Sheridan, Philip Henry

Sheridan, Philip Henry (1831–1888) Union army officer. Born while his family was en route from Ireland to the United States, Sheridan had his first military experience patrolling an Indian reservation in Oregon after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy. When the Civil War began, he was appointed chief commissary and quartermaster for the Army of the Southwest Missouri District, although he wished for a command. In 1862 he succeeded in obtaining a colonelcy in the Second Michigan Cavalry; one month later he became its commander. Less than month after that, his 800-troop unit was unexpectedly attacked by 5,000 Confederates; Sheridan beat them decisively. He was promoted to brigadier general. In command of the Eleventh Division of the Army of the Ohio, Sheridan won a number of victories but lost to superior numbers at Chickamauga (1863). In the counterattack, Sheridan led his troops beyond their objective and inflicted major losses on the Confederates. In 1864 Gen. Ulysses S. Grant named him chief of cavalry for the Army of the Potomac. Sheridan asserted he could take Richmond; Grant took him up on the boast and let him try, and Sheridan took 10,000 men, defeated Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, who died in the assault, and reached Richmond. His next assignment was to defeat Gen. Jubal Early, who was occupying the Shenandoah Valley; Sheridan's massive assault sent the Confederates fleeing. When Early launched a surprise attack on Sheridan's forces at Winchester, Sheridan again drove the Confederates from the field. He was equally effective in the waning days of the war, at Petersburg and Richmond; he raced Gen. Robert E. Lee for Appomattox, where the last cache of Confederate food was stored, and arrived before the Confederate general, who was forced to surrender. In 1883 he was named general in chief of the U.S. Army.