“We Fought Desperately”

The passage of picket posts and abatis shattered regimental formations in the Vermont Brigade, and the attack became a rush of disorganized men rather than textbook tactics. Orderly Sergeant Thomas H. McCauley of the 2nd Vermont carried the brigade flag at the head of this determined mass as Union soldiers tumbled into the moat and scaled the steep walls of the Confederate line. Troops from the 18th and 37th North Carolina and cannoneers at the guns in the artillery position resisted them, but their thin line was pushed back and broken by superior numbers. As other Federal brigades reached the Confederate works on either side of the Vermonters, a brief but bitter hand-to-hand battle spread along nearly a mile of ramparts, marked by clubbed muskets and bayonet thrusts. Both Northern and Southern soldiers showed equal and admirable bravery, yet the larger Union force prevailed, and hundreds of Confederate troops surrendered while others retreated through the abandoned winter huts of McGowan’s Brigade to the rear. By 5:15 a.m., the Stars and Stripes flew above the Confederate works.

Virginia · United States