SEPT 19: Flanking Maneuver at Third Winchester

Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early. (Credit: Library of Congress)

During Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Campaign,  Brevet Maj. General George A. Custer commanded a brigade and later a division of cavalry.  During the Third Battle of Winchester in Virginia, September 19, 1864, Custer led his brigade south on the Valley Pike to attack the Confederate left flank at Fort Collier, part of an enormous cavalry charge that broke the Confederate line. 

“Officers and men seemed to vie with each other as to who should lead,” Custer remembered of the final, thunderous attack.  “The enemy upon our approach turned and delivered a well-directed volley of musketry, but before a second discharge could be given my command was in their midst, sabering right and left.”

After several hours of fierce fighting, the Union assault on the Confederate left flank triggered a Confederate retreat through the city of Winchester. It was the largest battle in the Shenandoah Valley and saw 54,400 total troops engaged and 8,630 casualties, including more than a quarter of Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s Confederate Army of the Valley.

Red Bull Run, which Union troops crossed to attack the Confederate left flank at Third Battle of Winchester. (Credit: National Park Service)

With its victory, the Union secured permanent control of the Shenandoah Valley, beginning the end of Confederate resistance in the region and contributing to President Lincoln’s re-election in November of that year.