Phase Two of the Battle: Fighting Along the Turnpike

In 1863, the Ashby’s Gap Turnpike ran along the crest of Mt. Defiance, where stone fences and the ridge gave Confederate defenders under General J.E.B. Stuart a strong position against westward attackers. Stuart ordered Col. John Chambliss to hold this ground with about 1,400 men, including the 9th Virginia in mounted reserve, supported by Capt. William McGregor’s 2nd Stuart Horse Artillery, with one gun placed in the road near the blacksmith’s shop. The Federal attack on this northern part of the battlefield came in two prongs: the 2nd New York and 6th Ohio cavalries advanced dismounted toward the 13th Virginia at the stone fence, while two companies of the 1st Maine Cavalry under Major Stephen Boothby charged mounted up the turnpike toward the cannon, broke into the force near the gun with a volley and saber charge, crossed the crest, and were then struck by the 9th Virginia charging from the north side of the road. The fighting rolled back over the crest to the blacksmith’s shop and then farther east as Stuart’s Horse Artillery used the pause created by the 9th Virginia’s countercharge to limber up for withdrawal to a parallel ridge a half-mile west. Mounted men of the 10th New York Cavalry then stopped and drove back the 9th Virginia, reached the blacksmith’s shop, fought with sabers, and pushed again over the crest before seeing more of the 9th and 13th Virginia massing on the turnpike and pulling back. As Chambliss’ remaining force prepared to charge east over the crest, Union troopers from the southern part of the battlefield overran the North Carolinians, and men of the 16th Pennsylvania and Capt. Brown’s two mounted 1st Maine Cavalry companies began moving north. Having delayed the Federal cavalry’s attempt to reach the Blue Ridge Mountain passes and thus bought Lee time, Stuart withdrew to a new ridgetop position a half-mile west.

Virginia · United States