"Back to your camps!" had been the watchword ever since Sheridan showed himself on the field. Dwight's men were the first to stand once more upon their own ground, but by that time Sheridan's army had executed, though without much regard to order, a complete left wheel. While the infantry took up its original positions, the cavalry pursued the flying enemy with such vigor that an accidental displacement of a single plank on a little bridge near Strasburg caused the whole of Early's artillery that had not yet passed on, to fall into the hands of Sheridan. Thus were taken 48 cannon, 52 caissons, all the ambulances that had been lost in the morning, many wagons, and seven battle flags; of the artillery 24 pieces were the same that had been lost in the early morning. From every part of the abandoned field great stacks of rifles were gathered. The prisoners taken were about 1,200, according to the reports of Sheridan's officers, or something over 1,000 by Early's account. Early also gives his loss in killed and wounded, without distinguishing between the two, as 1,860, and reports the capture of 1,429 prisoners from the Union army in the early hours of the day. Of these he had made sure by sending them promptly to the rear. Ramseur was mortally wounded in the last stand made by his division, and died a few days later in the hands and under the care of his former comrades of Sheridan's army.
Sheridan's loss was 644 killed, 3,430 wounded, and 1,591 captured or missing; in all, 5,665. Of these the Sixth Corps had 298 killed, 1,628 wounded—together, 1,926; the Nineteenth Corps 257 killed, 1,336 wounded—together, 1,593. Crook lost 60 killed, 342 wounded —together, 402; the cavalry 29 killed, 224 wounded—together, 253. The missing were thus divided: Wright 194, Emory 776, Crook 548, Torbert 43. The greatest proportionate loss of the day was suffered by the 114th New York, which had 21 killed, 86 wounded, including 17 mortally, and 8 missing—in all, 115 out of 250 engaged. Its fatal casualties reached 15.2, and the killed and wounded 42.8 per cent. of the number engaged. These figures are from the corrected reports of the War Department. The missing exceed the captured, as set down in Early's report, by only 132. Among the killed and mortally wounded were Bidwell, Thoburn, Kitching, and that superb soldier and accomplished gentleman, General Charles Russell Lowell, who, although severely wounded in the morning, at the head of his brigade held fast to the stone wall until, in the last decisive charge, his death-blow came. Grover received a second severe wound early in the final charge that broke the Confederate left. Birge then took his division.
Without a halt and with scarcely a show of organized resistance, Early retreated to Fisher's Hill. Merritt and Custer, uniting on the south bank of Cedar Creek, kept up the pursuit until the night was well advanced, but soon their captures became so heavy in men and material, that help was needed to take care of them, so, barely an hour after going into camp the jaded infantry of Dwight once more turned out and marched with alacrity to Strasburg.
Toward morning Early withdrew his infantry from the lines of Fisher's Hill, and marched on New Market, leaving Rosser to cover the movement. In the morning, upon Torbert's approach, Rosser retired, closely pursued to Edenburg, sending Lomax to the Luray to guard the right flank of the retreating Confederates.
The strength of the contending forces in this remarkable battle may always give ground for dispute. No official figures exist to determine the question directly; therefore on either side the numbers are a matter of opinion. The author's, formed after a careful consideration of all the authorities, is that when the battle began, Wright commanded an effective force of not more than 31,000 officers and men of all arms, made up of 9,000 in the Sixth Corps, 9,500 in the Nineteenth Corps, 6,000 in Crook's command, and 6,500 cavalry. The infantry probably numbered 23,000: Ricketts 8,500, Emory 9,000, Crook 5,500. Of these, therefore, the hard fighting fell on 17,500. The losses in the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps, nearly all incurred in the early morning, being about 4,500, the two corps should have mustered 13,500 for the counter-attack of the afternoon, yet the ground they then stood upon, from the road to the brook, measures barely 7,400 feet. With all allowances, therefore, Sheridan cannot have taken more than 8,000 of his infantry into this attack. This leaves out Crook's men bodily, and calls for 5,500 unrepentant stragglers from the ranks of Emory and Wright —one man in three. After all is said, unhappily there is nothing so extraordinary in this, but strange indeed would it have been if many of these skulkers had come back into the fight, as Sheridan considerately declares they did.
As to Early's force, the difficulty of coming to a positive conclusion is even greater. General Early himself says he went into the battle with but 8,800 muskets. General Dawes, perhaps the most accomplished statistician of the war, makes the total present for duty 22,000; of these 15,000 would be infantry. The figures presented by the unprejudiced statistician of the "Century War Book" (11) call for 15,000 of all arms. Of these 10,000 would be infantry.
Early may be said to have accomplished the ultimate object of his attack at Cedar Creek, yet at a fearful cost, for although all thought of transferring any part of Sheridan's force to the James was for the moment given up, on the other hand Early had completed the destruction (12) of his prestige, had suffered an irreparable diminution of numbers, and had seen his army almost shaken to pieces.
Grant once more returned to his favorite project of a movement in force on Charlottesville and Gordonsville, but Sheridan continuing to oppose the scheme tenaciously, it came to nothing. His own plan, eventually carried out, was to hold the lower valley in sufficient strength, and to move against the line of the Virginia Central railway with all his cavalry. The rails of the Manassas Gap line, so often relaid, were once more and for the last time taken up from the Blue Ridge back to Augur's outposts at Bull Run, and so this will-o'-the-wisp, that had danced before the eyes of the government ever since 1861, was at last extinguished, while from Winchester to the Potomac the railway, abandoned by Johnston when he marched to Bull Run, was re-constructed to simplify the question of supplies.
(1) Strictly southeast, for the course of the turnpike toward Winchester is about northeast.
(2) The present bridge is a short distance above where the old one was.