Philip Sheridan was a great military leader in the Civil War. Sheridan was a great asset for General Grant to use to defeat General Lee. Philip Sheridan and his battle successes were an instrumental piece in the surrender of the General Lee and his confederate army.
Philip Sheridan overcame many obstacles to become a cavalry commander under General Grant. In the very beginning, Sheridan was actually kicked out of West Point for bad behavior. However, he was allowed back in a year later and graduated in 1853. When Sheridan first entered the military he started with smaller administrative assignments, but was later promoted to be in command of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry in May of 1862. Sheridan proved himself worthy of a higher command through several smaller fights. Sheridan later was promoted to infantry commander for the Army of the Cumberland. The army was busy for a lot of the summer of 1863 fighting the Confederate General Braxton Bragg in Tennessee. Sheridan was instrumental in forcing Bragg back into Georgia. When Grant was promoted to leader of the entire Union Army, he appointed Sheridan as his cavalry commander. After this, Sheridan was allowed to go on raiding missions…show more content… In March of 1865, Grant ordered Sheridan to move to North Carolina. However, Sheridan thought the war was going to be over soon so he took his army to join the rest of the Army of the Potomac in Petersburg, Virginia. When he joined the rest of the army, he relentlessly pursued Lee’s army. On his route to Petersburg, Sheridan was able to trap what was left of Early’s army and for 1,500 soldiers surrendered. In early April, Sheridan was able to sever the line of support for General Lee at Five Forks. This was key in forcing Lee to evacuate his army from Petersburg. Sheridan was able to capture around 20 percent of Lee’s remaining men on April 6. This led to the Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1864, ending the
