On Monday, December 19, 1864 in an effort to “rachet up” military pressure on the Confederate war effort and prevent Confederate reinforcements to Hood in Tennessee or to Hardee in Georgia, in accordance with Ulysses Grant’s orders Philip Sheridan, Union commander in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, sent 8000 cavalry under the command of A.T. Tolbert toward the Virginia Central Railroad and Gordonsville, Virginia. The raid against Gordonsville, a strategically important rural town which served as a junction for multiple railroads, ended by the 23rd when Wade Hampton’s Confederate cavalry stopped the advancing Federals in the vicinity of Trevilian Station. Although unsuccessful in seizing Gordonsville, the raid once again taxed the limited manpower of the Confederacy, as Grant continued to spar with Lee to the north and south of beleaguered
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.