Brink of Victory

On the morning of May 6, 1864, Confederate troops of General A.P. Hill's corps burst out of the woods into the Tapp field, some of them in abject panic, fleeing the thunderous advance of more than 20,000 Union troops. One man wrote, "I am ashamed to say it, but I don't think I ever saw troops behaving so badly...they ran like deer through the woods, leaving the enemy far behind. And the further they went, the greater seemed to grow their fright." Union troops soon broke into the field as well, while more pushed through the woods south of the Orange Plank Road (Route 621). Though few realized it, only a thin line of Confederate artillery stood in the way of Union victory, and that artillery roared to life in a desperate effort to stop the Union attack.

Virginia · United States