CROSSED SABERS
General George Armstrong Custer and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign
by
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The Federal cavalry was now in a perfect position to strike the practically unprotected right flank of Breckenridge’s Corps. Knowing that the Union cavalry was capable of rolling up the Confederate army, but showing that there was still plenty of fight left in his Southern boys, Early began withdrawing into a second line of prepared positions a little closer to Winchester.
“[They] gave us a volley that filled the air with a swarm of bullets,” recounted Kidd, “and the cavalry fell back behind the crest of the hill to reform, and to tell the truth, to get under cover, for the infantry fire was exceedingly hot.” 32
Behind this ridge, a thousand yards from the enemy battlelines and protected from the enemy’s fire, Custer reports that he “formed as many of my men as could be hastily collected. Still determined to contest our farther advance, the enemy now contracted his lines.” 33
It was then that Custer’s tight discipline and the brigade’s impeccable drill paid off in dividends. “This gave me the opportunity to move my brigade to a small crest within 500 yards of the enemy’s position,” wrote a satisfied Custer. “This movement was entirely unobserved by him, his attention being drawn toward the heavy lines of our infantry now advancing in open view far to our left.” As the sun started dropping towards the western mountains, Custer’s brigade moved to the right of the sheltering ridge and swung to the front in precise columns of squadrons. Coming under “a fearful fire of artillery,” Custer’s gallant First Brigade “made ready to give the final stroke to the work of the day.” Remnants of Devin’s 4th and 6th New York took up positions directly behind Custer, while Lowell’s men worked feverishly to fall in to Custer’s right. 34
The battlefield was much quieter now. The VIII Corps, Sheridan’s reserve, had finally been committed and had moved into line like a huge swinging door, ending perpendicular to the VI Corps and in line with the Union cavalry. It was almost 5 o’clock, and everybody was hunkered down, waiting. Like two heavyweights contending for the world title, the two armies had slugged away at each other relentlessly, and they were now approaching the last round. The opponents sat in opposite corners and eyed each other¾ punch-drunk, bleeding, and gasping for breath. In mere seconds the final bell was going to ring, and only one of them would be champion.
Sheridan determined that he would be the one. He galloped up to General Getty of the VI Corps, in position on the left, and shouted, “General, I’ve put Torbert in on the right and told him to give them hell, and he’s doing it! Crook too, is in on the right and giving it to them. Press them General¾they’ll run! Goddamit! Press them General¾I know they’ll run!” 35
And give them hell they did! The blue battle line, with a raging Little Phil at its head, sprinted forward into no-man’s-land and right into the arms of everlasting glory.
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About the Book
Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley campaign was a period marked not only by professional achievement and advancement for Custer, but also by a rapidly emerging personal maturity as the steadying influence of his marriage to Elizabeth Bacon exerted itself. Using excerpts from their extensive correspondence, Crossed Sabers develops the theme of Custer’s maturation and his gradual acceptance of Libbie’s religious beliefs. Crossed Sabers examines Custer’s soldierly qualities throughout, traces his involvement in the evolution of cavalry tactics, and scrutinizes his methods of discipline, his concept of leadership and its exercise. The narrative deals with the events surrounding the feud between Custer and the Rebel partisan, John Mosby. The Valley campaign was conducted under Grant’s rules of total war, and Custer’s involvement in this ugly side of the campaign demands close scrutiny. This work captures Custer as he begins to crest the wave of glory, and it strives to do so with a broader examination of the man inside the uniform than has been achieved in previous writings. Crossed Sabers relies heavily on the Official Records, but the narrative is fleshed out through the accounts of dozens of participants to bring Custer’s part in the campaign into focus.
About the Author
Adolfo Ovies was in elementary school when he read his first book about George Custer. It was a 1951 printing of Quentin Reynolds’ Custer’s Last Stand, one of seventy titles comprising Random House’s Landmark Books, a series for young readers with an interest in history. From that moment he was hooked—not yet in his teens, and already consigned to a lifelong study of Custer. Adolfo still has that book; the first in what has become an extensive library devoted to the study of Custer’s Civil War career.