The National Civil War Museum's CEO, Wayne E. Motts shares our November captivating story. On 19 October 1864, Union General Phil Sheridan awoke to the sounds of battle at Cedar Creek south of his headquarters located at Winchester. Calling for his mount Rienzi, Sheridan took along an escort of the 17th Pennsylvania cavalry led by Major Weidner Spera and set out to reach the front. Once Sheridan arrived at Cedar Creek, he shored up the Union troops located there and after a battering, the Federal soldiers went on the offensive to win the day. Major Spera remembered the ride well and wrote about in his unit’s regimental history. Spera lived to be 87 years of age dying in 1921, 57 years after escorting General Sheridan on his famous ride. Spera’s artifacts are now part of the collection of the National Civil War Museum.
