Assault on Parsons’ Ridge

Maney’s Confederates immediately discovered the lethal danger of attacking eight Union cannon on top of the ridge ahead of them. Seeking cover behind a split-rail fence, they were struck by Union artillery that shattered the rails and killed and wounded scores of soldiers. The attack slowed and then stopped as the Confederates exchanged gunfire with Union infantry while bullets smashed the remaining wooden rails. As casualties mounted, Southern officers knew their men had to take the hill because any retreat would leave them exposed to Union artillery. The officers crossed the fence to lead a renewed charge, but the strength of the Union defense on the steep slope stopped the Confederates again halfway to their objective. Lying down to escape the deadly fire, Maney’s men desperately loaded and fired their one-shot muskets. Confederate Lieutenant Colonel William Frierson of the 27th Tennessee Infantry recalled that once the fence was reached, a storm of shell, grape, canister, and Minie balls was turned loose upon them, tearing large boughs from the trees, shattering the trees themselves, and plowing the ground in deep furrows. Confederate Colonel George C. Porter of the 6th Tennessee Infantry remembered reaching a high fence at the edge of the woods, where it seemed impossible for humanity to go farther because of the havoc and destruction in their ranks.

Kentucky · United States