On December 20, 1861, a large Union brigade under Brigadier General Edward O.C. Ord collided near Dranesville, Virginia, with a smaller Confederate force led by Brigadier General J.E.B. Stuart that was foraging for provisions, and in a heated fight lasting close to two hours, inexperience and confusion brought tragic mistakes, including the 1st Kentucky Infantry firing into the 6th South Carolina Infantry in dense woods; Ord gained the advantage by placing three guns of Captain Hezekiah Easton's 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery on Drane Hill and forming a battle line with the 10th Pennsylvania Reserves, 13th Pennsylvania Reserves, 6th Pennsylvania Reserves, and Bucktail sharpshooters occupying the Thornton House, while Stuart advanced the 11th Virginia, 6th South Carolina, and later the 10th Alabama with artillery on Ridge Road, but Union fire disabled the Confederate battery, inflicted heavy casualties, and stalled the attack; charges toward the Coleman and Thornton Houses were repulsed, Colonel John H. Forney was wounded, the 10th Alabama and 6th South Carolina each lost 23 men killed or mortally wounded, fighting farther west between the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves and 1st Kentucky ended in stalemate, and Stuart finally withdrew to Centreville after his forage wagons escaped, leaving the Army of the Potomac with its first victory of the war and bringing jubilation and optimism to the home front.
