Confederate artillery was posted here behind protective earthworks, still faintly visible today, and its fire swept the Beverly-Fairmont Turnpike below. Model 1841 6-pounder field guns were used at Camp Laurel Hill; although nearly obsolete by 1861, they could fire a six-pound projectile more than 1,500 yards, and the muzzle blast and concussion alone were demoralizing. Most Confederate earthworks here were filled in by Union troops in 1861. Colonel William B. Taliaferro of the 23rd Virginia Infantry, C.S.A., recalled that the position on the crests of the hills was protected by a ditch with the bank thrown outward to conform to the outline of the hills they occupied, along with a few simple log and earth defenses for the artillery. James E. Hall of the 31st Virginia Infantry, C.S.A., recalled that a six-pounder was sent down the road and fired six shots at a house occupied by Yankees, utterly destroying it.