At Winchester and Opequon on September 19, 1864, Union General Philip Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah clashed with Jubal Early's Confederate Army of the Valley in the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought in the Shenandoah Valley, known in the South as the Third Battle of Winchester and in the North as the Battle of Opequon. This decisive Federal victory severely diminished the Confederate military presence in the Valley and, coupled with the recent Union victory at Atlanta, helped assure Abraham Lincoln's reelection in November 1864. Ohio units engaged included the 23rd, 25th, 36th, 91st, 110th, 116th, 123rd, and 126th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the 34th Ohio Infantry Battalion, the 2nd and 8th Ohio Cavalry, and 1st Ohio Light Artillery Battery L. Prominent Ohioans engaged included Major General Philip Sheridan, brevet Major General George Crook, Brigadier General George Custer, Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, Colonel Joseph Warren Kiefer, Colonel Joseph Thoburn, and Captain William McKinley. Ohio casualties totaled 66 killed, 435 wounded, and 7 missing.
