716 



SHERIDAN, PHILIP H. 



" April 28, 1856, bvt. Lt.-Ool. E. J. Steptoe, 

 9th Infantry, commanding Cos. A, E, F, and I, 

 same regiment, and detachments of Co. E, 1st 

 Dragoons, and Co. L, 3d Artillery, in all 200 

 men, at the Cascades, W. T., repulsed the 

 Indians in their attack of that place. The 

 troops landed under fire, routing and dispers- 

 ing the enemy at every point. . . . Second- 

 Lieutenant Philip H. Sheridan, 4th Infantry, is 

 especially mentioned for his gallantry." 



The outbreak of the civil war made promo- 

 tion rapid, both through the resignation of 

 Southern officers and the creation of new regi- 

 ments; and Sheridan, who thus secured a 

 first - lieutenancy in the Fourth Infantry on 

 March 1, 1861, received a captaincy in the 

 Thirteenth, on the 14th of May. Still, save 

 for six weeks' service as president of a board 

 for auditing claims at St. Louis, that memora- 

 ble year brought him little employment and no 

 laurels. The day before Christmas he was ap- 

 pointed quartermaster on the staff of Gen. 

 Curtis, commanding the Army of Southwest 

 Missouri. On being relieved from Curtis's staff, 

 he reported to Gen. Halleck, whom he accom- 

 panied in his advance upon Corinth, and was 

 by him recommended to the Governor of Michi- 

 gan, who had applied for some regular officer 

 to take charge of the 2d Michigan Cavalry. 

 Commissioned May 25, 1862, as colonel of this 

 regiment, then near Corinth, Sheridan at once 

 took part with it in Elliot's raid against the 

 railroad, which was destroyed at Booneville. 

 During June he commanded the 2d Cavalry 

 Brigade in several skirmishes, and on the 1st 

 of July fought a brilliant battle at Booneville. 

 His appointment as brigadier-general of volun- 

 teers was dated from the action at Booneville. 



During the autumn of 1862 Sheridan was 

 transferred to Kentucky, and there received 

 command of the Eleventh Division of the Army 

 of the Ohio, under Buell. Moving out from 

 Louisville with Buell against Bragg, he took 

 part, October 8th, in the hard-fought battle at 

 Perry ville, where he manoeuvred his division 

 with conspicuous skill and effect. Rosecrans 

 succeeded Buell in command of what became 

 known as the Army of the Cumberland, and 

 at the prolonged and bloody battle of Murfrees- 

 boro, Sheridan, for several hours in the first 

 day's fighting, held the key-point, displaying 

 superb tactical skill and the greatest gallantry. 

 All his brigade commanders were killed in 

 this battle, and on Rosecrans's recommenda- 

 tion he was made major-general of volunteers, 

 to date from Dec. 31, 1862, the opening of that 

 deadly struggle among the cedar-brakes of 

 Stone river. 



In March, 1863, Sheridan engaged in the 

 pursuit of Van Dorn to Columbia and Frank- 

 lin, making captures near Eagleville. Advanc- 

 ing with Rosecrans's army from Murfreesboro 

 to Tullahoma, and across the Cumberland 

 mountains and the Tennessee, Sheridan, on 

 -September 19th and 20th, distinguished himself 

 again in the battle with Bragg at Chickamauga. 



Rosecrans fell back to Chattanooga, and the 

 command of his besieged army was transferred 

 to Thomas. Grant, arriving with re- enforce- 

 ments from Vicksburg, resolved to dislodge 

 Bragg, who was posted on Lookout mountain 

 and Missionary Ridge. Hooker having carried 

 Lookout mountain, Thomas assaulted the Ridge 

 November 25th, with overwhelming success. 

 Sheridan's division was the first to cross the 

 crest, and pressed the enemy's rear- guard until 

 long after dark, capturing wagons and artillery. 

 This was the culminating point of Sheridan's 

 career at the West, although he continued to 

 serve through the winter in East Tennessee, 

 and on January 17th was engaged in a skirmish 

 at Dandridge. 



In the spring of 1864, Grant, now lieuten- 

 ant-general, established his headquarters in 

 Virginia. He told Halleck he must have an 

 energetic commander for the cavalry there, 

 and Halleck, mindful of the result of his for- 

 mer recommendation, brought Sheridan for- 

 ward again. "The very man!" answered 

 Grant; and accordingly Sheridan, on April 

 4th, took command of the cavalry corps of the 

 Army of the Potomac. When the May cam- 

 paign of this army opened, he pioneered its 

 path to the Wilderness, and thence to Spottsyl- 

 vania, skirmishing on the 5th and 6th, and 

 fighting a battle at Todd's Tavern on the 7th. 

 Two days later he made a cavalry expedition 

 within the enemy's lines to the Chickahominy 

 and the James, dashing upon the outworks of 

 Richmond itself, where he took a hundred 

 prisoners, and thence moving to Haxall's Land- 

 ing, from which point, after resting three days, 

 he returned to the army on the 24th, having 

 destroyed many miles of railroad -track, besides 

 trains and a great quantity of rations, and re- 

 capturing 375 Union soldiers on their way to 

 Libby Prison. This expedition included re- 

 pulses of the enemy at Beaver Dam, May 10th, 

 and at Meadow Bridge on the 12th, and the 

 defeat, on the intervening day, of J. E. B. 

 Stuart's cavalry at Yellow Tavern, where Stu- 

 art was killed. Sheridan was next engaged 

 at Hanovertown and Totopotomoy creek, May 

 27th ; Hawes's Store, May 28th ; Matadequin 

 creek, May 30th ; Cold Harbor, May 31st and 

 June 1st. On June 6th he was sent with two 

 divisions to cut the Virginia Central Railroad 

 near Charlottesville, and to escort acrosS to 

 Grant's army the Shenandoah Valley forces of 

 Gen. Hunter. The enemy's cavalry, under 

 Hampton, disputed his progress at Trevillian 

 Station, June llth, but were driven back after 

 a severe battle. The next day, however, 

 Sheridan, satisfied that neither Charlottesville 

 nor Gordonsville could be reached, and hear- 

 ing nothing of Hunter, withdrew his forces, 

 having broken the railroad at Trevillian. On 

 his return the enemy's cavalry attacked him at 

 Tunstall, on the 21st, and he skirmished again 

 on the 24th at St. Mary's Church. Toward 

 the end of July Sheridan moved north of the 

 James, to aid Gen. Hancock's operations at 





