Following the Battle of Opequan Creek Phil Sheridan’s Union army had the Confederates on the run. Jubal Early and his Confederate army had been defeated and he pulled back to Fisher’s Hill, a large open hill south of Strasburg, Virginia. Early was attempting to salvage the situation and fortified the hill turning it into a Gibraltar with his 10,000 men.
Fisher’s Hill
Sheridan had other ideas. He found that the Confederate left was vulnerable and on September 22 Sheridan moved in and prepared Horatio Wright’s VI Corps for assault. In the afternoon, around 4 PM Wright’s men moved forward. James Ricketts’ division drove the Confederate left back while the rest of Wright’s corps broke the line along with the XIX Corps. The Gibraltar was no more. The losses were not large. Sheridan lost about 530 of his 29,000 men. Early lost about 1,200 men but he commanded Jackson’s former corps, who had never lost a battle in the Valley. They had lost at Opequan Creek and now again and the prestige that they had carried forth was gone.
Early’s men were pursued toward Waynesboro for all intents and purposes Early’s army was wiped off the map and it would required take weeks for it to become a fighting force again. Sheridan now began what was known as “The Burning” and his men laid waste to the Valley. It would never be the same.