A new general is in town and a new chapter in the ongoing battle for control of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley begins this day. Union General Philip Sheridan is the man, and Winchester is the town. Upon hearing of the approach of Sheridan’s forces, Confederate General Jubal Early evacuates his own forces rather than engage the…
Today Confederate Calvary Commander General Joe Wheeler, in an attempt to hamper the Union offensive against Atlanta, begins raiding activities behind Federal lines in North Georgia, targeting Federal railroad supply lines. Wheeler operates in North Georgia and Tennessee for a month. Although the Confederate general does manage to temporarily destroy some stretches of rail, his…
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln imposes himself upon General Ulysses S. Grant less than his other generals. Nonetheless, in the midst of Northern frustrations with drawn-out trench warfare at Petersburg, last month’s rather close call in the form of the failed Confederate raid upon Washington, D.C. does expose some friction between the two men, who had…