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Third Battle of Winchester culminated at Fort Collier, where
on the afternoon of September 19, 1864, Union General George
Armstrong Custer led the largest cavalry charge in American
history and stormed the Confederate infantrymen positioned
at Fort Collier’s earthworks. This was the bloodiest
and most decisive of the clashes in the Shenandoah Valley
campaign that year. It tore the strategic initiative from
Confederate hands, laid open the Valley to the “Great
Burning,” and along with the fall of Atlanta (September
2) and Sheridan’s victory at Cedar Creek (October 19),
propelled President Lincoln to reelection in November. |
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