So Badly Routed

"I do not think that there was ever an army so badly routed" announced Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan in a message to Lt. Gen. U. S. Grant on the morning after the decisive victory at Fisher's Hill, Virginia, on September 22, 1864. The battlefield triumph was the result of Sheridan's elaborate plan to destroy Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's Confederate Valley Army deployed on a supposedly impregnable position along an aptly named stream called Tumbling Run south of Strasburg in Virginia's important Shenandoah Valley. The combat was Early's last chance to prevent the wholesale destruction of the Valley during the autumn of 1864. So Badly Routed: The Battle of Fisher's Hill in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, September 22-24, 1864, is the first book-length treatment of this event. After several unsuccessful attempts by the Union to take control of the Shenandoah (known as the "Breadbasket of the Confederacy"), Grant directed Sheridan and his Army of the Shenandoah to rid the region of enemy troops and strip it clean. Grant had had enough of Early's persistent threats to the capital at Washington, D.C., whose presence in the Valley also helped feed Robert E. Lee's struggling Army of Northern Virginia. The authors utilize extensive firsthand archival research to thoroughly explore the military operations during the days following the Third Battle of Winchester through Sheridan's attack at Fisher's Hill. Their descriptions of the fighting, aided by accurate and informative maps and descriptive views by the soldiers themselves, make for a complete treatment of the decisive battle and the related military actions in Warren and Page counties and the Mosby Affair in Front Royal. Students and genealogists will hail the extensive original muster roll data used to create the Order of Battle, which provides for the first time the actual unit commanders on the field that day. In addition to significant detailed information published for the first time, So Badly Routed includes pertinent illustrations, complete casualty listings, and a self-guided tour. This study is an important addition to the library of Civil War enthusiasts and genealogists.