We are now at stop #9, the final stop on the tour. Along the Valley Pike, which is today Route 11. You should be at the interpretive marker labeled-The Union Counterattack. Face the marker and you will be looking to your west, and in the distance you will see the Alleghany Mountains. Also, looking in that direction, to your left front, amongst the trees, you will see the metal roof of the historic Miller House, which we talked about and saw at stop #7. Remember that Miller House is along the final Confederate line that afternoon, just north of Middletown and along the historic Miller Lane, today called Cougill Road. That marks the left end of the Confederate line, which was lined with heavy stone walls and made an excellent defensive position. Also, remember the Confederate line ran at least a half a mile, if not slightly longer beyond the Miller House. The right end of the Confederate line actually continued to stretch on the other side of the Valley Pike, Route 11 today, behind you, but also farther to your south, closer to Middletown which is off to your left. Also, looking to your left rear, you will see in the distance the top of Massanutten Mountain including Signal Knob. The Confederate right again stretched to the north of Middletown, on the other side of the Valley Pike and beyond where modern day interstate 81 is today. Despite the fact that many Confederates were still looting the Union camps, remember General Early the Confederate commander believes that he can wait out the Union army which is to your right a mile to your north, until nightfall and then retreat under cover of darkness. As we know, General Sheridan has returned to the battlefield, he has rallied his army, and now will begin his counterattack around 4:00 pm that afternoon. That counterattack starts and that Union lines stretching 2 miles in length. His line also stretching beyond interstate 81 where it is today and across the Valley Pike will sweep across the open ground in front of you, from your right to left, and came rolling across this ground which was much more open back then, and towards the final Confederate line. Despite being outnumbered the Confederates stood their ground and gave the Union attack a murderous fire. One Union soldier in the attack later recounted this. He said, “We got into the open fields, the rebels pouring into our faces a deadly fire from behind a stone wall. We gain a hill in the enemy front and here we halt and pour in our own fire. Of all the fires I was ever under during the war I think it was by far the hottest. The air boils and seized with minié balls and screeching shells and solid shot and deadly canister. All tear and plunge through our ranks. Our boys fall thick and fast.” At first the Union counterattack was basically halted in its tracks. And some of the heaviest and deadliest fighting of the entire battle took place in the fields right out in front of you. What finally brought the Confederate line, broke it I should say, and drove it back was the fact that the Union right was much longer than the Confederate left and it began to overlap it at the far end of Miller Lane and began to outflank it and drive it in. And what turned the Confederate retreat, because the Confederate left began to crumble into a rout, was Union cavalry. There was an immense Union cavalry force way beyond the Confederate right and beyond the Confederate left as it was, and began to sweep in across the open fields. Some of that Union cavalry led by none other than George Armstrong Custer, who led a division of Union cavalry, came sweeping in beyond the Confederate left and turned that retreat into a panic. The Confederate left basically crumbled and the whole Confederate line, from its left to right or west to east towards you crumbled. Despite the efforts of Confederate officers, the Confederate line just began to roll up and collapse and the whole Confederate battle line just retreated, routed back towards Middletown. And the same ground they fought so hard to gain that morning was basically now lost. Through Middletown, passed Belle Grove, over Cedar Creek, through the streets of Strasburg, there was a traffic jam. Much of the spoils of war they captured that morning were now lost including all 24 guns they had captured, they lost all of those and 24 of their own. So the Union counterattack captured 48 guns during the retreat. Also, they captured, the Union army captured 1,200, one thousand two hundred prisoners. What was left of Early’s army tried to rally itself at Fisher’s Hill where they started the night before. The Battle of Cedar Creek would end as a tremendous Union victory. Total casualties that day for the Union army 5,700 killed, wounded, missing, including almost 600 dead. The Confederate army although not nearly as high in number were about 2,900, almost 3,000 but considering how much smaller the Confederate army was a very high percentage. This basically finished off Early’s army. And what was left of it retreated southward throughout the remainder of the Valley the next day. From here on out till the end of the war, militarily, the Valley would remain under Union control, so this great Union victory that was won by Sheridan’s return, literally snatching a victory out of the jaws of defeat here at Cedar Creek would put the Valley under Union control the rest of the war. Politically, this victory was important because just 2 ½ weeks later, the election would occur and Lincoln is able to ride the coattails of Sheridan’s victory in on Election Day putting him over the top. The numbers I just rattled off to you are just statistics, but you must remember that each number is a human, a person, with a story behind it and for every soldier lost on the battlefield there is a family at home. And they are also victims of the battle of Cedar Creek. They are more than just numbers. And I think that point is driven home when you read the accounts of the survivors. One person in the 6th Corps of the Union army left a vivid account of the aftermath of this battle, and certainly drives home the impact of this battle to us today even over 150 years later. He simply wrote, “The dead and dying of the two armies at Cedar Creek were comingled. Many of the wounded had dragged themselves to the streams in search of the first want of the wounded man - water. Many mangled and loose horses were straggling over the fields, wagons and gun carriages and caissons were strewn in disorder. Abandoned ambulances sometimes filled with dead and dying were seen in large numbers. And loose teams dragged overturned vehicles over the hills and through the ravines. Dead and dying men were everywhere. Cries of agony from the suffering were heard in all directions. And the moans of wounded animals added much to the horrors of the night.”
