South Carolina troops in Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw’s Division, specifically Brig. Gen. James Conner's Brigade, formerly Kershaw’s and commanded at Cedar Creek by Maj. James M. Goggin after Conner was severely wounded at Hupp’s Hill on 13 October, fought in the Army of the Valley District under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early in the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864. Six regiments and one battalion from South Carolina formed the left flank of Kershaw’s Division and lined up before dawn about 1/2 mile south of the earthworks of Col. Joseph Thoburn's Division of Maj. Gen. Phillip Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah, just north of Cedar Creek. About 5 a.m. Kershaw’s Division attacked the trenches, with Conner's Brigade moving past the Hite House to assault the right flank of Thoburn's position, and after heavy combat the division captured the position and pushed north up the Valley Pike while other Confederate troops attacked from the east. About 6 a.m. Conner's Brigade and Kershaw’s Division fought in this vicinity for the Union earthworks of Brig. Gen. Cuvier Grover's Division of the 19th Corps, and the Carolinians fought Col. Dan Macauley's Brigade with bayonets and clubbed muskets, captured the works, and continued the advance. They then fought south of and west of Belle Grove and cooperated in assaults on a Union strongpoint known as Red Hill. After the collapse of the Red Hill position, Kershaw’s Division continued north and became next to the leftmost division in the Confederate advance, and as it moved west and north of Middletown, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon’s Division became the left flank of the final Confederate line, with Conner's Brigade and Kershaw’s Division to his right. Early’s respite gave Sheridan’s army about 4 hours to rest and reorganize, and about 4 p.m. the Army of the Shenandoah attacked south against the Confederates; superior Federal numbers eventually prevailed, the Confederate left flank collapsed about 5 p.m., and the South Carolinians and their comrades in the Army of the Valley retreated south after fighting from dawn until dark in the Shenandoah Valley’s second greatest battle of the war.

Photo: Bradley Owen

Photo: Bradley Owen

Photo: Bradley Owen

Middletown, Virginia · USA