Defense in the Cemetery

The Middletown Cemetery, on a knoll west of the village, was the only point where Union officers believed they could establish a strong position and try to slow the Confederate advance after the surprise attack had given Southern troops strong momentum. From this high ground, General George Getty's division, about 2,500 strong, repulsed two Confederate assaults. General Jubal Early then massed nearly 30 cannon near the Heater House and along Valley Pike, and a 30-minute cannonade, together with a third Confederate attack that threatened to turn the Union right, finally forced Getty to order a withdrawal. During the fighting, hand-to-hand combat erupted over Captain James McKnight's battery in the second Confederate assault on Cemetery Hill, which part of the Vermont Brigade repulsed in a counterattack, and Union General Daniel Bidwell was mortally wounded.

Middletown, Virginia · United States