Battle of Cedar Creek - Background - Prelude To Battle

Prelude To Battle

Believing that Early could no longer muster attacks after more than a month of battling, Sheridan ordered the VI Corps under Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright to return to the Petersburg siege lines. However, Early's troops arrived at Hupp's Hill, just north of Strasburg, on October 13, deployed in battle formation, and began shelling Federal camps around Belle Grove plantation. Col. Joseph Thoburn's Union division moved forward to silence the guns and engaged in a sharp fight with Kershaw's division, resulting in 209 Union casualties, 182 Confederate. Sheridan recalled Wright's corps, which by this time had reached Ashby's Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He departed on October 16 for a conference in Washington with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, accompanied by his Cavalry Corps as far as Front Royal, intending that those two divisions would then raid the Virginia Central Railroad. However, Sheridan changed his plan when he was notified that Early was sending wig-wag signals implying that Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's corps might join him from Petersburg. This was disinformation on Early's part, hoping that it would induce the Federals to withdraw down the Valley, but instead Sheridan brought all of his forces back to the camps along Cedar Creek.

In a letter of October 12, 1864, Lee told Early, "You had better move against him and endeavor to crush him. ... I do not think Sheridan's infantry or cavalry numerically as large as you suppose." Early examined the Union position behind Cedar Creek and found an opening. Expecting an attack across the open valley floor to the west, the Union left relied on natural obstacles for cover. Furthermore, Sheridan expected each of his subordinate commands to provide for its own security, using pickets deployed well forward of their camps. General Crook's army was not accustomed to that practice and discounted Sheridan's guidance, leaving the Union left more vulnerable. Early's choice was either to retire from the area to replenish his dwindling supplies or to attack. He chose boldness and planned an assault on superior forces, using surprise to his advantage—cross the North Fork of the Shenandoah River and Cedar Creek to attack the Union left, rolling up the line and defeating each part in detail.

On October 18, the eve of battle, Sheridan was spending the night in Winchester, on his way back from the Washington conference. Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright was in temporary command of the Army of the Shenandoah.