Union General Philip Sheridan had been chosen to lead the Army of the Shenandoah in an effort to sever the lifeline sustaining the south, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, as General Ulysses S Grant put a stranglehold on the Confederacy with the siege of Petersburg and General William T. Sherman closed off Atlanta. In September of 1864, Sheridan had won two major battles at Winchester and Fisher’s Hill.
Read the entire article in the October 16th edition of the Express.
General Philip Sheridan had his orders.
“Give the enemy no rest. Do all the damage to railroads and crops you can. Carry off stock of all descriptions, and negroes, so as to prevent further planting. If the war is to last another year, we want the Shenandoah Valley to remain a barren waste”.
With these words, Union Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant made it very clear to Sheridan, recently appointed commander of the Army of the Shenandoah, that he expected the bounty of the fertile and productive Shenandoah Valley in Virginia to be destroyed, depriving the Confederate armies defending Richmond and Petersburg of food supplies and livestock. Grant was determined to bring the American Civil War to an end by whatever means it took.
Read the entire article in the Sept. 11th issue of the Express.
As the steamy days of August, 1864 beset the weary and battered soldiers and citizens of the war-torn United States, Petersburg and Atlanta, two of the most vital cities in the rebellious Confederate States of America, were surrounded by Union forces and under almost constant shelling. A civil war which could have conceivably ended within months had now dragged on for more than three full years with a horrendous loss of life, grievous injuries and the costly destruction of property. Nearly every family, north and south, had been affected in some way. But the gritty rebels refused to give up. They endured the dangers, the hardships and the suffering with dogged determination.
Read the entire article in the August 21 issue of the Express.