After their main escape route was burned, stranded Federal skirmishers continued fighting through periodic Confederate attacks. Late in the afternoon, they gradually fell back toward the Baltimore and Ohio bridge. About 5:00 p.m., when they saw their compatriots retreating across the Gambrill Mill property toward the Baltimore Pike, they fled across the railroad bridge to join them. The skirmishers had protected the Union center and the escape route toward Baltimore. Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace later wrote 1st Lt. George E. Davis that his men had held their position with great tenacity. Davis recalled that they kept together and crossed the railroad bridge by stepping on the ties because there was no floor, with the enemy at their heels before some were taken prisoner. One man fell through the bridge to the river forty feet below and was taken to Andersonville.