising up and together charging boldly out of the hollow, up the hill, across the open ground, and over the stone wall, in the face of a fierce fire, settled the overthrow of Kershaw and sent a panic running down the line of Ramseur. Wright attacking with equal vigor, soon the disorder spread through every part of Early's force, and in rout and ruin the exultant victors of the morning were flying up the valley.