[Text excerpted from Confederate States Rangers: Company K, 10th Louisiana Infantry (CreateSpace.com, 2014)]
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| Lt. Gen. J.B. Gordon |
General [John B.] Gordon and Captain Jedediah Hotchkiss, [Gen. Jubal] Early’s topographical
engineer, scouted the Federal army’s position and found the left flank was
exposed. Gordon proposed a battle plan to Early, who adopted it. The plan
called for Gordon to take his own division, and those of Pegram and Ramsuer across
the Shenandoah, go around Massanutten Mountain, cross the river again and come
up on the Federals from the east. Gordon would be in command of that wing of
the army until reunited with Early. Kershaw’s division would go straight at the
Federals to the left of Gordon, and Wharton’s infantry and Rosser’s cavalry would
be the left flank. Early accompanied Kershaw and when the two wings of the army
reunited in front of the enemy, he would command the whole army again. The
Federals were encamped along Cedar Creek and unaware of the coming attack.
Sheridan was absent at a conference in Washington. The 8th Corps was on the Federal left and the first
target, then the 19th Corps, 6th Corps and Merritt’'s and Custer’s cavalry camps
on the right flank at the furthest point from the attack. Averell had been
relieved by Sheridan for failing to pursue Early after Third Winchester.
Gordon began moving his
command the night of October 18 and was in position to commence the attack by 5
o’clock on the morning of the October 19. A thick fog gave them cover and the
attack was a complete surprise on the Federal encampment. The firing started
when Federal pickets detected Gordon’s advancing battle line and opened fire.
Rosser’s men began exchanging fire with Federal pickets and Kershaw hit
Thoburn’s division of the 8th Corps. Gordon said later of the attack, “His [Evans’] splendid division, with Ramseur's farther to
the right and Pegram's in support, rushed upon the unprepared and unsuspecting
Federals, great numbers of whom were still asleep in their tents. Even those
who had been aroused by Payne's sudden irruption in the rear, and had sprung to
the defence of the breastworks, were thrown into the wildest confusion and
terror by Kershaw's simultaneous assault in front.”
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At sunrise, Wharton’s division engaged the 19th
Corps on the Confederate left and the onslaught was quickly rolling up the
Federal left. Evan’s was commanding Gordon’s division on the left of Gordon’s
formation, and Ramseur on the right with Pegram in reserve. First engulfing the
extreme left of Thoburn, they then slammed into Hayes’ division of the 8th
Corps, which was a mile behind Thoburn. As
Gordon explained, “Two entire corps, the Eighth and
Nineteenth, constituting more than two thirds of Sheridan's army, broke and
fled, leaving the ground covered with arms, accoutrements, knapsacks, and the
dead bodies of their comrades. Across the open fields they swarmed in utter
disorganization, heedless of their officers' commands — heedless of all things
save getting to the rear. There was nothing else for them to do; for Sheridan's
magnificent cavalry was in full retreat before Rosser's bold troopers, who were
in position to sweep down upon the other Union flank and rear.”
The 6th
Corps had time to get into line and put
up a stronger defense. Gordon ordered Pegram to come up to help with the
assault on the 6th Corps,
then notified Early of his situation on his front. Gordon’s division – Evans’s,
Peck’s and Terry’s brigades – finished off Hayes’ brigade while Ramseur and
Pegram ran into a division of the 6th Corps on the pike and met strong resistance.
Ramseur and Pegram called for help and Early moved Wharton to the right and
told him to go in where Ramseur and Pegram directed. The 6th Corps managed to hold off the Confederates for
two hours. It then fell back in some disorder to the west of Middletown.
It was then about noon and Gordon ordered his three divisions to move on the 6th Corps and was assembling 39 artillery pieces under Colonel Thomas Carter, who told him he wouldn’t even need the infantry, when he had his artillery in position. "With enfilade fire from my batteries I will destroy that corps in twenty minutes," Carter said. Early shocked Gordon when he called off the final assault he planned. It was Early’s belief that the ranks of the Confederates were now weakened by the men who had stayed behind to plunder the Federal camps. Early felt the Confederate attack had played itself out and decided to hold on to what he had taken and get his scattered men back in the battle line.
Gordon believed Early’s decision a mistake and noted in his
memoir, “My heart went into my boots. Visions of the fatal halt on the first
day at Gettysburg, and of the whole day's hesitation to permit an assault on
Grant's exposed flank on the 6th of May in the Wilderness, rose before me. And so it came to pass that the fatal halting, the hesitation,
the spasmodic firing, and the isolated movements in the face of the sullen, slow,
and orderly retreat of this superb Federal corps, lost us the great opportunity,
and converted the brilliant victory of the morning into disastrous defeat in
the evening.” Early later claimed he had given orders to Gordon to attack, but
no evidence of that order has been found. Gordon firmly believed it was Early’s
order, and not the men plundering the camps, that caused the halt.
The Confederates had
gained a great victory that morning by routing two-thirds of the Federal army,
capturing 24 artillery pieces and 1,300 prisoners. But that great victory began
disappearing before their eyes as the Confederates continued to hold the line
and wait for the enemy to retreat that afternoon. Gordon became increasingly
concerned about the massing of the Federals in his front. He repeatedly
expressed his concern to Early, who kept replying the enemy troops were just
the rear guard and the Federals would soon be retreating. As the blue tide
became more threatening, Early sent more artillery to Gordon. The Georgian’s
division ended up on the left of the line. Evans’ brigade on the left, was
temporarily under the command of Colonel John H. Lowe of the 31st
Georgia. Peck’s Louisianians were in the center, and Terry’s Virginians on the
right. Gordon said there was a troubling gap in the line between his division’s
right, and the rest of army. Gordon made a quick ride back to Early to ask for
reinforcements for his left and to fill the gap. Early gave him the same
assurances – the Federals would retreat. Gordon returned, he found Federals
pouring through the gap and Evans almost surrounded. It was too late. “One minute more and I should have had a Yankee carbine at
my head, inviting my surrender,” Gordon wrote.
Sheridan, who had returned from his trip to Washington, dramatically
rallied his shattered army and at 4 o’clock launched a massive and devastating counterattack
attack. The two sides were about a mile apart at the beginning of the
counterattack. The Confederate artillery and infantry held the blue tide back
for about an hour with a slow fighting retreat. Custer, on the Federal right, at
first went off after some of Rosser’s cavalry and for a while the Confederate
left overlapped the Yankee infantry. The Georgia brigade on the left was able
to enfilade the Federals doing some damage. Custer however, seeing the
Confederate line already wavering, brought the bulk of his division back to the
Federal right and gained the rear of the Gordon/Evans position. The bluecoat
cavalry captured a bridge over Cedar Creek that the Confederates line of
retreat. This threw some of the Southerners into a panic and the Confederate
left began dissolving. Much the same thing was happening on the Confederate
right. Merritt’s cavalry outpaced the infantry and took some enfilading fire as
they passed the Confederate line and pushed Wharton’s division back. Ramseur,
the center right, was holding on with much grit. Just 27-years-old, recently
celebrating the birth of a daughter, who he had not yet seen, Ramseur was
wearing a flower in his lapel and riding up and down his line to keep his men
in place. But two of his horses were shot and he was mounting a third when a
bullet pierced both of his lungs. He was carried to the rear as his division
also fell apart. Ramseur was captured and died in enemy hands the next day. The
Confederates retreated back to New Market.
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