The first October Surprise, in a presidential election considered the most important in history

In U.S. politics, a contrived or spontaneous event influencing a presidential election has been termed an "October Surprise." Like the upcoming election only weeks away, the election of 1864 was considered the most important in history up until that point. 

Accordingly, the Confederacy planned arguably the first October Surprise – a bold attack at Cedar Creek to defeat a Union army – a desperate bid to aid the Copperhead Peace Democrats at the ballot box. 

At their convention in Chicago weeks earlier, the Democrats had proposed an armistice with the South and continuation of slavery as a course correction to an unpopular and seemingly forever war.

Union Gen. Philip Sheridan rides through the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, 1864. (Printed by L Prang & Co. - Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

On the night of Oct. 18, using the light of the moon, thousands of Confederate troops, stripped of canteens and anything else that could make noise, made their way along a remote trail. Days earlier, Confederate Gen. John Brown Gordon, considered one of the South’s most audacious, scaled a mountain near General Sheridan’s Union Army and spotted a glaring weakness in the Federal lines: they had exposed their left flank. 

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The Federals encamped in the Shenandoah Valley had falsely assumed that Massanutten Mountain would be too rugged for any force to surmount and attack the Union line undetected. Gordon, under the command of Gen. Jubal Early, hoped to inflict a crushing Confederate victory on the eve of the election. 

In one of the most daring attacks of the war, roughly 14,000 Confederates barreled down on 32,000 Union troops.

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The frigid autumn fog of Oct. 19 screened thousands of wraithlike Confederates as they let out the Rebel Yell and descended on the slumbering Union VIII Corps around 5 a.m. Utter pandemonium gripped many Union regiments and brigades as they disintegrated and fled northward to Middletown. Union soldiers were bayoneted while slumbering in their tents. Hordes of gray swept through the quickly disintegrating Federal lines. 

Hungry, shoeless Confederates attacked not only the Federals but their rations. After hours of bloody battle, much of it hand to hand, the exhausted and ravenous Confederates slowed their attack. 

Portrait of Philip Henry Sheridan in uniform, circa 1870s. (Fotosearch/Getty Images).

The slight pause allowed Crook to stiffen Union defenses. Early arrived at the front around 10:30 and declared, "Well, Gordon, this is glory enough for one day. This is the 19th. Precisely one month ago today we were going in the opposite direction [At the Third Battle of Winchester]."

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Early believed that the Federals were defeated and about to abandon the field. He recognized that his men were exhausted, hungry and thirsty, so he planned to re-form his lines and consolidate his gains. Gordon implored Early to launch another attack immediately and pointed to VI Corps. Early dismissed Gordon’s advice. 

Gordon later recalled, "My heart went into my boots. Visions of the fatal halt on the first day at Gettysburg."

Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan (1831-1888) in camp. His ride and rally would be the stuff of legend. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

History would record the controversial pause as the "Fatal Halt."

Early’s men heard excited, loud cheers from the Union lines shortly after the halt. Many of the Federal troops and Confederates believed powerful Union reinforcements had arrived. Indeed, they had. They were in the form of one man: Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan himself had appeared.

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Departing around 8:30 a.m. from Winchester, he had galloped on his massive, jet-black, white-fetlocked gelding named Rienzi for the epic ride of the Civil War. The ride and rally would be the stuff of legend, and the rally would go down as an epic comeback in military history. 

Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan being cheered on by his troops, circa 1870s. (Engraving gy N.E. Taylor – Fotosearch/Getty Images).

And later, a famous poem by Thomas Buchanan Read titled "Sheridan’s Ride" featured prominently during Lincoln’s campaign of 1864 and reinforced the campaign slogan of "Don’t swap horses in midstream."

As Sheridan approached the front lines, one of his men shouted, "General, where will we sleep tonight?" A hush fell over the men as they waited for his answer. "We’ll sleep in our old camps tonight, or we’ll sleep in hell!" he answered. The men responded by "cheering like mad."

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Gen. Sheridan’s victory on Oct. 19 at Cedar Creek lifted Northern morale and significantly boosted President Abraham Lincoln’s chances of re-election. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Sheridan committed his entire army. The Confederate lines held and repulsed several charges, leading Early to initially believe "the day is finally ours." But by 5:30 p.m., under a shower of lead and iron, the Federals pierced Early’s left. The Confederate lines collapsed and fled in disorder southwest toward Fisher’s Hill. 

Crucially, Sheridan’s victory on Oct. 19 at Cedar Creek lifted Northern morale and significantly boosted Lincoln’s chances of re-election.

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