Charge on Griffin’s Guns

At the wood’s edge, Virginians waited tensely through their first bombardment as shells from Ricketts’ battery burst in the branches overhead and tore up the ground ahead. When two Union cannon rolled into position on the rise only 100 yards away, Col. A. C. Cummings ordered a charge, judging it better to keep the men moving before they panicked and before the guns could inflict more damage. Had the cannon turned and fired canister at that range, the regiment would have been shredded, but for some reason the artillery did not fire, as if the Virginians were invisible.

Sudley, Virginia · United States