In the early spring of 1864 the command of the Union forces in the
Shenandoah Valley was given to General Hunter, who made ready to march
upon Lynchburg, with the object of taking possession of the city and to
capture large stores of provisions and munitions of war which belonged
to the Confederates and were stored at Lynchburg. He also laid waste
to the country over which his army passed so as to render the same of
little value as a source for supplies to the Confederacy.
A division of his army under General Crooks fought a desperate battle
on the 9th day of May, 1864, with the Confederates, commanded by
General Jenkins, at Cloyd's farm, near Dublin depot, in southwestern
Virginia. This was one of the most severe short engagements of the
entire war, in which General Jenkins was killed and the total loss to
the Confederates in killed and wounded and missing was about 900, and
that of the Federals somewhat less. During this short engagement the
grim monster Death was on every side, and whose threatening shrieks
howled in the air around them.
Hunter's main army finally reached the vicinity of Lynchburg on the
17th day of June, after fighting a battle with Imboden and McCausland
a few miles away from Lynchburg, the Confederates falling back within
the breastworks which they had hastily thrown up. The city was defended
by a portion of Breckinridge's division, but their numbers were far
inferior to that of the Federals, who had by this time arrived before
the city. Hunter halted his army and brought up his artillery and did
some cannonading, but went into camp with the expectation of taking
the city without much opposition the next morning. It is thought that
he could have easily taken the city on the evening of his arrival,
but during the night General Gordon arrived with his division and the
Confederates were reënforced by other arrivals next morning from the
army of General Early, then on its way to the Shenandoah Valley. On the
morning of the 18th General Hunter found Lynchburg full of Confederate
soldiers, and more arriving on every train, which on the arrival the
bands playing could plainly be heard by the Federal soldiers as they
came upon the field. Hunter soon found, in his opinion, the capture
of Lynchburg an impossibility, and his raid was to terminate in a
dismal failure. During the 18th there was some cannonading and several
skirmishes between the cavalry of the two contending armies.
On the night of the 19th he broke camp and marched away to the
westward. Why he retreated without giving battle was not understood.
General Gordon said that in his opinion that conscience was harrowing
General Hunter and causing him to see an avenger wrapped in every gray
jacket before him. The Confederates took up the pursuit of Hunter's
retreating army, but Hunter succeeded in getting back across the
mountains into western Virginia, after hard marches over mountain roads
with little or no supplies for his army, and with a large amount of
straggling.
General Lee dispatched General Early with an army of 20,000 men to
threaten Washington, in the hope of drawing part of Grant's army away
from before Richmond. Early was to go by the way of Shenandoah Valley.
This route was given him partly in order to help defend Lynchburg and
to get supplies for his army in the valley. He reached Winchester on
the 3d of July, and moved rapidly down the valley and crossed into
Maryland, and was at Hagerstown on the 6th. He turned about and moved
boldly upon Washington. He met and defeated General Wallace on the
Monocacy on July 9th, and on the next day he was within six miles of
the capitol at Washington. An immediate assault might have given him
possession of the city, which was weakly defended, but he delayed for
a day, and in the meantime two divisions under General Wright from
Grant's army from before Petersburg arrived and Early was forced to
retreat, after spending the 12th in threatening the city. This was
considered one of the boldest raids of the entire war.
This attack on Washington by General Early created considerable
excitement in the city, for no other Confederate army had ever been so
near to the capital before. The government employees of all kinds, the
sailors from the navy yard, and the convalescents from the hospitals,
were all rushed out to the forts around the city. Even President
Lincoln himself went out to the defenses of the city.
Early recrossed the Potomac at Snickers' Ferry on the 18th. Here he was
overtaken by the pursuing Federals, at which place a battle was fought
in which Early was the victor. He fought another battle at Winchester
with General Averell's cavalry.
Grant decided to give the command of the army in the Shenandoah to
General Philip H. Sheridan, to whom he gave instructions to drive the
Confederates out of the valley once for all, and to destroy all growing
crops and everything that would be of any advantage to the Confederacy
in the way of supplies for their army or otherwise. This he finally
did, and Sheridan afterwards said that he believed a crow could fly
over the entire valley without getting even a mouthful to eat.
September found the two armies near Winchester, and on the 19th
a severe battle was fought which was kept up the entire day, the
advantage being first with one side and then the other. Finally the
Confederates, being outnumbered, retreated back through Winchester.
This was a bloody day, in which the loss of the Federals was about
5,000, and that of the Confederates about 4,000.
The next day the Confederates were overtaken at Fisher's Hill, at
which place Early was making preparations for a great battle, which
engagement did not occur until the 22d. This engagement proved to
be disastrous to Early, his army being flanked by the Federals with
superior numbers. He began a stubborn retreat, which finally became a
rout. He was closely followed up by the Federals, and fought several
small engagements on his retreat.
On about the middle of October he received reënforcements from
Longstreet, and on the 19th he attacked Sheridan's army at Cedar Creek,
under the immediate command of General Wright, Sheridan having gone
to Washington, but returned in time to take part in the battle. This
took place about twenty miles from Winchester, the attack being made by
General Gordon, who fell upon General Sheridan's men while they were
yet sleeping early in the morning. Gordon was immediately supported
by the army; Early himself came up to the attack. The Federals were
completely surprised and retreated, which became a rout, leaving their
entire camp equipment, together with some prisoners, in the hands of
the Confederates. The Confederates thought they had gained a signal
victory, and gave up the pursuit of the retreating Federals, and turned
their attention to pillaging the Federal camp.
General Sheridan was on his way from Winchester to his army
headquarters at Cedar Creek when he heard the roar of the cannon which
convinced him that a great battle was being fought. He at once made
haste to take charge of his army, this being Sheridan's famous ride.
He first met stragglers of his army, and then passed through brigade
after brigade of his retreating army, which so blocked the highway
that he was compelled to leave the same and take to the fields. He
at length succeeded in stopping the retreat and turned it into an
attacking column. In this retreat were two divisions commanded by two
future presidents, viz.: President Hayes and McKinley. This attack
on the Confederates completely surprised them, and they were utterly
routed and so badly defeated that Early's army was never completely
reorganized, this being the last principal engagement in the Shenandoah
Valley.
Previous to these battles in the valley, Early had dispatched General
McCausland with his division of cavalry to go into Pennsylvania to levy
large sums of money on the towns in reprisal for Hunter's depredations
in the Shenandoah Valley. This cavalry party burned the town of
Chambersburg.