The Third Battle of Winchester

About noon during the Third Battle of Winchester, Union troops under Gen. Henry Birge pursued Gen. Clement Evans' Georgians from right to left as the Confederates took shelter behind a rocky ledge and began to regroup. Confederate commander Jubal A. Early considered the position most critical, believing that unless this force were driven back, the day was lost. A battery of guns under Confederate Lt. Col. Carter Braxton, partially hidden behind a haystack, stood in the way of a Union victory and opened at short range with canister that completely enfiladed the Union line. The Union troops slowed to a halt, and Gen. Cullen A. Battle's Alabama Brigade arrived from the left and sent them flying in retreat. Three more brigades of Gen. Rodes' Division and all three brigades of Gen. Gordon's Division, under Gens. Alfred Terry, Zebulon York, and Clement Evans, whose brigade had just been reformed, joined the counterattack, stopping the Union advance and launching an all-out attack of their own.

Virginia · United States