Final Stand

Union troops held the Confederates at bay for most of the day, but around 4:30 p.m. the Union front collapsed and fell back to the Georgetown Pike, where the soldiers used the protection of the road bank in a final stand. The Union line faced Thomas Farm and extended right toward the river, but the Confederates turned the Union right flank where the defense was weakest. The battle was lost and the Union army retreated. Confederate Major General John B. Gordon recalled that blood from the wounded of both forces reddened the stream for more than one hundred yards below, while Sergeant James Read of the 10th Vermont Infantry remembered repeated attacks in several close lines against a single Union line, repulsed twice with very heavy loss until the road and yard were literally filled with attackers.

Maryland · United States