THE OPEQUON.(1)
Grant's approval of Sheridan's attack was founded on the withdrawal
of Kershaw; but on the 18th of September, just as Sheridan was
about to move on Newtown, meaning to offer Early the choice of
being turned out of Winchester, or being overwhelmed if he should
stay, news came from Averell that he had been driven out of
Martinsburg by two divisions of infantry. These were the divisions
of Rodes and Gordon, with which, enticed at last into a grave error
by the temptation of hearing that the railway was being repaired,
Early had marched on the 17th to Bunker Hill and Martinsburg. When
Sheridan heard of this, and perceived that Early's forces, already
diminished, were strung along all the way from Winchester to
Martinsburg, he stopped the execution of the orders he had already
issued for the movement at four o'clock in the afternoon of that
day, the 18th of September, and replaced them by fresh arrangements
which led to the battle of the Opequon on the 19th. Since last
moving to the Clifton-Berryville line, Sheridan had used his cavalry
to preserve in his front an open space fully six miles in depth,
extending to the banks of the Opequon, meaning not only to have
the first tidings of any offensive movement by the enemy, but also
that when himself ready to move he might be able to take the enemy
by surprise.
On the evening of the 18th of September, part of Early's cavalry
was at Martinsburg, Gordon occupied Bunker Hill, Wharton was at
Stephenson's, with Rodes closing back on him, while Ramseur alone
covered Winchester in the path of Sheridan's advance. Sheridan
naturally supposed that in a quick movement he would have two
divisions to deal with after crossing the Opequon.
At two o'clock on the morning of Monday, the 19th of September, on
the very day when Sheridan had told Grant he would be ready to
move, but just three hours earlier, Sheridan put his army in motion
toward the Opequon, covering his flank by directing Merritt and
Averell on Stephenson's. He sent Wilson rapidly ahead on the
Berryville road to carry the ford and to seize the long and deep
defile on the left or east bank through which the main column would
have to advance. Wright was to lead the infantry, closely followed
by Emory, who, in order to solidify the movement, was instructed
to take his orders from Wright after reaching the ford. Crook,
coming in from his more distant position, would naturally fall in
the rear of the others, and he was to mass his men in reserve,
covering the ford. Wright had to move partly across country, and
had farther to go than Emory. Although both started punctually at
the appointed hour, it happened that, about five o'clock, the head
of Wright's column ran into Emory's in march near the crest, whence
the road sweeps down to the Opequon. There Emory halted, by Wright's
orders, to let the Sixth Corps pass. Unfortunately, minute and
thorough as Sheridan's plans and instructions were, he appears to
have underrated the double difficulty of crossing the ford and
threading the long defile, for to this cause must be attributed
the presence of Wright's entire wagon-train in the rear of his
corps, as well as the excess of artillery for the work and the
field. The head of the column could move but slowly; thus the rear
was so long retarded, that, although the crossing began about six
o'clock, and the whole movement was urged on by Sheridan, Wright,
and Emory, and indeed by every one, it wanted but twenty minutes
of noon when the line of battle was finally formed on the rolling
ground overlooking the vale of the Opequon to the rear and Winchester
to the front. Even as it was, Sheridan's eagerness being great,
and the delay seeming interminable, Emory felt obliged to take upon
himself the responsibility of departing from the strict order of
march, and directed Dwight to move his men to the right of the road
and pass the train. Thus it had taken six hours to advance three
miles and to form in order of battle, and the immediate effect of
this delay was that Sheridan had now to deal, not only with Ramseur,
or with the two divisions counted on, but with the whole of Early's
army; for between five and six o'clock in the morning Gordon, Rodes,
and Wharton were all at Stephenson's, distant only five miles from
Winchester or from the field of battle, toward which they all moved
rapidly at the sound of the first firing, due to Wilson's advance.
Opequon Creek flows at the foot of a broad and thickly wooded gorge,
with high and steep banks. The ravine through which the Berryville
road rises to the level of the rolling plain, in the middle of
whose western edge stands Winchester, is nearly three miles long.
Here and there the high ground is covered with large oaks, pines,
and undergrowth, and is intersected by many brooks, called runs.
Of these the largest is Red Bud Run, which forms a smaller parallel
ravine flanking the defile on the north, while a still larger
stream, called Abraham's Creek, after pursuing a nearly parallel
course on the south side of the defile, crosses the road not far
from the ford, and just below it falls into the Opequon.
Wilson, after crossing the Opequon and completing his task of
covering the advance of the infantry through the defile, had turned
to the left on the high ground and taken post to cover the flank
on the Senseny road, which, after crossing the Opequon about a mile
and a quarter above the main ford, reaches the outskirts of Winchester
at a point little more than three hundred yards from the Berryville
road. The Sixth Corps formed across the Berryville road, Getty on
its left, Ricketts on its right. Getty rested his left on Abraham's
Creek. Behind him Russell stood in column in support. Emory
prolonged the line of battle to the Red Bud on the right by posting
Sharpe's and Birge's brigades of Grover, with Molineux and Shunk
in the second line, the 9th Connecticut deployed as skirmishers to
cover the right flank of Birge. Dwight's two brigades formed on
the right and rear of Grover in echelon of regiments on the right,
in order not only to support Grover's line, but to cover the flank
against any turning movement by the Confederates or an attack by
their reinforcements coming straight from Stephenson's. Beal's
brigade held the right of Dwight's line, and the brigade line from
right to left was formed in order of the 114th New York, 153d New
York, 116th New York, 29th Maine, and 30th Massachusetts. Beal
covered his right flank by a detail of skirmishers taken from all
his regiments and commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Strain, of the
153d New York. McMillan, on the left and rear of Beal, formed in
order of the 47th Pennsylvania, 8th Vermont, 160th New York, and
12th Connecticut, with five companies of the 47th Pennsylvania
deployed to cover the whole right flank of his brigade and to move
forward with it by the flank left in front. Crook had by this time
crossed the ford and was massed on the left or west bank.
In climbing the hill the Berryville road follows nearly a northwesterly
course, but soon after reaching the high ground bends rather sharply
toward the left, crosses the ravine called Ash Hollow forming the
head of Berryville Cañon, and runs for nearly a mile almost westerly.
Wright was following the road, but as Emory guided upon Wright,
the alignment was to be preserved by Sharpe's keeping his left in
touch with the right of Ricketts. While the ground in Wright's
front was for the most part open, Emory was chiefly in the dense
wood, where the heavy leafage and undergrowth prevented him from
seeing not only the enemy before him, but also the full extent of
his own line. It should be observed with care that Ricketts was
between Sharpe and the Berryville road, while the road was between
Getty and Ricketts, and formed the guide for both; for these facts,
of slight importance though they may seem, were destined presently
to exert an influence wellnigh fatal on the fortunes of the day.
During the early hours of the morning Ramseur, on the Berryville
road, and the cavalry of Lomax on the Senseny road, had been the
only Confederate force between Sheridan and Winchester. But first
Gordon came up at nine o'clock, and placed himself opposite Emory's
right, his own left resting on the line of the Red Bud; then Rodes,
closely following Gordon, formed between him and Ramseur against
the right of Emory and the left of Wright.
About a quarter before twelve o'clock, at the sound of Sheridan's
bugle, repeated from corps, division, and brigade headquarters,
the whole line moved forward with great spirit, and instantly became
engaged. Wilson pushed back Lomax, Wright drove in Ramseur, while
Emory, advancing his infantry rapidly through the wood, where he
was unable to use his artillery, attacked Gordon with great vigor.
Birge, charging with bayonets fixed, fell upon the brigade of Evans,
forming the extreme left of Gordon, and without a halt drove it in
confusion through the wood and across the open ground beyond to
the support of Braxton's artillery, posted by Gordon to secure his
flank on the Red Bud road. In this brilliant charge, led by Birge
in person, his lines naturally became disordered, and Grover,
foreseeing the effect of an advance so swift and tumultuous, ordered
Birge to halt and re-form in the wood. This order Birge tried to
execute; but whether the words of command were not heard or were
misunderstood, or in the wild excitement of the moment were wilfully
disregarded by the men, certain it is that their officers found it
impossible to restrain their ardor until they had followed on the
run the broken fragments of Evans quite through the wood and beyond
its farther skirt, where Braxton, using his guns with energy and
skill, brought them to a stand.
Sharpe, advancing simultaneously on Birge's left, tried in vain to
keep the alignment with Ricketts and with Birge; for now the peculiar
feature of the long alignment across the swerving road began to
work, yet, by reason of the screen of timber, without the cause
being immediately observed by any one. At first the order of battle
formed a right angle with the road, but the bend once reached, in
the effort to keep closed upon it, at every step Ricketts was taking
ground more and more to the left, while the point of direction for
Birge, and equally for Sharpe, was the enemy in their front, standing
almost in the exact prolongation of the defile, from which line,
still plainly marked by Ash Hollow, the road, as we have seen, was
steadily diverging. In short, to continue the march parallel with
the road compelled a left half-wheel, while the battle was with
the enemy straight in front, so that even had it been possible for
Emory to execute his orders literally he must have offered his
wheeling flank fairly to Rodes and to Gordon.
Sharpe, seeing that the gap between himself and Ricketts was growing
every moment wider, in vain tried to cover it by more than one
oblique movement to the left, and Keifer, whose brigade formed the
right of Ricketts, being also among the first to perceive the fault,
tried to make it good by deploying three of his regiments across
the interval.
Birge's advance had borne him far to the right, and as Sharpe, in
the vain attempt to keep his alignment with Ricketts, was always
drifting to the left, there came a second and smaller gap between
the two leading brigades of Grover. Into this Molineux was quickly
thrust, and, deploying in parade order, under a heavy fire of cannon
and musketry, at once began firing in return with great effect on
the advancing columns of the enemy. But, shortly before this
happened, the interval between Ricketts and Sharpe had grown to be
nearly four hundred yards wide, and Birge's advance being stayed
at nearly the same instant, Early saw his opportunity and seized
it by throwing against the diverging flanks of Sharpe and Ricketts
the fresh brigade that Battle had that moment brought up from
Stephenson's. This new impulse once more carried forward the rest
of Rodes's division; Ramseur rallied; Early restored his formation;
and the whole Confederate line swept forward with renewed impetuosity,
broke in the whole right of Ricketts and the left of Sharpe, surged
around both flanks of Molineux, and swept back Birge. Sharpe's
line, thus taken fairly in flank, was quickly rolled up. By this,
the left regiment of Molineux, the gallant 22d Iowa, being in quite
open ground, was greatly exposed, so that it, too, was presently
swept back. The 159th New York and the 13th Connecticut, after
holding on stiffly for a time under the partial cover of a sort of
gully, were in like manner swept away, and on the right Birge's
men paid the penalty of their own impetuosity. The left of Ricketts,
less exposed to the shock, stood firm, and the right of Molineux,
isolated as it was, held its ground; but otherwise the whole front
of the battle, from the road to the Red Bud, was gone. As the
Confederates charged down upon a section of Bradbury's 1st Maine
Battery, posted about the centre of the division, Day, who under
many drawbacks had brought up his regiment, the 131st New York, to
a high standard of discipline and efficiency, took prompt and full
advantage of the slight cover afforded by the little wooded ravine
in which he happened to be. With equal coolness and readiness he
changed front forward on his tenth company, yet held his fire until
he could see the shoulders and almost the backs of the enemy; then,
pouring in a hot fire, and being immediately supported by the 11th
Indiana, part of the 3d Massachusetts, and the 176th New York,
which had quickly rallied from Sharpe's reverse, the attacking
force was driven back in disorder; but unfortunately, in retiring
it swept across the remains of Molineux's left centre, which had
been cut off in the gully, and took many prisoners, especially from
among the officers who had stood to their posts through everything.
Just as when victory had seemed about to alight on the standard of
the Union, the very perch itself had been suddenly and rudely shaken
by the tread of Early's charging columns; so now, at the precise
moment when defeat--bitter, perhaps disastrous defeat--seemed
inevitable, the fortunes of the battle were once more reversed,
and the day was suddenly saved by the prompt and orderly advance
of Russell into the fatal gap. As he changed front from the wood
to the right and swept on in splendid array, it happened that the
charging line of Early, already disarranged by its own success,
offered its right flank to Russell's front. Russell himself,
bravely leading his division, fell, yet not until he had struck
the blow that gave the victory to the defenders of his country,--a
noble sacrifice in a noble cause.
But on the right a danger almost equally serious menaced the flank
of Emory, for when Birge's men came streaming back, Shunk, who had
been supporting Birge without having men enough to cover the whole
ground, found his left uncovered to Gordon by the giving way of
Sharpe, while at the same time his line was nearly enfiladed from
the right by a section or battery of Fitzhugh Lee's horse artillery
on the north bank of the Red Bud. Seeing all this, Emory instantly
ordered his own old division to deploy at the top of its speed,
and to make good the broken line. "Have this thing stopped at
once," were the terse words of his command to Dwight. Once more,
as at the Sabine Cross-Roads, the 1st brigade was called upon the
yield up its leading regiment for a sacrifice, and again the lot
fell to New York, yet this time upon the 114th, and upon not one
of all the good veteran battalions that held the field on that
19th of September--if indeed upon any in all the armies of the
Union--could the choice have rested more securely. To the left and
front, far into the open field, through the wreck of Grover's right,
into the teeth of the pursuing lines of Gordon, Per Lee led his
regiment. No sooner had his men emerged from the cover of the wood
than they came under the fire of Gordon's infantry and artillery,
crossed with the fire of Fitzhugh Lee's guns beyond the Red Bud; yet
they were not able to fire a musket in return until their own defeated
comrades had passed to the rear. Cruel as the situation was, the
114th marched steadily forward nearly two hundred yards in front
of the forest; then, finding itself quite alone and unsupported,
confronted by the line of battle of the enemy at the skirt of the
timber opposite, Per Lee made his men lie down without other cover
than the high grass, and there, loading on their backs and at every
moment losing heavily, without yielding an inch, they held off the
enemy until support came. That this was longer than usual in coming
was no fault of their comrades, but a mere accident of the situation;
for Dwight's division being formed in echelon of battalions on the
right, just as it had in the first instance been necessary to bring
the 114th into action obliquely to the left, so now Beal was forced
to form the line of battle of his brigade by inversion, and this,
moreover, in the woods, with the steep bank of the Red Bud hampering
his right. Slow though it must have seemed to Per Lee, standing
out there alone, this difficult movement was in reality executed
by Beal with great promptness and rapidity and in admirable order.
As regiment after regiment, beginning with the 153d, came into the
new line at the double-quick by the shortest path, each advanced
with a shout to the rail fence on Per Lee's right and somewhat
toward his rear, and, throwing down the rails, opened a rapid fire.
This checked the enemy. Finding Beal unable to cover all the ground
he was now trying to hold, Emory made Dwight take the 160th New
York from McMillan's brigade and posted it on the right of Beal's.
McMillan had been ordered to move forward at the same time as Beal,
and to form on his left. The five companies of the 47th Pennsylvania
that had been detached to form a skirmish line on Red Bud Run, to
cover McMillan's right flank, had somehow lost their way on the
broken ground among the thickets, and, not finding them in place,
McMillan had been obliged to send the remaining companies of the
regiment to do the same duty. This detail and the employment of
the 160th New York in Beal's line left McMillan but two of his
battalions, the 8th Vermont and the 12th Connecticut; but although
McMillan, holding the left of the formation in echelon, had farther
to go to reach his position, it was only necessary for him to move
straight to the front, and thus the 8th Vermont formed the right
of his line and the 12th Connecticut the left. Not a moment too
soon did Thomas and Peck bring their good regiments to the support
of Molineux's diminished and almost exhausted brigade, and thus
complete the restoration of Emory's line of battle. Almost at the
first fire Lieutenant-Colonel Peck, the brave, accomplished, and
spirited soldier who had led the 12th Connecticut in every action,
fell mortally wounded by the fragment of a shell.
The shaken regiments of Grover quickly rallied and re-formed in
good order behind the lines of Dwight, and all pressing forward
once more, took part in the countercharge begun by Russell, by
which the whole Confederate line was driven back in confusion quite
beyond the positions from which they had advanced to the attack.
To this line, substantially, Wright and Emory followed, and,
correcting their position and alignment, waited for events or for
orders. By one o'clock the morning's fight was over. Fierce and
eventful as it had been, it had lasted barely an hour.
The Confederates, greatly outnumbered from the first, were now,
after their losses and the rough handling they had received, no
longer in condition for the offensive, and from the defensive they
had, as things stood, little to hope. Sheridan, on his part, with
some reluctance, made up his mind that it would be better to give
up his original plan of putting in Crook to the left to cut off
Early's retreat by moving against the valley turnpike near Newtown,
and instead of this to use Crook and the cavalry on the Red Bud
line against Early's left. The time needed for this movement caused
a comparative lull in the battle of about two hours' duration. It
was not so much that the battle died away, for the fire of artillery
and even of musketry was still kept up, as that neither side moved
in force against the other. While waiting for Crook to come into
position on the right, Emory's restored line was formed by Beal on
the right, prolonged toward the left by Shunk, Birge supported by
Molineux, Day with the 131st New York, Allen with the battalion of
the 38th Massachusetts, the 8th Vermont, and the 12th Connecticut
of McMillan supported by the 160th New York, now withdrawn from
the right, and finally Neafie, leading Grover's 3d brigade in place
of Sharpe, who had been carried off the field severely wounded.
From his position in reserve, covering the Opequon ford, Crook
moved up the right bank of the Red Bud to the rear of Dwight's
first position, and then, dividing his command, posted Thoburn on
the right of Dwight, and sent Duval across the Red Bud to his point
of attack. Then Thoburn, at Emory's request, relieved Beal's front
line of battle, while Emory drew out the 114th, the 116th, and the
153d New York and placed them under Davis to strengthen the centre.
Beal himself was looking to his flank, held by the 47th Pennsylvania
and the 30th Massachusetts.
Meanwhile Wharton had gone back from the desperate task of covering
the flank at Stephenson's against Merritt's advance and had taken
position in the rear of Rodes.
As soon as Crook was fairly across the Red Bud, his movement silenced
the battery on the left bank that had been enfilading Emory's line,
and this served to tell Emory that Crook was in place and at work.
Averell and Merritt could be plainly seen surging up the valley
road far in Gordon's left and rear, furiously driving before them
the main body of Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry. About four o'clock the
cheers of Duval's men beyond the Red Bud served as the signal for
Thoburn, and now as Crook moved forward, sweeping everything before
him, from right to left the whole army responded to the impulse.
To meet Thoburn, Breckinridge placed Wharton in position at right
angles with Gordon and with the valley road. Duval, having easily
driven before him everything on the left bank of the Red Bud, waded
through the marsh on his left, crossed the run, and united with
Thoburn. Then Crook, with a sudden and irregular but curiously
effective half-wheel to the left, fell vigorously upon Gordon, and
Torbert coming on with great impetuosity at the same instant, the
weight was heavier than the attenuated lines of Breckinridge and
Gordon could bear. Early saw his whole left wing give back in
disorder, and as Emory and Wright pressed hard, Rodes and Ramseur
gave way, and the battle was over.
All that remained to Early was to make good his retreat, now
seriously compromised by the steady progress of Wilson toward and
at last upon the Millwood road. Early vainly endeavored to reunite
his shattered fragments behind the lines constructed in the former
campaigns for the defence of Winchester on the east. About five
o'clock Torbert and Crook, fairly at right angles to the first line
of battle, covered Winchester on the north from the rocky ledges
that lie to the eastward of the town nearly to the first position
of Braxton's guns. Thence Wright extended the line at right angles
with Crook and parallel with the valley road, while Sheridan drew
out Emory, who was naturally displaced by these converging movement,
and sent him to extend Wright's line toward the south.
The disorderly retreat of Early's men once begun, there was no
staying it. Torbert pursued the fugitives to Kernstown, where
Ramseur faced about, but Sheridan, mindful that his men had been
on their feet since two o'clock in the morning, many of them since
one, and had in the meantime fought with varying success a long
and hard fight ending in a great victory, made no attempt to send
his infantry after the flying enemy.
For what was probably the first time in their lives, his men had
seen every musket, every cannon, and every sabre put in use, and
to good use, by their young and vigorous commander. They had looked
upon a decisive victory ending with the rout of their enemy.
Sheridan himself openly rejoiced, and catching the enthusiasm of
their leader, his men went wild with excitement when, accompanied
by his corps commanders, Wright and Emory and Crook, Sheridan rode
down the front of his lines. Then went up a mighty cheer that gave
new life to the wounded and consoled the last moments of the dying,
for in every breast was firmly implanted the conviction that now
at last the end was in sight, and that deep-toned shout that shook
the hills and the heavens was not the brutal roar of a rude and
barbarous soldiery, coarsely exulting over the distress and slaughter
of the vanquished, but the glad voice of the American people (2)
rejoicing from the hill-top at the first sure glimpse of the final
victory that meant to them peace, home, and a nation saved.
When the President heard the news his first act was to write with
his own hand a warm message of congratulation, and this he followed
up by making Sheridan a brigadier-general in the regular army, and
assigning him permanently to the high command he had been exercising
under temporary orders.
The losses of the Army of the Shenandoah, according to the revised
statements compiled in the War Department were 5,018, including
697 killed, 3,983 wounded, 338 missing. Of the three infantry
corps, the Nineteenth, though in numbers smaller than the Sixth,
suffered the heaviest loss, the aggregate being 2,074, while the
total casualties of the Sixth Corps were 1,699, and those of the
West Virginia forces, 794. The total loss of the cavalry was 451.
The loss of the Nineteenth Corps was divided into 314 killed,
1,554 wounded, 206 missing. Of this, far the heaviest share fell
upon Grover's division, which reported 1,527 against 542 in Dwight's
division. Dwight reports 80 killed, 460 wounded, 2 missing; Grover,
234 killed, 1,089 wounded, 204 missing; but Grover had four brigades
in the action while Dwight had two, and this nearly represents the
relative strength of the two divisions. Of the brigades, Birge's
suffered the most, having 107 killed, 349 wounded, 69 missing--together,
525; while Molineux, who came next, had 58 killed, 362 wounded, 87
missing--together, 507; yet in proportion Sharpe fared the worst,
for his brigade, though but half as strong as Birge's, lost 39
killed, 222 wounded, 17 missing--together, 278. The 114th
New York heads the fatal record for the day with 44 killed and
mortally wounded, and 141 wounded--together, 185 out of about 270
in action--nearly sixty-five per cent.
Dwight's report having been sent back to him by Emory for correction,
and not again presented, no report is to be found from the First
division or any portion of it, except McMillan's brigade and the
12th Connecticut. The most useful detailed accounts of the part
taken by the division are to be found in the admirable histories
of the "First-Tenth-Twenty-Ninth Maine" by Major John M. Gould,
and of the 114th New York by Assistant-Surgeon Harris H. Beecher.
Prominent among the slain of the Nineteenth Corps, besides
Lieutenant-Colonel Peck, already spoke of, were Colonel Alexander
Gardiner, 14th New Hampshire, Lieutenant-Colonel Willoughby Babcock,
75th New York, Major William Knowlton, 29th Maine and Major Eusebius
S. Clark, 26th Massachusetts. These were fine officers, and their
loss was deeply deplored.
Early lost nearly 4,000 in all, including about 200 prisoners.
Rodes was killed, Fitzhugh Lee severely wounded. Early was forced
to leave his dead and most of his wounded to be cared for by the
victors, into whose hands also fell five guns and nine battle-flags.
Severe military critics have sometimes been disposed to find fault
with Early, not merely for scattering his army--which, though
certainly a fault, was handsomely made good by the rapid concentration,
--but even for fighting his battle at Winchester at all. Weakened
by the loss of Kershaw, Early should, these critics think, have
fallen back to Fisher's Hill at the first sign of Sheridan's advance;
yet upon a broad view it is difficult to concede this. The odds
against Early were the same that the Confederates had necessarily
assumed from the beginning. They were desperate; they could not
possibly be otherwise than desperate; they called for desperate
campaigns, and these for desperate battles. Standing on the
defensive at Fisher's Hill, Early would not only have given up the
main object of his campaign and of his presence in the valley, but
would have exposed himself to the risk of being cut off by a turning
column gaining his rear by way of the Luray valley. Indeed, this
would have been more than a risk; sooner or later it would have
been a certainty.
(1) Also spelled "Opequan." Pronounced O-peck'-an.
(2) "Hear that! That's the voice of the American people!" Thomas
is said to have exclaimed on hearing the tremendous cheers of his
men for their decisive victory of Nashville.