Slaughter Pen Farm

After the failure of Gen. Nelson Taylor's advance, Gen. John Gibbon sent in Col. Peter Lyle's brigade. Taylor shifted some of his remaining regiments to the right and joined in Lyle's assault, and together they formed a six-regiment front and attacked toward the railroad. When the Federals reached the small rise in front, Gen. James H. Lane's North Carolinians again opened a murderous fire, and the Union attack stopped to return fire. Soon Union troops were running out of ammunition, and to support his floundering front, Gibbon called up his last reserve, Col. Adrian Root's brigade. In the fighting, soldiers recalled bursting shells, whistling bullets, and the hardest combat they had ever experienced. Three of the five Medals of Honor awarded on this field went to men in Lyle's brigade who risked their lives to keep the flags raised during the charge: Sgt. Philip Petty of the 136th Pennsylvania Infantry seized the flag after the color bearer fell, planted it on the front line, and continued firing until ordered to retire; Pvt. Martin Schubert of the 26th New York Infantry, despite a medical furlough, picked up the flag and carried it forward until he was shot in the side; and Pvt. Joseph Keene lifted the 26th New York Infantry's flag from the ground, advanced with the regiment, and carried the colors safely off the field.

Virginia · United States