 |
Civil War Battles |
|
State War Records |
| AL - AK - AZ - AR - CA - CO - CT - DE - FL - GA - HI - ID - IL - IN - IA - KS - KY - LA - MA - MD - ME - MI - MN - MS - MO - MT - NE - NV - NH - NJ - NM - NY - NC - ND - OH - OK - OR - PA - RI - SC - SD - TN - TX - UT - VT - VA - WA - WV - WI - WY |
The Battle of Strasburg
October 12-13, 1864 in Strasburg, Virginia
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lt. Gen. Jubal Early did not wait for Lee's recommendation before testing Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's intentions. The Army of the Valley marched at sunrise on October 12. The bulk of the army encamped for the night around Woodstock, while Rosser's regrouped division bedded down at Columbia Furnace on the Back Road and Lomax's troopers in the Luray Valley.
On the 13th, at 6:00 A.M., the infantry and artillery again filed onto the Pike. Over Fisher's Hill, through Strasburg, the column proceeded. John Gordon's leading division finally halted at 10:00 A.M. at Hupp's Hill, a 1.5 miles short of the Union camps beyond Cedar Creek. Gordon shifted his troops into a stand of trees, while the divisions of Gens. Ramseur, Gabriel Wharton, John Pegram and Joseph Kershaw formed a line under the brow of the hill.
Confederate gun crews rolled their pieces forward, rammed in the charges and sent shells howling toward the Federals, like a familiar greeting from an old acquaintance. The shells exploded in the camp of the XIX Corps, and startled Union troops scrambled for cover. William Emory called for counterfire from his own batteries. George Crook soon joined Emory, and the pair ordered Joseph Thoburn's division of Crook's corps forward in a reconnaissance.
The brigades of Cols. George Wells and Thomas Harris soon filed down the slope to Cedar Creek and crossed the stream. As the Federals advanced across the Abram Stickley farm, about 1000 yards south of the creek, Brig. Gen. James Conner's brigade of Joseph Kershaw's division charged. The 2 battle lines exploded at contact. For the next hour or so, the foes hammered each other. Conner went down with a wound, and George Wells suffered a mortal wound. Finally, Conner's South Carolinians, supported by additional troops, cracked the Union line, routing the Federals. The Confederates pursued to the Stickley farmhouse, where they came under fire from Union batteries across Cedar Creek.
This ended the action. Confederate losses amounted to 22 killed and 160 wounded; Union casualties totaled 22 killed, 110 wounded and 77 captured. Emory and Crook learned that most, if not all, of the Confederate army was present. Early ascertained that an advance toward Cedar Creek would be opposed. Late in the afternoon, the butternuts withdrew through Strasburg and settled into their old works on Fisher's Hill.
