In the late morning of the Third Battle of Winchester, the Middle Field stretched far wider than it appears today between the First Woods, Red Bud Run, the Berryville Pike, and the Second Woods, and it became the scene of severe fighting. During Union Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan's first attack at 11:40 am, Federal skirmishers advanced across the meadow to cover the northern flank of the Union battle line but came under heavy fire from Confederate cavalry and artillery north of Red Bud Run. The attack was at first successful, then collapsed under a determined Confederate counterattack, and the Federals retreated toward the First Woods. Near this spot, 19th Corps commander Gen. William Emory rode up to Gen. William Dwight, who was leading his division through the woods toward the Middle Field, and ordered the crisis stopped at once. Dwight deployed his men at the wood line, and after more than an hour of bloody combat they restored the shattered Union right and held Gen. John B. Gordon's Confederates at bay. At 3:00 pm, Col. Joseph Thoburn's division of Gen. George Crook's Army of West Virginia relieved Dwight's command, charged across the field, drove Gordon's men from their position, and helped set the stage for Sheridan's eventual victory. Col. Frank H. Peck of the 12th Connecticut was mortally wounded there by a shell fragment from Confederate cannons north of Red Bud Run, and more than 3,000 men became casualties in the Middle Field.