Lead Up to Cameron's Depot

In my last post I spoke in broad terms about the strategic overview leading up to the Valley Campaign of the latter half of 1864.  When we last left off, Chambersburg had just been burned on July 30, and Jubal Early with his Army of the Valley were looking for other opportunities to raid back in to Maryland and Pennsylvania.

On August 7, Phil Sheridan assumed full command of the revitalized Army of the Shenandoah.  He took over from David Hunter, a much older officer (four and a half years older than even Robert E. Lee, in fact) whose combat record was mixed at best.  Initially successful, Hunter's attempts to secure the Valley failed to impress General-in-Chief Ulysses Grant when he showed a great lack of tenacity in resisting Jubal Early's arrival back in June.

The assembly of the new army was already in motion when Sheridan arrived in Harpers Ferry on August 7 to take command.  The VI Corps, commanded by Horatio Wright, had begun to leave Frederick, MD by rail on August 1 bound for Halltown, WV where they would arrive on August 7.  There they camped for two days when on August 10 they started south towards Strasburg.

I put together some crude maps to outline the VI Corps' movements that I've included below.  These are my first rough sketches of more detailed maps I plan to create.  Eventually I'll have a cohesive picture of where all the elements of the Army of the Shenandoah (the VI, XIX, and Cavalry Corps, along with the Army of West Virginia) were at any given time.

Movements of the Union VI Corps the first half of August 1864.  Sheridan initially jumped right in, but after Early received reinforcements, his aggression waned.  My placement of the Battle of Guard Hill is a little off, but that'll be corrected as I refine this project.

As Sheridan was establishing himself near Strasburg, rumors that Confederate reinforcements from Petersburg started and then intensified.  Sheridan was eventually forwarded a dispatch by Henry Halleck written by Ulysses Grant that confirmed the news.

Those Confederate reinforcements (in the form a Kershaw's Division of infantry, and Fitzhugh Lee's Brigade of cavalry, commanded overall by Richard H. Anderson) made it to the Shenandoah River east of Strasburg on August 16.  On that date, Anderson's column was met by Wesley Merritt's Division of Union Cavalry near Front Royal.  The ensuing fight is known most commonly as the Battle of Guard Hill, and was a small Union victory.  Anderson's column wasn't stopped, but a decisive strike by Merritt's cavalry resulted in the capture of about 300 Confederates.

The surge in Confederate numbers compelled Sheridan to withdraw his command to Halltown, West Virginia, near Charles Town, which he would later claim was the only defensible area in this part of the Valley.  Before he left, though, Sheridan had to be sure he fulfilled Grant's orders to his predecessor to leave the Valley an untenable area for the Confederates to maintain a force. 

Orders from Sheridan to his Chief of Cavalry Alfred Torbert to take anything of use to the retreating Union forces, and destroy most everything else.

With that, the Army of the Shenandoah withdrew about 40 miles to the northeast and took up a defensive posture to the west and south of Charles Town.

The federal march back to Charles Town following the arrival of Richard H. Anderson's command from Petersburg.

This puts the Army of the Shenandoah in positions they'll maintain until late in the night of August 21, following an attack by Early's army, which we'll discuss in detail in subsequent posts.

Sheridan's Valley Campaign Kicks Off

Through most of the Civil War, the Shenandoah Valley was a place of great annoyance for the Union.  With incredibly productive farmland, pastures, and mills, the Valley made itself a critical supply based for the Confederate Armies, and consequently a major target for the North.  Up until the late summer of 1864, though, any hold the federals had on the Valley was tenuous at best.

Reversals began in 1862 with Jackson's Valley Campaign, a year later another period of occupation was foiled during the Gettysburg Campaign with the Battle of Second Winchester, and again in 1864 federal forces suffered setbacks at New Market and Lynchburg.  I am glossing over some successes by Union forces that did indeed occur, but all in all the Valley remained intact as an area that could feed Confederate soldiers in the field, and thus prolong the war.

The summer of 1864 was when things really started to head south for the Confederacy (pun intended).  Sherman was making steady progress towards Atlanta, access to the Mississippi River had been cut off for over a year, and an exhausted and bloodied Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) had been driven back to Richmond and Petersburg by Ulysses Grant.  With Lee pinned down and unable to maneuver, the time was right for the federals to truly assert themselves in the Valley and deny it to the Confederacy once and for all.

Jubal Early

Not only was the rich agriculture of the Valley a target, but so was the Confederate Army of the Valley commanded by Jubal Early.  This small force made up of crack veterans from the ANV's II Corps had succeeded in clearing the Valley in June 1864, and then went on to threaten Washington, D.C. in July.  Early's army might have even seriously threatened Washington had it not been for a Union delaying action along the Monocacy River, just south of Frederick, MD, on July 9.

By late July, Early's army had fallen back to the safety of the Valley where it remained a threat.  This was proven when the town of Chambersburg, PA was burned on July 30.

Map of actions in the Shenandoah Valley and Maryland, June - July 1864.  Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com.

Phil Sheridan

Now, if you're Ulysses Grant in the late summer of 1864, you don't have the time or patience for this sort of shenanigans.  That is why Grant made a game changing decision to get serious about dealing with Early in the Valley.  In early August Grant appointed Phil Sheridan as commander of a new and revitalized Army of the Shenandoah.  This army would be comprised of the veteran VI Corps from the Army of the Potomac, the less experience XIX Corps from the Army of the Gulf (just in from Louisiana), the Army of West Virginia (sometimes incorrectly called the VIII Corps) under George Crook, and a full three division Cavalry Corps to boot.  This force was to thoroughly execute orders given to Sheridan's predecessor, David Hunter:

"Take all provisions, forage, and stock wanted for the use of your command. Such as cannot be consumed, destroy. It is not desirable that buildings should be destroyed — they should, rather, be protected ; but the people should be informed that so long as an army can subsist among them, recurrences of these raids must be expected, and we are determined to stop them at all hazards."

This is the background for the fight I am currently researching, the Battle of Cameron's Depot.  Stay tuned as the story develops.