Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-04-01
SHENANDOAH VALLEY.
WHEN JUBAL BARLY WAS SENT UP TO
WINCHESTER.
Incidents Of the Great Battle for the Harvest Of
the Valley - How a Soldier Goes
Into ActOn-SOns Thrilling
War Scenes.
NttC York Press.

kne" IL nAu u Dig DAY 5 Work before IL, anu
that it was to engage in a contest of skill
as well as strength. Sheridan wa for the
first time in command of a department.
Could he handle q distinct command of
mixed troops as well as he had command
ed bIigades, divisions and cavalry corps?
This 10th day of September, 1864, was to
answer the question. He had before him
one of the ablest generals Of the Confeder-,
acy, backed by a picked force from th<
grand and heroic army of Northern Vir-
ginia, the men who had withstood the
poundings CT Grant, Mcclellan and
Meade, and who had humbled the pride of
Mcdowell, Hooker, Burnside and Pope,
and with whose history Jubal Early had
from the first been identified. Could the
clerk from the little country store in
Ohio, backed by troops to whom he
WAS almost a stranger, except in name,
outgeneral, as well as Outright, the
graduate of West Point and the veterans
under him? As the men hurried into
position they thought of Sheridan's bri-
k8AO Oh II uOAhluB vi VIC AltS udN at
Stone River as it came staggering out of
the hell of death to which it had been so
many hours exposed, with depleted ranks,
bleeding and worsted, but fighting still
and determined, if the day went wrong,
he should say of them: Here is my
command, what is left of it. Some are
dead, many are wounded, and a few are
whole, but all their cartridge boxes are
empty" L
The two armies were so near that each
could distinguish the movements being
made by the other in the hurried prepara-
tions for battle. The marching to and fro
Of troops, the rapid movement of cavalry,
the flying ~couTiers and despatch bearers,
the rattle and whirl Of cannon and ~caissons
as artillery gslloped into position, the hur-
wing forward of ambulauces, the parade of
ammunition wagons and the solemn pro-
cessiOn Of the stretcher, as some shattered
wretch, who had fallen early in the fight,
was carried groaning to the rear, combined
with the occasional roar of artillery, the
sharp crack of random rifles, the murmUr
Of the mimic ball or swirl of shell, as it
clipped through the air, occupied the early
morning hours. The troops, for the most
part, when not in motion, threw them
selves III line upon the ground and awaited
orders. Some told stories, others sang
songs, a few may have prayed, but all
thought of home and loved ones, and hoped
for heaven. Wherever occasion offered a fire
was started and the inevitable coffee POI
was set simmering on the Goals, for the
American soldier is to the last nothing if
not supremely practical.
Occasionally q rebel battery would break
out and furiously shell come portion Of
S%heridan's forming line of battle, submit
ting the troops TO the severest of all trials,
to be compelled to face death aud perhaps
die in a condition of inactivity. That is
the time that tries o soldiers nerve.
When the battle is on the blood is up, and
man seeks man in the open field, fear de.
parts and the demon OF destruction takes
possession of the heart-and there is no
thought of self. That monster may
exist who can silently and inertly face
impending but uncertain death withou.
q tremor, bat every old soldier with 2
sou! fit TO be saved recognizes the force Of
NapoleOn's rebuke to an officer on the
field of Austerlitz, whom he found derid-
ing rs a coward a young recruit who stood
trembling in the line as the ranks were
forming for action. LET him alone, SIR"
said the great General; ''he alone is a
brave mai who realizes his danger and
dareS face it." Any other criterion would
reduce bravery to stupidity and manhood
to marble.
The day wore away. The blue racer
had stretched its length along the banks OF
the Opequsn until 1t lay in battle array
| h,lf nrn,aJ Nha N,,rn - ufpnhaosar tho
spires of which could be seen in the valley
two or three miles distant. Early had
made repeated attempts to break the for
nation by massing troops against 1T at
various points, but all his attempts had
been unsuccessful, and his lines had been
hurled back, broken aud diSordered. The
hospitals on both sides by noon were
crowded with wounded, while tho sun
shone down fercs and blistering on the
dying and dead who lay upon the field be-
tween the two armies.
Now the blue racer begins 10 move.
Brigades and divisions here and there ad-
vance over portions of the intervening space
and everywhere meet with stubborn resist
auce. By 3 o'clock the Eighth and Nine
tenth Corps are thrice aud the Sixth Corps
twice repulsed, but still all had advanced
their lines and completed their connections.
Then there came q lull. Artillery and
musketry alike are silent. The ever active
Custer is on the extreme right watching
like a hawk an opportunity to swoOp down
on Early's left flank; the infantry hold the
centre, and on the lett, 10 sight Of the Win
chester and Strausburg pike, Wilson
watches aud waits with the Third Cavalry
Division.
For the first aud only time during the
war q battle was being fought under some
thing like European conditions. Every
acre of soil about Winchester had been
mapped by skillful engineers OF both ar
mics, and each general knew what he had
to encounter in the way of natural obstTuc-
ton. A test of gsneralship and proves OF
troops was being made such rs had never
before been witnessed in this country, and
so far Early had been worsted in every
move. Phil Sheridan was master Of his
part of the situation. The question still
| 10 he decided was: ''Can the men of the
| North sweep away tho gray barrier of the
South with its strength of eaithworks, 1t
cannon of brass and glittering array of
steel?r The two armies were almost on
equal footing, playing the iron game OF
death for the rich harvest Of the Shsnan-
doah.
As the troops stood in line aud watched
the sun sink toward the west they read In
its progress the terrible significance OF the
day. II was to be q struggle to the death,
the dreadful last hours Of light, in which
one side battles To crush and the other for
safety under cover of darkness struggle
in which the dead and the wounded OF
friend and foe often remain on the field TIL
morning, the D jured to writhe In agony ana
perhaps die in despair for want of a sup OF
water. 1t is not in the heat OF the con-
aict, when cannon rend the air, when
musket and bugle and drum and clash Of
steel miugle with the yell Of the combat
ants, or when man pluDges bayonet or
sword into his fellows breast that the nell
of war is seen, for then there is a grandeur
and msgnifcence in the awful tumult tfat
blinds the sight and deadens the senses to
the fearful surroundings, but it IS after the