THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 17, 1994 TAG: 9410170069
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Virginia News
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
The heavy fog 130 years ago masked the early morning approach of 7,000 Confederate soldiers. Their sudden attack at Virginia's Cedar Creek devastated the Union Army, leaving hundreds dead and the rest scattered and dazed.
But it is the stuff of legend how Gen. Philip Sheridan, hearing the fighting from 20 miles away, mounted his great black horse, Rienzi, and galloped toward the battlefield. His presence alone inspired the retreating troops to regroup and reclaim the Shenandoah Valley from the Confederacy.
As Capt. Squire Howard of Vermont said, ``Never since the world was created was such a crushing defeat turned into such a splendid victory.''
The victory would not have been possible without the Vermont troops.
A stone monument at the Middletown, Va., battlefield honors the Eighth Vermont Regiment.
So it is fitting perhaps that Sunday, as thousands of Civil War buffs re-enacted the fateful battle, Vermonter Howard Coffin presented the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation with a check from the state of Vermont for $15,000.
This year's Vermont Legislature appropriated the money to help preserve 150 acres of the Cedar Creek battlefield, that has been purchased by the foundation.
Coffin, a Civil War historian whose great-grandfather, Elba Jillson, was a Civil War veteran, has been one of the leaders in the effort to preserve the battlefields, some of which are being swallowed by developments and shopping malls.
``Vermont is the first state to donate money to preserve this battlefield,'' Coffin said. ``It is a huge battlefield and this 150 acres is just a small part, but it is a start.''
Rep. Robert Wood, R-Brandon was one of the lawmakers promoting the state appropriation.
``We had some money from a few years back that we had set aside to repair and restore Civil War monuments,'' he said. ``Howard spoke to me about the Cedar Creek effort and our committee decided this would be a good use of that money.
More than 500 Vermonters were killed, wounded or missing after the Oct. 19 battle of Cedar Creek.
The battle, and the Vermonters' role in it, was commemorated in Julian Scott's massive painting, ``The Battle of Cedar Creek,'' which fills a wall in the governor's reception room at the Vermont Statehouse. It was commissioned by the Vermont Legislature in 1870.
``It was one of the most dramatic moments of the Civil War,'' says Coffin. ``It was a big victory.'' by CNB