Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 1864 Shenandoah Valley

CSPAN3 The Civil War 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign July 13, 2024

In 2007. Ed and again in 2009. Us for ahe was with look at the 1863 battle. In 2013. Scott has written numerous articles and books. The forgotten fury, the battle of piedmont. Shenandoah summer 1864 valley campaign. Manassas long streets attack and the struggle for the rich published in 2011. Also that year, the battle of piedmont. 2013, the last battle of winchester. In addition to his articles and onks, he served for 10 years the board of the battlefield association. On thetwice served president of the bull run civil war roundtable. It for the past 10 years, he has worked for the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation on updating and correcting the battlefield interpretation for the third winchester battlefield. Now, over 600 battles acres of battlefield have been saved thanks to the Battlefield Foundation and the civil war trust. An accomplishment that has virtually saved an entire battlefield from certain destruction. He has recently completed the editing of the journal of union kernel, a Division Commander and general george crooks eight core which was in service under the army of the Sherman Donna shenandoah. Scott tells me he is now completing a volume on the battle of jonesboro and shermans capture of atlanta. We look forward to the publication. He is not only an accomplished battlefield guide, but also knows his way around the revolutionary war sites from new york to georgia. We are truly lucky to have him with us on sunday. Scott as he tells us about a shenandoah summer from the perspective of the united states. [applause] good evening and thank you for having me back here. It is always a pleasure to spend speak to the heritage foundation. Of july 14, 1864, as the first rays of the sun came through in the eastern men of thee tired army of the Valley District splashed into the cool waters of the Potomac River and crossed over at whites ferry. The army would spend the next 36 hours resting near big spring north of leesburg, virginia. Withd been a Hard Campaign a lot of hard marching on extremely hot days during the march in washington, d. C. And the returned back to the old dominion. One north carolinians later wrote, if the old gentleman did marches very hurt and if we did say some emphatic themes things about him at the time when the hot sun was overcoming bag the old back gentlemans pardon. He was indeed a unique personality. I have a couple of anecdotal stories. We will hear a lot about him throughout the weekend. A couple of stories will sum up the type of guy he was. Time during the Shenandoah Valley campaign in 1864 when a group of the Senior Officers were all sitting around and a lot of it officers from prominent virginia families. They refer to their families as the first families of virginia. One from kentucky, he was asking these families what is it with all of these ff these . Happened to the second families of virginia . One chimed, they moved to kentucky. [laughter] 1965, hein early attended a service down around waynesboro, virginia with a staff officer. Outside of this church was a large graveyard. As part of the sermon that day, the pastor asked a question to the congregation. He said, what would you do if the lord came down right now and he raised every man in the graveyard up from the dead . Early leans over and he thinks he is whispering into the year of the staff officer but he is speaking so everyone can hear. He says i would conscript every day and of them into the army. He was certainly a character. One thing i want to say about him is, he was highly motivated to serve robert e. Lee. With that mission he was on, he was at his best. Arlie was at jewel the pinnacle of his career in the army of northern virginia. This man pictured on the screen is Major General horacio right commander of the six core. They came up to washington to save it from the capture. Thatsrly slips a rate slips away from washington, horacio right is going to take 21 hours before he can get his troops almost a full day so hes going to have an easy time with the exception of a rearguard action. That only have the sixth core but he will have the vanguard of the 19th army corps which was supposed to go from louisiana to st. Petersburg but was diverted to washington because of the crisis induced by the invasion. Time, right isn going to pursue him to the Potomac River. At that time, he will find that he has already begun to retreat from leesburg. He had alluded to hunters field but after lynchburg was forced to retreat into West Virginia, hes going to show up in western andland about 13th and 14th coming up in Harpers Ferry in martinsburg which was off the map, theres going to be a large union force of 14,000 union men approaching him from the west. At the same time that horacio right is going to get up to 15,000 men moving on him pursuing him out of washington dc. Major general george command ofaced in the troops from West Virginia. Thats hunters fourth. Hes going to have 8000 men stationed around hillsboro, virginia. His job is to intercept the retreat of the army. It hes going to send cavalry from hillsboro. I just wanted to show you how close of a run thing it was that jubal early escaped. One of the things that is often lost to history is the reason that he is able to escape and doesnt have the entire army blocking his path, the rivers in West Virginia were at low water. A thought they were going to be able to take riverboats and get on the railroad and the back in time to confront the threat. However, Mother Nature helped the confederacy at that time and cost them several days. It is because of that that jubal early will slip by. Wright point, horatio would have been content to stay on the east bank and head back to washington. His orders were to ensure that the confederate were in full retreat. To make a Good Campaign of it. Asht just heard get back fast as you can. Horatio wright was a beautiful social. When he heard they were out with 8000 men going against early was 6000 men, he would promptly cross over. They would unite on the 17th and they would begin advancing toward the stickers cap. The cavalry discovered that the ford is blocked by john gordons division of infantry. The federals are going nowhere. The going to wait until the next a and report back to Horatio Wright who was the overall commander. Horatio wright is going to formulate a plan. George crook is going to take the lead. His orders are to cross the river and attack the enemy if practicable. It than the rest of the army would follow suit. He tells them i am going to attack the enemy. Practicals in george crooks communication. If iten to say that werent for crooks presence, i dont think there would have been much in the way of any military action that would have come out of the pursuit of jubal early. 18th, the cavalry is already in position and him and hunt her, him and Horatio Wright are going to study the layout of the confederate position from and atop stickers cap confederate to the strong force in position here at the Shenandoah River crossing but i think what we should do is march our troops northward about two miles, cross them over at island are on once our troops the west bank of the Shenandoah River, they are going to head back self toward snickers or castleman sperry, take john b gordons division and its northern flank, drive it away, clear the crossing of the river than the race rest of the army will march across the river and they will pursue jubal early and attack him as the opportunity persists. Such was the plan. As we know, plans on the battlefield seldom lasts once the reality of the situation hits. George crook would place this flanking force about 5000 men doctor he was a medical from West Virginia. It reorganized for the duration of the work later in 1861, he was selected to be the kernel of the regiment. As a Brigade Commander under john popes army of virginia. He returned to the scene of operations in 1864. This man is quite an experienced combat officer. July 18, 1864 is the first opportunity as a Division Commander in crooks army. When he gets down to the river, he is going to get to the River Crossing at 3 30. Hes going to get his troops across. It away, he realizes that he is getting reports in from skirmishers and scouts that theres large federal Confederate Forces coming into position all around him. He halts any further pants and begins positioning his troops on the bluff immediately in front of the Shenandoah River. He sent a courier back saying this plan is not going as expected i dont have a clear by aback i am blocked in division approaching from the west and there are dust clouds off to the north which seem to indicate that a large confederate force is moving toward my northern flank. This courier quickly takes the information back to george crook at his headquarters overlooking snickers fairy and crook is alarmed. He turns to Horatio Wright and asked him for permission to withdraw the division back to the east bank of the river. Horatio wright says no we have the six core we are going to reinforce him with another division. That division had just come to the gap and its going to be more than an hour to 1. 5 hours before he is going to arrive on the scene of the battle. Before that can happen, all fury is going to be unleashed on the division. His right flank is going to be attacked by a division of 3500 men strong. It will be smashed. Unfortunately, manning that they were 1000 dismounted cavalry men. Composed of hodgepodge units and individual men from every regiment in the cavalry corps. They had been sent up to washington dc as a unit and armed as infantrymen and they broke at the first fire and retreat back across the river in confusion. The entire force is going to be knocked into a position along the riverbank. Theyre going to fall back after taking heavy losses. Theyre going to be in a set sunken road that was a tour boat path for boats. At the top of that road was a stone walls of the head behind them on the east bank are going to be several batteries of Union Artillery that are going to preclude large state of largescale troop movements by reinforcements and an attempt to move forward. Rhodess men will attempt to charge down and drive him into the river that they will hold out until darkness. Filbert will leapfrog his troops across the river and in darkness leaving a regiment on the island than sending another one back across until finally his entire army is safe on the other bank. Now im going to come back and talk about general James Ricketts and george crook. Scene, herives on the is going to find everything in confusion. The men are coming back across the river in confusion. He has to make it tough military decision. From a military perspective, what was there to gain by taking his 3000 men attempting to cross the river in the face of not only the retreating fugitive but the gunfire of roads men on the west bank . Nothing. Nothing could be saved except that he would get caught up in the confusion. He makes the hard decision. Pull full burn back eventually and he was told by right that rickets would go over and help him. He appeals to him to overrule the situation. From a humid perspective and from the soldiers perspective, they never forget the men who work caught over there never forgive rickets for not coming to their aid. It would be something that crook held a bitterness toward the six core until the day he died. Whichy after this battle caused both sides 400 men, the fight along the riverbank was all that was a clear tactical that victory, those men held out until darkness and put an end to the fighting. They had a moral victory that they always relished as they grew older and went to their reunions. Day, the action is going to shift nine miles to the hes going to send the cavalry to break through the confederate lines where route 50 goes to ashbys gap and crosses the Shenandoah River. He would meet with no Better Success to the south. At this point, the campaign seems as though its starting to end. Hes feeling pressure. Hunter is starting to send troops down threatening the flank and rear. He has two brigades under a general that going to the moving self. Jubal early is feeling the pressure on both his flanks and the rear of his army when he is stationed at berryville. ,e realizes that to stay there its a risky business. He decides right then and there on the night of the 19th of july he is going to begin a retreat 20 miles to fishers hill. Jubal early is going to send one division. The commander will go to winchester. He is an aggressive young tar heel and he has only been a Division Commander for a couple of months. Himad an attack that cost hundreds of men killed and one wounded. He gets report from the cavalry that there is a small force of federals coming down the pipe toward winchester. Infantryets take her and go down there and wait these guys out. 4500ther has 4000 or cavalry and artillery under his command. The other who is moving southward only has 2000 men. The odds in his favor. Be that as it may, he goes out against orders as he is deploying his troops to attack, he hits the left flank of the line and that is pretty much all she wrote. This was the only success that the union had in their pursuit of jubal early. North toward winchester when he hears of the disaster, one of the commands under him was jubal earlys old brigade and they were mattis hornets and they see him writing forward and they say dont blame us, the other is to blame. A number of the soldiers choked afterwards. They talked about this battle. One virginia cavalryman who was part of the confederate force their wrote in his memoirs, he said with a name that stuck amongst the soldier was the battle of ram servers but. Point on the 20th that Horatio Wright makes the decision. That jubal early is in fuel full retreat to washington richmond. He was not in full retreat. Begins anight overnight march back to washington, d. C. Many of the veterans thought it was funny that the advance had taken so long and it was so slow while they were pursuing him out to the valley. They wondered what was happening in washington that they were heading back so quickly. That hille floating was driving over lands toward alexandria in the six core had to get back to save washington from hell. There was no threat to washington. Cricket is going to take command of a consolidated force. All the troops that hunter had been sending southward toward winchester plus all of the West Virginia troops at the battles of snickers bs gap would consolidate. It all comes to 12 maybe 13,000 men strong. Jubal early and his force, hes going to have a lot of his cavalry remounted and its going to grow significantly in strength. He will have an army of 16,000 men at fishers hill on july 27. July 22 is in interesting time because in the official records menhe war, both of these have interesting correspondences that are going to set the stage for the rest of this campaign. , he writes back to his Department Commander hunter at Harpers Ferry and tells him that jubal early, this force is too strong i dont have the manpower nor the combat experience for the little army of West Virginia to go toward otero the army of the Valley District in the open field. Im going to hang out at winchester for a couple of days and hopefully early is going to send his troops back to richmond. He has a very accurate assessment of the situation in the valley and crook also has a proven plan of action of how he is going to a couple his mission. Which is been reemphasized by general grant is to pursue the enemy. But to stay between the enemy and the Potomac River because the last thing he wants is a replay of the maryland raid. Carry outg to try to those orders to the best of his ability. Jubal early, he gets communications from robert e. Lee on july 22. Robert e. Lee is full into the midst of the siege of petersburg in richmond against the army of the potomac. Him, he stay out in the shenandoah, you can stay as long as you want to make sure the troops under Horatio Wright, 18,000 men, make sure they dont show up back in petersburg. Day, early is going to send his cavalry out in force and they are going to drive the Union Cavalry back to winchester. Theyre going to capture several officers. From these officers, they are going to learn that Horatio Wright headed back to washington a couple days ago. Jubal early wastes no time and he gives the order for his army to go on the offensive against george crook the following day. The vanguard of his army will be stationed around a village three miles south of winchester. The senior officer of the Infantry Division is colonel James Mulligan from chicago, illinois. He was very popular and wellknown during the civil war. One of his fellow Division Commanders noted that he was perhaps more popular out of the army and was in the army. Mulligan longed for a battlefield command. He started off the war in 1861 as the commander of a garrison in missouri and he was surrounded by a large confederate force that outnumbered him four to one. He held out for about a week and he earned a lot of praise at a time when bull run was going on and there was a lot of negativity. He showed some gusto. He will be surrounded and forced to c

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