September 16, 1864---Unleashing "Little Phil"

SEPTEMBER 16, 1864:     

Ulysses S. Grant and Philip Sheridan confer at Charles Town, West Virginia (now Charleston). Grant is unhappy with Sheridan’s overcautious approach to dealing with Jubal Early. Grant (and Lincoln) want the Shenandoah Valley cleared before Election Day, but Sheridan has been limiting his offensive operations to demonstrations and small skirmishes. Reassured (and perhaps chastened) by his meeting with Grant, Sheridan returns to the field to begin large-scale offensive operations against Early. 

 

 

“Little Phil” Sheridan (1831-1888) stood only 5’ 4”. Fondly described by the oversized and gangly Abraham Lincoln as,  “a brown, chunky little chap, with a long body, short legs, not enough neck to hang him, and such long arms that if his ankles itch he can scratch them without stooping" this unprepossessing gnome of a man became the greatest cavalry leader of the Union cause.

Sheridan claimed to have been born in New York State but taken as an infant by his Irish immigrant parents to Ohio. Like Grant and Sherman he considered himself an Ohioan. Perhaps this shared background helped the three men communicate in a single idiom, for they were able to plan and execute brilliant offensives against the South such as the Union had not seen up until that time.

Like Grant and Sherman, Sheridan had served out in the far West. Rumor said that he had a Native American mistress. Brought back to the East right after Fort Sumter, Sheridan spent the first year of the war as an infantry officer in the Quartermaster Corps.

He was court-martialed in early 1862 for refusing to play a role in a war profiteering scheme cooked up by his superiors, but the incident disappeared from the record when General Halleck hushed it up. Sheridan was transferred to the cavalry (with which he had no experience) and put in command of the Second Michigan Cavalry.

Perhaps there were those who hoped Sheridan would be shot from the saddle, but he instantaneously became a stellar cavalryman. He fought with distinction at Stones River, Perryville, Tullahoma and Chickamauga.

He was promoted to Brigadier General in July 1862, and his grateful men purchased an exemplary horse for him, which he named “Rienzi.” Rienzi remained his mount for the rest of the war. 

When Grant was appointed General-in-Chief, he brought Sheridan (and Sherman) with him. Sheridan’s forces were engaged at Yellow Tavern, where Jeb Stuart was killed.

After eliminating the storied Stuart, Sheridan was appointed to lead the Army of The Shenandoah, tasked to remove Jubal Early and restore the Valley to the Union.  Sheridan was about to become the third great Union General of the war.