The Battle of Cedar Creek.
""The moon was was now shining and we could see the camps," Confederate commander, Jubal Early wrote after the war. "The division was halted under cover to await the arrival of the proper time, and I pointed out to Kershaw, and the commander of his leading brigade the enemy's position, and described the nature of the ground, and directed them how the attack was to be made and followed up."
"A light mist hung over the creek and river," wrote Jedediah Hotchkiss in his journal. "Soon we heard Rosser driving in the pickets on the left, then Gordon on the right, then Kershaw advanced across Cedar Creek in gallant style, and in almost a moment he was going up the hill and over the breastworks. A few flashes of musketry, a few shots of artillery , and he had the works, guns and all, surprising the enemy, though they had sounded the reveille in many parts of their camps before we attacked."
"At about 4:30am the enemy advanced in heavy force against the works of the First Division," wrote Col. Thomas Harris, who was a new division commander in the Eighth Corps, known also as the Army of West Virginia. "The division, having been roused by the firing along the picket-line and the subsequent skirmishing of the pickets with the advancing foe, as also by the division officer of the day, who reported the advance of a heavy force, was quickly formed behind the works, and put in position for defense as far as practicable. Very soon the enemy's lines advanced close up to the works, and were greeted by a volley from our whole line. The action here was sharp and brief, the greatly superior force of the enemy enabling him not only to turn our left, but also to effect and entrance between the First and Third Brigades, then holding the works. Being thus subjected to enfilading fires, as also to a direct fire from the front, these two brigades were driven from the works, and so heavy and impetuous was the enemy's advance that their retreat was soon, for the most pat, converted into a confused route, a large proportion of the men flying across the fields to the rear in great disorder."…"
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