On September 19, 1864, Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah routed Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early’s Valley Army at the Third Battle of Winchester, also called Opequon, the bloodiest and largest battle in the Shenandoah Valley. The opening action took place several miles to the east, where opposing infantry divisions fought at the mouth of Berryville Canyon and across First Woods, Middle Field, and Second Woods. The crushing end of the battle began here, where about 6,000 Federal cavalrymen made one of the grandest charges in United States history along the Valley Turnpike, present-day U.S. Rte. 11. After crossing the Opequon Creek fords early in the morning, Union Gen. Wesley Merritt’s and Gen. William W. Averell’s cavalry divisions probed Confederate Gen. John C. Breckinridge’s defenses at several points. Following several Federal assaults, Early readjusted his forces in the afternoon north of Winchester, folding back his line on an east-west axis. Merritt and Averell waited for the right opportunity, then sent their cavalrymen forward in a mile-long line three ranks deep, advancing first at a trot and then in a furious charge of horses and sabers that broke through the Confederate lines. The charge swept over two redoubts, Star Fort and Fort Collier, and drove Early’s force in retreat through Winchester. One veteran later wrote that Winchester was the first battle in the war in which the cavalry was properly handled in cooperation with the infantry.
