Fisher's Hill

At 4 p.m. on September 22, 1864, the extreme left flank of Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early's thinly stretched infantry line was caught in a deadly pocket of Federal fire during the Battle of Fisher's Hill. That morning, Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan had sent Gen. George Crook's corps sweeping around Early's left flank, and around 4 p.m. Crook's men overwhelmed Confederate Gen. Lunsford L. Lomax's cavalrymen at the foot of Little North Mountain. The Federals then swept on to this point, where Confederate Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur's infantrymen held firm to buy time for the rest of Early's line to retreat. They also faced an attack from the north by Gen. James B. Rickett's division, while other Federal units pressed the Confederate forces to the right. Here and in nearby earthworks occurred the heaviest fighting of the battle. Ramseur sent Gen. Cullen Battle's Alabama Brigade to strengthen the Confederate line, and Battle staked his position with a cedar stick, threatening any man who thought of running. To the left stood a lookout tree in which Confederate observers erected a platform after trimming branches and the top of the trunk, and scars from those modifications remain visible.

Virginia · United States