Cedar Creek • Tour the Battlefield • Battle Maps • Battle Facts • The Armies
Stop Nine – Union Counterattack on the Cedar Creek Battlefield driving tour is on the north side of the Valley Pike (US 11) on the east side of Middletown.
Union Counterattack 4:00 p.m. wayside marker
Text from the marker
General Philip Sheridan’s reformed battle lines stretched for almost two miles from east to west, with cavalry anchoring both ends, ready to exploit any openings. Their counterattack took them back over the fields that they had earlier fled. The Union advance met determined resistance and the fate of the battle hung in the balance before the Confederate left was turned. Union cavalry then struck hard, and the Confederate line unraveled, quickly turning their retreat into a rout. Sheridan had snatched a “victory from the jaws of defeat.”
With great pleasure I tender to you and your brave army the thanks of the nation, and my own personal admiration and gratitude for the month’s operation in the Shenandoah Valley; and especially for the splendid work of October 19, 1864.
– Abraham Lincoln, Letter to Philip Sheridan, October 22, 1864
Caption to the illustration
This James Taylor sketch, looking southeast, depicts the Union troops advancing from left to right. Part of the Confederate line is seen stretching across the Valley Pike to, and eventually beyond, the Miller House (far right).
– Sketch by James E. Taylor, a artist for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 1864
Location of Stop Nine of the Cedar Creek Battlefield auto tour
Stop Nine and the Union Counterattak wayside marker are on the north side of the Valley Pike (US 11) on the east side of Middletown. It is across the highway from the Laurel Ridge Community College. (39°02’18.2″N 78°16’22.7″W)