Fighting in Twilight

Officers said the Rebels were retreating, and Hatch’s Division was ordered to pursue. Marching double-quick west on the turnpike, the Federals reached this hill just after sundown, when the ridge suddenly erupted with fire. In the confusion of screaming horses, showers of earth, and shrapnel, soldiers lined up in the wrong regiments. In the dying light, New York troops saw movement in the dark woods to the left and heard voices shout, “Don’t fire on us, boys, we are coming to help you!” The Federals held their fire, but then a terrible volley of bullets struck them, and muzzle-flashes revealed gray uniforms among the trees. Maj. Gen. Irving McDowell had urged General Hatch to pursue rapidly, while at the same time, two miles west, Confederate Maj. Gen. James Longstreet had ordered Hood’s Division to make a reconnaissance along the turnpike. The two forces collided here, and although darkness prevented any decisive action, the engagement had great significance because Longstreet and the other half of the Confederate Army had arrived on the field.

Haymarket, Virginia · United States