VA -- Winchester -- Stephensons Depot:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- STEPHD_060805_01.JPG: Third Battle of Winchester
September 19, 1864
Lieutenant General Jubal Early's Shenandoah Valley Campaign began in June of 1864. Until the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, he more than fulfilled General Lee's hopes that the great success of 1862 could be repeated in 1864.
Early's opponent, General Philip Sheridan, assumed command of the Army of the Shenandoah on August 7, 1864. By September 19 its strength was just under 40,000 men. Sheridan's mission, entrusted to him by General Grant and President Lincoln, was to end Lee's diversionary campaign by driving Early from the Valley and destroying what would prove to be the Valley's last wartime harvest and all military or civilian assets that benefited the Confederacy.
Historians have compared the Valley Campaign of 1864 with Jackson's in 1862. Both campaigns climaxed in battles at Winchester. The essential difference was in General Lee's ability to reinforce his Valley lieutenants at the crucial moment of their campaigns. In May 1862 he could, but in September 1864, he could not. In fact on September 14, 1864, Anderson's infantry division and an artillery battalion departed the Valley for Lee's army at Petersburg, leaving just 15,200 men to oppose Sheridan.
Sheridan learned of the departure of these troops from information furnished by a resident of Winchester. More importantly, he learned from his own cavalry patrols north of Winchester that Early had finally made an error: immediately following Anderson's departure from the Valley, Early unwisely divided his forces. Leaving only General Ramseur's small division east of Winchester, guarding the Berryville Pike. Early moved three remaining divisions north, in the direction of the main line of the B & O Railroad at Martinsburg. Sheridan immediately prepared to attack. Sheridan's plan was to destroy Ramseur's division east of Winchester while crossing most of his cavalry over the Opequon downstream (north) of his Berryville Pike crossing. While his cavalry congregated at Stephenson's Depot near the Valley Pike, his infantry would face north and defeat each of Early's divisions as they hastened back to save Ramseur.
The battle that raged from dawn to dusk on September 19 was the biggest and bloodiest of the battles in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan's plan miscarried. Ramseur's division eluded destruction, falling back on Winchester. Rhodes' and Gordon's divisions reinforced him quickly. In fact, Confederate counterattacks near the Berryville Pike came close to shattering Sheridan's far larger force. In mid-afternoon, an audacious plan to turn Early's left, then anchored at the Hackwood Farm east of here, narrowly failed; the battle seemed to be a bloody stalemate. Sheridan had one card left to play - his cavalry, concentrated around Stephenson's Depot. There were few Confederate forces in Fort Collier, now the anchor of the last Confederate line of battle. The open fields, bisected by the Martinsburg Pike and stretching from Stephenson to Fort Collier, were idea terrain for large cavalry operations. After a long and bloody day of fighting, with the sun setting in a reddening sky, six Federal cavalry brigades began the advance up to the Martinsburg Pike toward Fort Collier. The battle hung in the balance.
- STEPHD_060805_06.JPG: Stephenson Depot
"The Thermoplae of My Campaign"
In the spring of 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia began a march north that culminated in the Battle of Gettysburg. Lee chose the Shenandoah Valley for his invasion route. Ninety-six hundred Federals under Gen. Robert H. Milroy stood in his way at Winchester.
Lee sent Gen. Richard S. Ewell's 2nd Corps to clear the way. On June 14, 1863, the Confederates attacked the Federals at Winchester. Realizing it was in danger of being surrounded, Milroy's command evacuated the city during the night. Anticipating the move, Ewell directed Gen. Edward Johnson's division to block the Union escape route to Harper's Ferry.
In the pre-dawn darkness, Johnson, with only Gen. George H. Steuart's brigade and two cannon from the 1st Maryland Battery, moving west on the road to your right, struck the Federals. The Confederate infantry took positions along the railroad tracks and Lt. Col. Snowden Andrews placed the two guns in the road and at the bridge (right front).
The Federals repeatedly tried to take the bridge and clear the way. The Confederate line was in danger of collapsing when reinforcements arrived. Additional Southern artillery was placed on the high ground (behind you). When the Federals were repulsed for the last time, Lt. C.S. Contee, commander of the two guns at the bridge, told Andrews, "Col., I have a Sgt., and two men, and the enemy is retreating." Thirteen of the sixteen artillerists had been killed or wounded. Lee called the stand at the bridge "the Thermoplae of my campaign."
The 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry also suffered heavy casualties. While they changed positions to charge the Confederate artillery on the hill, the Southern gunners found their range and sent exploding shells into the horsemen. Of the 655 men in the unit, 334 became casualties.
Milroy escaped capture, but nearly half of his troops were not so lucky. Lee marched across the Potomac River, taking the 23 newly captured cannon and supplies.
The Culp family of Gettysburg was one of the many divided by the Civil War. Wesley Culp, who moved to Virginia prior to the war, cast his lot with the South while his brother William enlisted in the Union army. Both were participants in the clash at Stephenson Depot. William survived the war. Wesley was killed at Gettysburg near a hill named for his ancestors.
- STEPHD_060805_08.JPG: Marker for Stephenson Depot
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