The Battle of Payne’s Farm

The battle reached its climax in the fields here as Confederate brigades under George H. Steuart and James A. Walker advanced through the woods while Edward Johnson ordered Leroy Stafford’s and John M. Jones’s brigades to wheel widely from the Raccoon Ford Road into the Payne Farm lane and attack the Union position in the woods across the open field. Instead of making a coordinated assault, Stafford’s Louisianans attacked first without support and suffered heavy casualties. Jones’s Virginians arrived soon afterward and attacked with the same result, and Jones was wounded in the head. On the Confederate right, Jones’s regiments also met steep ground and the quagmire along Russell’s Run during their wheeling movement. The Confederates fell back to the lane as darkness ended the fighting, then after dark withdrew to the Raccoon Ford Road and eventually to a position behind Mine Run.

Virginia · United States