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Schematic plan · American Civil War

Battle of Cedar Creek

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreHorseHorseLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseGuns02 km4 kmN

Confederacy (Cs II Corps, 18,410 men under Early) attacked USA (US Army of the Shenandoah, 30,829 men under Sheridan) in Virginia. The CAA Database of Battles records 8.5 hours of fighting on a front of 4.8 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, left flank against hasty defense, and that USA held. Losses: Confederacy 2,910 (16%), USA 5,665 (18%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Confederacy

Early

UnitArmMen
Confederacy left wingInfantry3,347
Confederacy centreInfantry4,463
Confederacy right wingInfantry3,347
Confederacy reserveInfantry2,789
Confederacy cavalry of the leftCavalry1,932
Confederacy cavalry of the rightCavalry1,932
Confederacy artillery (40 guns)Artillery600
EarlyCommander—
In this plan18,410

USA

Sheridan

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry5,496
USA centreInfantry7,328
USA right wingInfantry5,496
USA reserveInfantry4,580
USA cavalry of the leftCavalry3,965
USA cavalry of the rightCavalry3,965
SheridanCommander—
In this plan30,830

What the sources report

ConfederacyUSA
Strength, this plan18,41030,829
Losses, this plan2,9105,665

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 212, “Cedar Creek”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
8.5 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
4.8 km (attacker), 6.4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Confederacyattacker18,4102,9103,86440Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Left flank; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
USAdefender30,8295,6657,929—Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Penetration

Attacker’s advantages initiative +1 · surprise +3

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.