Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 2

[662] 1,818—total, 3,611. There is no full report of the cavalry, but the total loss in killed and wounded from September 1st to 1st October is: killed, 60; wounded, 288—total, 348; but many were captured, though a good many are missing as stragglers, and a number of them reported missing in the infantry were not captured, but are stragglers and skulkers. Breckenridge's division lost six colors, and Rhodes's division captured two. Rhodes's division made a very gallant charge, and he was killed conducting it. I fell back to Fisher's Hill, as it was the only place where a stand could be made, and I was compelled to detach Fitz Lee's cavalry to the Luray valley to hold the enemy's cavalry in check should it advance up that valley. The enemy's loss at Winchester was very heavy. Dr. McGuire has received a letter from a member of his family, who states that 5,800 of the enemy's wounded were brought to the hospital at Winchester, and that the total wounded was between 6,000 and 7,000; and a gentleman who passed over the field says that the number of killed was very large. Sheridan's medical director informed one of our surgeons, left at Woodstock, that the number of wounded in hospital at Winchester was the same as stated in the letter to Dr. McGuire, and I am satisfied from what I saw that the enemy's loss was very heavy.

The enemy's infantry force was nearly, if not quite, three times as large as mine, and his cavalry was very much superior both in numbers and equipment. This I have learned from intelligent persons who have seen the whole of both forces.

I posted my troops in line at Fisher's Hill with the hope of arresting Sheridan's progress; but my line was very thin, and having discovered that the position could be flanked, as is the case with every position in the Valley, I had determined to fall back on the night of the 22nd; but, late that evening, a heavy force was moved under cover of the woods on the left, and drove back the cavalry there posted and got in the rear of my left flank; and, when I tried to remedy this, the infantry got into a panic and gave way in confusion, and I found it impossible to rally it. The artillery behaved splendidly, both on this occasion and at Winchester. I had to order the guns to be withdrawn; but the difficulties of the ground were such that 12 guns were lost, because they could not be gotten off. The loss in the infantry and artillery was 30 killed, 210 wounded, and 995 missing—total, 1,235. I have been able to get no report of the loss in the cavalry, but it was slight. Very many of the missing in the infantry took to the mountains; a number of them have since come in, and others are still out.