October 19, 1864---The Battle of St. Albans, Vermont; The Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia

OCTOBER 19, 1864:                   

The St. Albans Raid:     

In the northernmost combat action of the Civil War, twenty one Confederate cavalrymen cross the U.S.- Canada border and attack the small Vermont town of St. Albans. They rob three banks, stealing the kingly sum of $210,000.00 (worth $3.2 million in 2010), relieve several citizens walking the streets of their money, watches and wedding bands, steal several horses, and declare that they have taken the town “in the name of the Confederate States of America.” They then hurl several vials of an incendiary called “Greek Fire” intending to burn down the town, but the stuff does not ignite. When one St. Albanite fires a rifle at them, they shoot him. He dies two days later. Several other citizens defending the town are wounded. After less than an hour, the raiders return to Canada.

The United States demands that Canada extradite the men, but the Canadian government refuses, stating that the men were acting “under military orders.” In effect, the Canadians making this claim give de facto recognition to the Confederacy. This causes a serious rift between Canada and the United States. Many Canadians, fearful that their heretofore peaceful border will become a front of the American war, immediately demand that Canada rid itself of Confederate agents. The Canadian government tries hard at first to ignore the incident, but within 48 hours compensates the United States for the stolen funds. The raiders themselves are deported from Canada.

The Battle of Cedar Creek:    Believing he has rendered General Jubal Early C.S.A.’s forces incapable of a major offensive in the Shenandoah Valley, General Philip Sheridan U.S.A. has detached the 6^th Corps and sent it back to the Petersburg pocket. 

Sheridan has badly underestimated Early, who gathers his scattered troops, manages to reinforce and refit them, and then launches a dawn attack on the Union encampment at Belle Grove Plantation just northeast of Strasburg, Virginia. 

Elements of Early’s force have crept stealthily, and in single file, along a hidden “pig path” along Massanutten Mountain. They fall upon the Union camp without warning.  Many Union men, who are caught in their nightshirts and at breakfast campfires, are captured. Others flee. 

 

As the Union main body dissolves in panic, Early orders a heavy artillery barrage. This further shocks the Union troops, but units quickly respond, engaging in close hand-to-hand fighting as they try to take the guns. Other units move into blocking positions. Only lightly armed due to the confusion, they nonetheless slow the Confederate advance.

Sheridan himself is not in camp, but back at Winchester, As the sounds of battle reach him, Sheridan sends speeded riders to recall the 6^th Corps, which immediately reverses direction.  

On the field, Captain Henry A. DuPont U.S.A. manages to establish a battery with nine of sixteen guns, and begins firing back at Early’s men. The Union battery becomes a rally point for the half-dressed, the shell shocked and the unarmed Federal troops, who reorganize near Middletown. Fortunately, Early had not thought to seize the Union supply trains, so that there are plenty of rifles and ammo and clothes and shoes for the men to grab as they return to the fight. Many men, however, do not choose to fight, and continue to move away from the battle and toward Winchester.

By 7:30 A.M., the Union troops have reorganized in a battle line, and are fighting back ferociously. Brigadier General George W. Getty U.S.A.’s Division is so fierce that Early assumes he is fighting an entire Corps, and moves troops into position to battle the larger threat. As he does so, the Union units he has been fighting begin to advance. Early becomes confused and dilutes his forces in trying to counter the sudden swarm of Federals in his front. Despite taking the brunt of the Confederate attack, Getty’s Division holds for thirty minutes before it withdraws in good order. 

Still, the Union line is shaky, and Early is punching holes in the defense. 

After having received contradictory reports all morning, Sheridan decides to go down to the battlefield, bringing a 300 man force with him and traveling at the gallop. When he belatedly arrives around 10:00 A.M. he immediately grasps the situation.

Shouting, "Come on back, boys! Give 'em hell, God damn 'em! We'll make coffee out of Cedar Creek tonight!” to the stragglers he has passed, Sheridan charges down into the battle. The Union men cheer the appearance of their commander and the stragglers, galvanized, return to the fight. 

Sheridan later writes, a bit ruefully:

[I] was unconscious of the true condition of affairs until about 9 o'clock, when having ridden through the town of Winchester, the sound of the artillery made a battle unmistakable . . .  half a mile south of Winchester, the head of the fugitives appeared in sight, trains and men coming to the rear with appalling rapidity. I immediately gave directions to halt . . .  and ordered the brigade . . .  to . . . stop all stragglers. Taking twenty men from my escort, I pushed on to the front . . . I am happy to say that hundreds of the men, when of reflection found they had not done themselves justice, came back with cheers . . . [S]till none behaved more gallantly or exhibited greater courage than those who returned from the rear determined to reoccupy their lost camp.

 

Jubal Early has to this point fought an almost flawless battle. He has captured 1,300 Union prisoners, 24 cannons, and is successfully driving seven infantry divisions off the field with a smaller force. Unfortunately, he makes a bad decision at this point, ordering his troops to reorganize. This “fatal halt,” of course, stops the forward momentum of the assault. "My heart went into my boots.” Major General John B. Gordon C.S.A. wrote of receiving Early’s ill-timed order. 

Early is unaware of Sheridan’s arrival on the field, and his decision to redeploy combined with the appearance of Sheridan shifts the entire balance of the battle.   Sheridan quickly sends the newly-arrived 6^th Corps into battle, and charges the stopped and shifting Confederate line, breaking upon it like a tidal wave. Early’s lines shatter, and his men begin running back toward Cedar Creek, with Sheridan’s forces enveloping them. This envelopment, with its corresponding attacks on the flanks, increase Confederate panic. The collapse of the only bridge over “No-Name Creek” further south creates even more chaos. Unable to bring wagons across the stream, the Confederates are forced to abandon their supply train. Sheridan’s men chase the scattering Confederates until nighttime.

Casualties at the Battle of Cedar Creek are high. Almost 5,700 Federal soldiers are killed, wounded or missing, and 3,000 Confederates.  Cedar Creek stands out because two future U.S. Presidents, Rutherfor B. Hayes and William McKinley are both on the battlefield.

Sheridan, for whom the day might have been a disaster, is promoted to Major General. His absence early in the day and his tardy arrival on the field are overlooked in the glow of victory. “Sheridan’s Ride” from Winchester to Strasburg becomes conveniently legendary. When word of the victory is reported in the papers over the next few days, it cinches President Lincoln’s re-election. 

Early, who has scraped the bottom of his manpower barrel clean to raise his force is never able to threaten Sheridan again. Unwisely, Early blames the loss at Cedar Creek on his men, insisting that they stopped fighting in order to plunder the Union camp. He conveniently ignores his own redeployment order issued in the heat of the fight.  Others, however, do not.  

Officers and men alike express roiling anger at Early for his shameless criticism of his men. Most refuse to serve with him again. As a result, Robert E. Lee strips Early of all but 3,000 of his soldiers. 

 

With such a token force, Early has little choice but to bivouac at Waynesboro at the mouth of the Confederate-held Luray Valley, where his unsupplied command does very little over the next few months. Early cannot even feed his men. The Shenandoah Valley, once lush, is now a desert, and Sheridan adds insult to injury when he moves more troops into the Valley in order to secure it.  

During the harsh winter of 1864-65, most of Early’s Confederates cross the Union lines, leaving Early with just a few hundred troopers. In March 1865, Sheridan finally raids Waynesboro, and Early escapes with only a score of men. His career ends ignominiously on March 30, 1865, when, after bringing his small force to Petersburg, Lee flatly tells him to “go home.”

Early does not go home. He goes to Texas, searching for Confederate holdouts, then to Mexico, and finally to Canada (the Canadian-born actor Nathan Fillion claims descent from Jubal Early), where he remains for several years. Finally pardoned, but unreconstructed, Early returns to Virginia. He dies in the Valley, at Lynchburg, in 1894.