reached the edge of the town he halted a
moment, and then heard the firing of artillery in an unceasing roar.
He now felt confident that a general battle was in progress, and, as he
rode forward, he was convinced, from the rapid increase of the sound,
that his army was failing back. After he had crossed Mill Creek, just
outside Winchester, and made the crest of the rise beyond the stream,
there burst upon his view the spectacle of a panic-stricken army.
Hundreds of slightly wounded men, with hundreds more unhurt, but
demoralized, together with baggage wagons and trains, were all pressing
to the rear, in hopeless confusion.

There was no doubt now that a disaster had occurred at the front. A
fugitive told Sheridan that the army was broken and in full retreat,
and that all was lost. Sheridan at once sent word to Colonel Edwards,
commanding a brigade at Winchester, to stretch his troops across the
valley, and stop all fugitives. His first idea was to make a stand
there, but, as he rode along, a different plan flashed into his mind. He
believed that his troops had great confidence in him, and he determined
to try to restore their broken ranks, and, instead of merely holding the
ground at Winchester, to rally his army, and lead them forward again to
Cedar Creek. He had hardly made up his mind to this course, when news
was brought to him that his headquarters at Cedar Creek were captured,
and the troops dispersed. He started at once, with about twenty men as
an escort, and rode rapidly to the front. As he passed along, the unhurt
men, who thickly lined the road, recognized him, and, as they did so,
threw up their hats, shouldered their muskets, and followed him as fast
as they could on foot. His officers rode out on either side to tell the
stragglers that the general had returned, and, as the news spread the
retreating men in every direction rallied, and turned their faces toward
the battle-field they had left.

In his memoirs, Sheridan says, in speaking of his ride through the
retreating troops: "I said nothing, except to remark, as I rode among
them 'If I had been with you this morning, this disaster would not have
happened. We must face the other way. We will go back and recover our
camp.'" Thus he galloped on over the twenty miles, with the men rallying
behind him, and following him in ever increasing numbers. As he went by,
the panic of retreat was replaced by the ardor of battle. Sheridan had
not overestimate the powe