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Civil War Soldiers - Sheridan
| Sheridan, Philip H., major-general,
U.S. Army, was born at Albany, N. Y., March 6, 1831, but while he was
yet in his infancy his parents removed to Somerset, Ohio, and some of
his earlier biographers have made the error of naming the latter as
the place of his birth. His father was a contractor for the building
of roads, and was away from home a great deal, so that Sheridan was
reared by his mother, and at the village school learned the
rudimentary English branches. The ambition to be a soldier had already
evinced itself, but as soon as he could do so he entered a country
store at a salary of $24 per year; thence he went to another store,
where his pay was $60 per annum, and finally secured a situation where
he earned $120 for twelve months' labor as book-keeper and general
manager. It is said that up to the time he was sixteen years old he
had never been ten miles away from Somerset after his parents located
there. At this period he applied to the member of Congress from his
district for an appointment as cadet at the United States military
academy. The answer was the enclosure of his warrant as such cadet,
and the direction that he report at the academy on June 1, 1848.
Passing the preliminary examinations without trouble, he was aided by
Cadet H. W. Slocum of New York, who was his roommate, in studies of
which he knew nothing upon his entry into the institution. In 1852,
his graduating year, Sheridan was suspended from the academy for his
action in some trouble with another cadet, but he afterward joined the
class of 1853 and was graduated with it, rating the thirty-fourth in a
class of fifty-two. He was assigned to the 1st U. S. infantry, but was
soon afterward transferred to the 4th. In 1856 he was stationed in
Washington territory, defending the cascades of the Columbia river
against Indians. In May, 1861, he became a captain, and in December
was appointed chief quartermaster and commissary in southwest
Missouri, on the staff of Maj.-Gen. Curtis. He was quartermaster at
Gen. Halleck's headquarters in April, 1862, but in response to an
application from the governor of Michigan, who wanted an educated
soldier to command the 2nd Mich. cavalry, Sheridan was made its
colonel, and so received his first command. In the advance on Corinth
he participated in several engagements, and on June 2, 1862, he was
placed in command of the 2nd cavalry brigade of the Army of the
Mississippi. At the battle of Booneville on July 1, where he was
attacked by a force of Confederates at least 4,500 strong, he
converted his defence into an offensive movement by detaching a part
of his force to take his foe in the rear and flank, and the surprised
enemy, utterly routed, fled from the field. For this he received his
star and commission as brigadier-general of volunteers, dating July l;
on Oct. 1 he found himself in command of the 11th division of the
army, and on the 8th of that month he took part in the sanguinary
battle of Perryville, holding the key-point of the position and
defending it successfully against several attacks of the enemy. In the
battle of Stone's river Sheridan sustained four separate attacks, and
four times repulsed the enemy. On recommendation of Gen. W. S.
Rosecrans, the U. S. commander in that engagement, he was now made
major-general of volunteers, dating from the first day of the battle
of Stone's river. He remained with the Army of the Cumberland in its
march toward the Chickamauga creek, and in the battle of that name,
Sept. 19-20, 1863, he did his best to beat back the furious storm
which so nearly destroyed the Federal army, and he never displayed
more stubborn courage or military skill in a subordinate sphere than
on that eventful day. The battle of Missionary ridge was fought two
months later, and it was Sheridan who, with his division, carried the
ridge under a hot enfilading fire from thirty pieces of Confederate
artillery, and a tempest of musketry from well-filled rifle pits on
its summit; worked his way up to the front till he reached the highest
crest, and then went thundering down the ridge until within 500 yards
of the headquarters of the Confederate commanding general, Bragg.
Competent authority declares that in this battle he really did as much
as in any other to earn what finally came to him, the generalship of
the U. S. army. He took command of the cavalry of the Army of the
Potomac on April 4, 1864, and at once set about making it a fighting
force, rather than a defensive picket-line for the infantry and
artillery. In June he was sent to cut the Virginia Central railroad
and unite with Gen. Hunter, who was then marching up the valley of
Virginia, and it was expected that this movement would draw off the
Confederate cavalry and leave the James river free to the unimpeded
passage of Gen. Grant's army. It did so, Sheridan having on his route,
however, to fight a smart battle at Trevilian Station, as he also did
at Darbytown, Va., in the month of July. Soon thereafter Sheridan came
to the leadership of the Army of the Shenandoah, by direct appointment
of Gen. Grant, after personally visiting Sheridan, and without
consulting the government at Washington. Sheridan attacked Early on
Sept. 19, and after a severe struggle scattered the enemy in all
directions, sending them "whirling through Winchester," Va., and on
Sept. 22, after pursuing Early, struck him again in flank and rear at
Fisher's hill, where the Virginia valley is but three miles wide.
While he was in Winchester on Oct. 19, his wily foe, Early, surprised
the Federal forces in their camp at Cedar creek, and drove back large
portions of them for six or seven miles in great disorder. This
occasioned the famous ride, celebrated in song and story, and what
appeared like disastrous defeat was turned into a decided victory.
Sheridan was at once made a major-general in the U. S. regular army,
in President Lincoln's words, "For the personal gallantry, military
skill, and just confidence in the courage and gallantry of your
troops, displayed by you on Oct. 19. at Cedar run, whereby, under the
blessing of Providence, your routed army was reorganized, a great
national disaster averted, and a brilliant victory achieved over the
rebels for the third time in pitched battle within thirty days." Gen.
Sheridan's career from this time until the surrender of Lee is a part
of the history of the final days of the war, and after the surrender
he had charge of the Department of the Gulf, and later he was
commander of the Department of Missouri. He was made U. S.
lieutenant-general in 1869, when Gen. Grant was elected president, the
western and southwestern military divisions of the United States were
under his command in 1878, and when Gen. Sherman was retired in 1883,
Sheridan became general-in-chief of the regular army, being the
nineteenth officer who had attained that rank. Gen. Sheridan died at
Nonquitt, Mass., Aug. 5, 1888. Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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