Shenandoah, destroying all the crops, mills, barns, and farming implements, and driving off the cattle with his army as he moved back. Early was reinforced after his retreat to the upper valley, and about the middle of October advanced down the valley towards the Federal position with a force of nine thousand men and forty pieces of cannon. The Union army lay at Cedar Creek, and was under the temporary command of General Wright during the absence of General Sheridan. On the - nineteenth of October Early attacked this force, and drove it back for several miles. Instead of continuing the pursuit, his troops stopped to plunder the Federal camp,whichhad fallen into their hands. General Wright rallied his men and reformed them in a new position, and at this moment General Sheridan arrived on the field. A more extended account of General Sheridan's operations, by the historian, John Laird Wilson, will be of interest to the reader : "As Sheridan returned down the valley towards Cedar Creek, he was closely followed by the Confederate cavalry under Rosser, supported by the main body of Early's army. On October ninth, the head of Sheridan's infantry column having entered Strasburg by the east road, while the rear was still some miles further south, the enemy following the PONTOON BRIDGE AT DEEP BOTTOM. He had heard the firing at Winchester, | cavalry on the west road, had advanced so "twenty miles away," and had ridden at full speed from that place to rejoin his army. He at once ordered it to advance upon Early, whose men, laden with the plunder of the captured camp, were driven back with terrible force and pursued up the valley for thirty miles. This success cleared the valley of the Confederate forces, for Early was not able after this to collect more than a handful of men, and Lee had no troops to spare him. Sheridan's brilliant victories cost him a total loss of seventeen thousand men. far as to get on the left flank of the infantry column. Custer and Merritt then turned and attacked with their cavalry, when a report having spread among Rosser's men that the National infantry were at the same time flanking them, they immediately gave way and broke into a stampede. The pursuit was continued seven miles. The loss of the enemy was not great, being only about three hundred men, including prisoners; but he abandoned eleven guns, four caissons, and an ammunition train.. "Things remained quiet for several days after this affair; but on the twelfth, the Confederates again appeared in the neighborhood of Strasburg and opened an artillery fire on Emory's and Crook's corps. These troops were then partially withdrawn and Crook pushed out a reconnoissance, which brought GENERAL PHILIP H. SHERIDAN. whose corps was, in the meantime intrusted to General Ricketts. Fisher's Hill had been abandoned as not affording any good defensible line on its southern slope, on which side Early would be likely to approach, and the army had now lain for several days in front of Strasburg, behind breast-works thrown up on rising and rolling ground, mostly along the east side of Cedar CreekCrook, with the Eighth corps on the left, the Nineteenth corps in the centre, the Sixth on the right. On the right of the Sixth, a little in the rear and in reserve, were the two cavalry divisions of Custer and Merritt. The line was four or five miles long, and following the course of the creek, nearly north and south. "Crook's corps rested its left flank on the North Fork of Shenandoah and its right on the Winchester and Strasburg turnpike, the principal highway in that region. Behind Crock's left and at right angles to it, with a view to guard against any turning movement on that flank, lay a force about equivalent to a brigade, known as Kitching's provisional division. on a smart engagement of three hours' dura- | North of the turnpike came the Nineteenth tion. Night, however, closed upon the scene without any advantage and with little loss to either side. "On the fifteenth, Sheridan went to Washington on important business, leaving the army under the command c General Wright, corps, Grover's division holding its left and resting on the turnpike, where it joined Thorburn's division of Crook's command. The Sixth corps on the right, and the second cavalry division, were not strongly protected with works, as was all the rest of |