At the center of the McDowell battlefield on May 8, 1862, Union soldiers advanced uphill through the afternoon, loading and firing as they came, while Confederate soldiers on either side returned fire with muskets and suffered heavy casualties. Union Gen. Robert H. Milroy surprised Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Confederates by attacking up the mountain and directing his men into ravines to reduce their exposure, then launching several bayonet charges that pushed the Confederates farther up the hill. Generally armed with rifles that were more accurate at longer range than Confederate muskets, the Federals inflicted 532 casualties while suffering 259 themselves despite the disadvantage of fighting uphill. Confederate reinforcements rushed in through Union fire and held the line on Sitlington's Hill until nightfall, when the Federals withdrew down the mountain to McDowell. In fighting downhill to the right, the Union 3rd West Virginia Infantry clashed with the Confederate 31st Virginia Infantry, and some men on the opposing sides had known each other before the war. Confederate Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson held this sector, leading from the front until he was wounded and nearly captured in a Federal charge.