Cedar Creek Part I: A Prelude to Battle

According to Generals Grant and Sheridan, the Valley Campaign of 1864 was over. Sheridan had done well to defeat and demoralize the Confederate forces under General Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley, and the question now was what to do next. After some time deliberating and disagreeing, Sheridan and Grant came to the conclusion that Sheridan should officially conclude his campaign by torching as much as the Valley as possible while repositioning his force toward Strasburg, Virginia.

Sheridan thus began a new and bitter phase of the Valley fighting, setting events in motion that would earn him both infamy and glory. For the manner in which he was about to make war on the countryside, Sheridan would create a legacy of hate among the residents of the Shenandoah. And for his conduct of the campaign's most dramatic battle, which was still to come, he would achieve his greatest fame (Lewis, 1987, p. 134).

Sheridan sent out his cavalry to lead the way in the "scorched earth" strategy. His orders were to burn all of the "forage, mills, and such other property as might be serviceable to the Rebel Army" (Lewis, 1987, p. 134). And burn they did. Over 2,000 barns, 120 mills and ½ a million bushels of grain were destroyed, and 50,000 head of livestock were confiscated, not to mention any militarily strategic destruction of Confederate rail and supply lines that may have stood in the way.

All of this destruction enraged the citizens of the Valley and, of course, Jubal Early, whose force marched back into the Valley soon after Sheridan began carrying out his campaign. Early intended to make war on Sheridan's forces again, and seeing the destruction of the Southern subsistence in the Valley provoked him to be even more adamant about doing so. On October 10, the Union forces camped along Cedar Creek, just north of Strasburg, and not being aware that Early was again on their heels, and because the Union VI Corps had been detached from Sheridan's force to rejoin Grant in Petersburg, this was an opportune time to attack.

Unfortunately for Early, however, a skirmish between a segment of his force and a detachment of Union infantry ensued as Early was moving into position. Though the Federals were routed, they now knew of Early's presence. Because of this (among other reasons), Sheridan immediately recalled the VI Corps, and his forces were now on alert. While Sheridan's men were encamped along the Creek, the general himself headed for Washington on October 15 for a conference with Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton. Early was unaware of Sheridan's absence, but he prepared to attack on the Union at, coincidentally, the best possible time.

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