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.
