After Union troops burned the railroad bridge, they began to leave the field. Confederate forces then re-crossed the river by a wagon bridge one half mile above the railroad and moved to counterattack the small Union rear guard. The Confederate right wing, consisting of the 8th and 61st North Carolina and Mallett’s Battalion, moved one mile south to strike the Union left, while the left wing, consisting of the 51st and 52nd North Carolina, emerged from the woods and crossed the field. After climbing the railroad embankment, the North Carolinians gave the rebel yell and charged the Union guns, but Union reinforcements quickly returned to meet the attack. One Union soldier recalled that the battery tore great gaps in the Confederate ranks, that the colors were shot down three times and raised again, and that the fourth time they remained on the ground for want of anyone to raise them. The Confederate charge was turned back with heavy losses before the men of the 8th and 61st North Carolina and Mallett’s Battalion were in position for a coordinated attack. Those killed are listed among those buried in the Confederate mass grave at Willowdale Cemetery in Goldsboro.