At 11 a.m. on December 13, 1862, the first of eight Union divisions poured out of town to attack Marye's Heights, their bright bayonets glistening in the sunlight as they advanced toward the Confederate line in the Sunken Road below. The Union waves shuddered and stopped in front of that line. During the afternoon, thousands of fresh Confederates swarmed across these heights to join the Georgians in the Sunken Road; some stopped in the open to fire at the enemy below, while others dashed down the slope to the cover of the road. Of the 1,000 Confederates who fell defending Marye's Heights, more than half likely fell on this ridge.