With Ewell's reassignment, Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early took command, bringing a wealth of experience. He had already temporarily commanded both the Second and Third Corps during the incapacitation of Ewell and Hill during The Battle of the Wilderness. Early had much experience as a division commander and had served under Generals Jackson and Ewell. Therefore, Lee decided in June 1864 to use the Second Corps on yet another invasion of the Union in an attempt to cause General Ulysses S. Grant to fall back from pressing Lee's front. Early took the Second Corps, technically as a detached Army of the Valley, down (northward) through the Shenandoah Valley and, following the Battle of Monocacy, to the outskirts of Washington, D.C. at Fort Stevens, raiding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and countryside of Maryland and Pennsylvania along the way. But the invasion was short lived, as the Union was able to respond with a counter campaign under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, who pressed Early back into Virginia with overwhelming Union forces. As Sheridan fought Early up (southward) into the Shenandoah Valley, Sheridan commenced upon his famous "Burning" of the Valley, destroying crops, livestock, farms, barns, homes and destroying everything in his path. Early's Army of the Valley, the bulk of which came from the Second Corps, sustained heavy losses in the battles at Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek. In November and December, the greater part of Early's forces were ordered back to Richmond, first Kershaw's division in November, followed by the three divisions of the Second Corps in December.