In the Shenandoah Valley, Union troops under Sheridan turn defeat into crushing victory at the Battle of Cedar Creek

Confederate General Jubal Early made a bold attempt to counter Union General Philip Sheridan's advances in the Shenandoah Valley with a sweeping flanking movement that caught the federal forces by surprise in a dawn attack. Driven back more than four miles is disarray, the Union's Army of the Shenadoah rallied in the afternoon with the arrival of their commander and reinforcements and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Confederates that effectively lost the Shenandoah Valley, permanently, to Sheridan's army. (By John Osborne)