During the Battle of McDowell on May 8, 1862, Cemetery Hill was crowded with Federal cannon, each served by a crew of 14 men or more. Union Capt. Henry Hyman of Battery I, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, positioned his guns here with the 55th Ohio Infantry in support to aid the Union infantry attack on Sitlington's Hill, where Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's men under Confederate Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson awaited the assault. Hyman directed fire on the Confederate position from this hill. Because Civil War gunners had to see a target to aim at it, and the hill was so steep, the artillerists dug trenches for the cannon trails to elevate the muzzles enough to reach the Confederates. Union Gens. Robert C. Schenck and Robert H. Milroy recognized that Jackson held the superior position and launched a spoiling attack to stall the Confederates so the Federals could withdraw in good order. On the plains below Hyman's artillery, Schenck urged the men, mostly from Ohio, with the appeal, "Remember that you are from Ohio!" The Ohio infantrymen nearly carried the day before darkness and Confederate reinforcements ended the fighting. The battle was a costly victory for Jackson, whose forces suffered twice as many casualties as the Federals, and it was also the first of his string of victories during his famous Valley Campaign.