REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
“From the Jaws of Defeat”
The Battle of Cedar Creek & Its Legacies
Saturday, November 8, 2025
Alfred Waud’s sketch of General Philip H. Sheridan’s arrival north of Middletown late on the morning of October 19, 1864. (Library of Congress)
Among the 326 engagements fought in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War, none was more significant and had wider-reaching consequences than the Battle of Cedar Creek. The triumph achieved on October 19, 1864, by Union general Philip H. Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah wrested the strategically vital Shenandoah Valley from Confederate control, significantly aided President Abraham Lincoln’s bid for reelection, catapulted Sheridan’s fame, and became the defining moment in the military lives of Sheridan’s veterans. This fall, Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute will explore the Battle of Cedar Creek, examining how the Army of the Shenandoah “snatched victory from the jaws of defeat,” the effects of the battle on the lives of soldiers and their families, the impact on Middletown’s civilians, and how Sheridan’s veterans and their Confederate counterparts remembered and memorialized the battle.
Schedule
- 10-10:30 a.m. Check-in at Shenandoah University, Winchester, Virginia
- 10:30-11:30 a.m. Welcome and lecture by Prof. Jonathan A. Noyalas “To Become a Soldier”: The Making of General Philip H. Sheridan.
- 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Lunch at Shenandoah University’s Allen Dining Hall (lunch included with registration)
- 12:30-4:30 p.m.: Caravan tour of sites with Prof. Noyalas related to the Battle of Cedar Creek.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Registration fee of $25 covers the cost of morning lecture, handouts, lunch, and afternoon guided caravan tour. Carpooling is required for the afternoon tour as mass transportation will not permit access to certain sites.
To register for the fall seminar and tour via the online registration portal click HERE.
To register for the fall seminar and tour via a paper registration form that can be mailed to Shenandoah University click HERE.
Interested in learning more about the Battle of Cedar Creek prior to the fall seminar and tour, check out The Battle of Cedar Creek: Victory from the Jaws of Defeat written by MCWI’s director Jonathan A. Noyalas.
