After the fighting near Big Hill on August 24, 1862, General Horatio Wright ordered General William Nelson not to fight at Richmond unless success was certain and advised him to fall back if necessary, but Nelson believed the Confederates were moving west toward the vulnerable L&N Railroad at Lebanon. On August 28, Nelson left Richmond without informing his second in command, General Mahlon Manson, and the next day Manson learned that 4,000 to 5,000 Confederates were advancing on his position, prompting him to send the First Brigade forward rather than wait in camp. Nelson, in Lancaster on August 30, heard artillery fire and hurried back, reaching the field south of Richmond at 2 p.m. to find his command in a disorganized retreat or rout; he rallied about 2,200 men and moved the remnants of the Union army to the city cemetery, where no more than 2,500 soldiers and only two artillery pieces with little ammunition prepared for a final stand. Nelson encouraged the shaken troops, who cheered him despite the lack of reinforcements, and the Union line on the hill opened fire as the Confederates approached the fence south of the cemetery, but the Confederate infantry continued forward under orders not to fire until they crossed it. In the fierce assault that followed, Nelson was wounded in the thigh and Colonel William Link of the 12th Indiana also fell wounded, while the Confederates suffered their heaviest losses of the day and two Tennessee regiments each lost more than one hundred men, including Lieutenant Colonel John A. Butler of the 2nd Tennessee. Even so, Kirby Smith's veterans overlapped both ends of the Union line, and after forty-five minutes of desperate fighting the Union position collapsed and retreated north in confusion through Richmond. Confederate cavalry captured Union soldiers, including General Manson and his staff, and by nightfall the Confederates had won the battle.