Fisher's Hill

Fisher's Hill, known as the Shenandoah Valley's "Gibraltar," offered Confederate forces a superb defensive position. Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early's beaten and bloodied army filed into position here on September 20, 1864, one day after the disaster at the Third Battle of Winchester. For the next two days the men strengthened their position, but no amount of digging could make up for Early's lack of men. His defensive line extended along Fisher's Hill for almost three miles, with the right flank on Massanutten Mountain and the left ending about one mile short of Little North Mountain. Infantrymen held most of the line and were stretched thin, while a small number of cavalrymen occupied the unanchored left flank, a weakness that Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan was determined to exploit. On the morning of September 22, he sent Gen. George Crook's corps toward Little North Mountain to strike the Confederate left. The left flank of Early's infantry line stood on this hill, where the decisive fighting of the Battle of Fisher's Hill took place.

Virginia · United States