At four o'clock p.m., General Philip Sheridan's reformed Union battle lines stretched for almost two miles from east to west, with cavalry anchoring both ends and ready to exploit any openings. The counterattack carried Union troops back over fields they had earlier fled across. The advance met determined resistance, and the fate of the battle hung in the balance before the Confederate left was turned. Union cavalry then struck hard, the Confederate line unraveled, and retreat quickly became a rout. Sheridan had snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat in the Shenandoah Valley on October 19, 1864.

Photo: Mike McKeown

Middletown, Virginia · USA