Fisher’s Hill

Fearing that Battle’s brigade could not withstand Crook’s assault, Ramseur ordered Gen. William R. Cox’s North Carolina brigade to form on Battle’s left flank. As Cox moved his brigade toward the fighting, he became confused and turned his six regiments southwest and away from Battle’s command. This movement exposed Battle’s left flank and enabled Col. Rutherford B. Hayes’s division to fire directly into it. Hayes wrote that when Battle’s men learned that their left flank had been turned, they gave up hope of holding their works and fled in confusion toward the Valley turnpike. As Battle’s men gave way, the other regiments in Ramseur’s division soon followed. Crook’s corps and Union Gen. Horatio G. Wright’s corps both pressed them hard. One of Ramseur’s brigade commanders, Gen. Bryan Grimes, tried to hold the Confederate left by facing three of his regiments west against Crook while keeping his other two facing north to block Wright’s corps, but fire from two directions compelled him to withdraw his brigade from the field.

Virginia · United States