It did take all summer and longer. Moreover, Grant found that he could not possibly capture Richmond from the north. So he crossed the James River and attacked the city from the south. Yet when autumn ended Lee was still holding out, and Grant’s army settled down for the winter.
PHILIP H. SHERIDAN
At this time one of Grant’s most skilful generals and ablest helpers was Philip H. Sheridan, who was a brilliant cavalry leader. As a boy he had a strong liking for books, and especially those which told of war and the lives of daring men. When he read of their brave deeds perhaps he dreamed of the days when he might be a great soldier.
At the time when he came into most prominent notice—in the summer and autumn of 1864—he was only thirty-three years old. He was short, and as he weighed but one hundred and fifteen pounds, he was not at all impressive in appearance, except in the heat of battle, when his personality was commanding and inspiring.
Philip H. Sheridan.
No matter how trying the situation might be, he never lost self-control and was always kind and friendly toward those working with him. But perhaps his finest quality was a stern devotion to duty. He said, in effect: “In all the various positions I have held, my sole aim has ever been to be the best officer I could and let the future take care of itself.” Such a man, whether civilian or soldier, is a true patriot.
It was early in August, 1864, that General Grant placed Sheridan in command of the Union army in the Shenandoah valley, with orders to drive the enemy out and destroy their food supplies.
Sheridan entered the valley from the north, destroyed large quantities of supplies, and after some fighting went into camp on the north side of Cedar Creek, in October. A few days later he was called to Washington. Returning on the eighteenth, he stayed overnight at Winchester, about fourteen miles from Cedar Creek.
About six o’clock the next morning, a picket on duty reported to him before he was up that cannon were being fired in the direction of Cedar Creek. At first Sheridan paid little attention. Then he began to be disturbed. He writes: “I tried to go to sleep again, but grew so restless that I could not and soon got up and dressed myself.” Eating a hurried breakfast, he mounted his splendid coal-black steed, Rienzi, and started for the battle-field of Cedar Creek, where his army was. This was the ride that afterward became famous as “Sheridan’s Ride.”