Assault On The Star Fort

By 11:00 a.m., after overrunning Rowett's Redoubt, the Confederate attack swept up the hill from the west and the north, forcing the Federals to retreat inside the Star Fort. As the last of the fleeing Federals entered the fort, a three-inch ordnance rifle was made ready to slow the Confederate pursuit, and its fire tore through the attacking column on the road. Between 11:00 a.m. and noon, the Confederates made four separate charges on the Star Fort from the ravine below this point, but each time Union forces rose and poured fire into them at close range, riddling their lines, breaking their column, and driving them back to the protection of the ravine. The three-inch ordnance rifle, made of hammer-welded, formed, machined iron, was the second most common rifled field artillery weapon in both armies and was valued, especially in Federal service, for its accuracy and reliability. It normally fired Hotchkiss or Schenkel shells weighing between 8 and 9 pounds, could use 10-pound Parrott ammunition in an emergency, and could also fire canister shot, though less effectively than howitzers or Napoleons. Cockrell's 4th Missouri Infantry Regiment carried its flag into battle at Allatoona Pass.

Georgia · United States