The Battle of Opequon

Grant sends Sheridan (North) to burn the Valley that fed Lee’s army: a slave-worked larder and a covered highway pointed at the North.

An enslaved man, Thomas Laws, carries word out of Winchester that Early (South) has been weakened, the intelligence that set the attack.

Wright’s (North) wagons clog the only road through the Berryville Canyon, and the delay lets Early (South) pull his scattered divisions together.

A gap nearly breaks the Union center; Russell (North) dies closing it and Rodes (South) dies leading the counter, before the massed cavalry caves in Early’s flank.

Early’s (South) army breaks south through Winchester’s streets, the first of three blows that destroyed the Army of the Valley and cleared the Valley for The Burning.