Battle of Opequon
The Battle of Opequon, also known as the Third Battle of Winchester, was a decisive victory for the Union army during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War.
Background
Major General Philip H. Sheridan had been given command of the Army of the Shenandoah and sent to the Shenandoah Valley to deal with the Confederate threat under Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early. For much of the early fall of 1864, Sheridan and Early had cautiously engaged in minor skirmishes while each side tested the other's strength. Early mistook this limited action to mean that Sheridan was to afraid to fight and he left his army spread out from Martinsburg to Winchester. Sheridan learned of Early's dispersed forces and immediately struck out after Winchester, the location already of two major engagements during the war, both Confederate victories.
The Battle
Early quickly gathered his army back together at Winchester just in time to meet Sheridan's attack on September 19. The Union forces coming in from the east had to march through narrow canyons and roads, which eventually got clogged up with supply wagons and troops delaying the attack. This delay allowed for Early to further strengthen his lines. John B. Gordon's division arrived from the north and took up position on the Confederate left. By noon Sheridan's troops had made it to the field and he ordered a frontal attack along Early's lines. Horatio G. Wright's Union VI Corps on the left flank halted when faced with well entrenched Confederates on a hilltop supported by artillery. The XIX Corps, under William H. Emory, to the north of the VI Corps, drove Gordon's division through some woods, but when the Yankees continued pursuing the Rebels through they were cut down by artillery when the entered the clearing on the far side. The VI Corps resumed its advance and began driving back the Confederate right flank. However, the VI and XIX Corps were slowly moving apart from each other and a gap appeared between the two corps. Brigadier General David Russell's division was rushed forward to plug the gap. Russell was hit in the chest, but continued moving his division forward. The brigade of Brigadier General Emory Upton reached the gap, but was too late—the Confederates had already launched a counterattack through the gap. Upton placed him men in line of battle and charged. Leading the charge was a young colonel named Ranald S. Mackenzie, commanding an artillery regiment serving as infantry. Russell received a second bullet and fell mortally wounded. Upton assumed command of the division and a lull came over the battlefield. At this point Sheridan called the battle a "splendid victory", but had no intentions of stopping the fight just yet. Sheridan sent the VIII Corps under George Crook to find the Confederate left flank. Meanwhile, cavalry units under James H. Wilson were swinging around the Confederate right flank. With the three corps in line, Sheridan ordered them all forward. This new advance did not start well. Crook's troops had to march through a swamp and the XIX Corps was not advancing at all. General Upton was struggling to persuade the XIX Corps units on his flank to move forward with his own division when an artillery shot tore off a chunk of his thigh. The surgeon was able to stop the bleeding and Upton ordered a stretcher brought forward from which he would direct his troops for the rest of the battle. Finally the Confederate lines began to give way. Sheridan, so excited by the imminent victory, rode along the lines waving his hat and shouting. Late in the day, two divisions of Union cavalry arrived from the north and came thundering into the Confederate left flank. The division of Wesley Merritt crushed the Confederate works while the the division of William H. Averell swung around the flank. The Confederate army was in full retreat. Caught in the retreat were the wives of several Confederate generals staying in Winchester. John B. Gordon was forced to leave his wife behind in attempts to keep his troops intact, believing she would become a prisoner of the Union army. She did, however, manage to escape in time.
Aftermath
The Battle of Opequon marked a turning point in the Shenandoah Valley in favor of the North. Early's army for the most part remained intact but suffered further defeats at Fisher's Hill and Tom's Brook. Exactly a month later, the Valley Campaigns came to a close after the near Union defeat at the Battle of Cedar Creek. Victory in the Valley, along with other Union victories in the fall of 1864, helped win re-election for Abraham Lincoln.
Loss of Commanders
The battle was particularly damaging due to the number of casualties among key commanders. The Union army lost General David Russell killed and Generals Emory Upton, George H. Chapman, and James B. McIntosh seriously wounded. The Confederates lost Generals Robert E. Rodes and Archiblad Godwin killed and Generals Fitzhugh Lee, William Wharton, and William Terry wounded. Also among the Confederate dead was Colonel George S. Patton, Sr. His grandson and namesake would become the famous U.S. general during World War II, George S. Patton.
See Also Army of the Shenandoah Army of West Virginia Jackson's Valley Campaign
Sources http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/va119.htm Lewis, Thomas A. The Shenandoah in Flames: the Valley Campaign of 1864 (1987) McPherson, James M. The Atlas of the Civil War (1994)
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