The Shenandoah Valley

At Resica we left Sherman to march south on Atlanta & headed east.  It took us 4 days with 3 nights camping in the woods to cross the Appallacians to the eastern theatre of the war.  Suddenly every became very close together & today we visited 8 battlefields between Waynesboro & Winchester while travelling only 148 miles.  Some were small & unremarkable, but they still added to the vibe of the valley.   The richness of the valley is obvious.  The valley floor is rolling country with a mix of woods & open fields.  It is impossible to know exactly how the present day woods correspond to the time of the war.  Some there then would have been cleared since.  Some areas now wooded, had been cleared for charcoal.  But the general character seems to still correspond with the descriptions one reads - a mix of open ground & woods with rolling hills - generally much more open than out west.  As we fought an 1862 campaign at Camp Cromwell early last year it all seemed very familiar.

Cross Keys & Fort Republic 1862
These were the last two battles of jackson's 1862 campaign, close together, they were fought on successive days.  Early on the left of the Reb's position faced Fremont at Cross keys while Jackson on the right faced Shields.

Meanwhile at Fort Republic  Fremont had a sound position with a river on his right & hills making a great artillery platform on left.  Jackson, madly chose to attack.  The attack predictably failed & the Feds pursued the beaten Rebs across the fields.  But Ewell had showed up from Cross Keys & been sent to the Rebs right.  He attacked the pursuers in flank & turned defeat into victory. 

Jackson retired, having done his job of distracting 3 Union Corps from the main game near Richmond.

New Market 1864

In 1864 Grant sent Sigel down the valley to deny it's resources to the Confederacy.  Brekinridge, was defending the valley,  but was heavily outnumbered.  The battle had little tactical manoeuvre or interesting terrain.  The most unique feature of the battle was the CSA's desperate use of cadets from a military academy to fill out their ranks - with predictably tragic results.

Fishers Hill 1864
After Early's raid north to try & distract Union troops from Richmond, Grant sent Sheridan to drive him out of the valley.  Early had set up a defensive line at Fishers Hill just south of Strasburg.  His right rested on the North Fork of the Shenadoah, but his left on Fisher's hill did not extend to the mountains on his left as he lacked enough men to do so.

This is the Union view of the end of Early's line.

Sheridan moved a division to the right across his rear out of sight of the Rebs to push through the woods on the Reb's left & outflank them.

The woods on the Reb flank look pretty thick now, but were very possibly more open then.  But the description above indicates that the veteran troops were not fazed by the disorder caused.  They burst out onto the Reb's flank & the end f the Reb line broke.  Early tried to cobble together a new line of defence, but it didn't happen & the Rebs were beat.

Cedar Creek 1864
After Fishers Hill Sheridan consolidated his hold on the lower valley.  The Union were convinced that Early was  spent force & over-relaxed in their camp at Cedar Creek several miles north of Fisher Hill.  But Early rhad received reinforcements & launched a surprise dawn attack. The Union units at the very front were routed, but others held their ground for a while & bought time.  Sheridan was away from the front the morning of the attack, but galloped down the road to join his men leaving a line of officers to round up stragglers.  The Rebs advanced about 5km before Sheridan had cobbled together a sound defensive line.  Early paused the attack, momentum was lost & the Rebs had to fall back.  It was the same old story as Shiloh & Murfreesboro, the Rebs surprised the Union, thought they'd won, declared victory, then the Union rally & they Rebs end up losers.

The main Union campground abandoned as the Rebs attacked form the left.

Kernstown 1862 & 1864
The Kerntown battlefield is privately owned & only open at weekends.  It was Monday, so we missed out on these two.