At the bridge, Gen. Jacob Cox of the Union 9th Corps said the Confederate position was virtually impregnable to a direct attack over the bridge. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis, whose division did most of the fighting there, reported five days after the battle that orders arrived from General Burnside to carry the bridge at all hazards. He then selected the Fifty-first New York and the Fifty-first Pennsylvania from the Second Brigade and directed them to charge with the bayonet. Taking a route less exposed than the regiments that had tried before them, they rushed at a double-quick over the slope leading to the bridge and across it with an impetuosity the enemy could not resist, and the Stars and Stripes were planted on the opposite bank at 1 o'clock p.m. amid enthusiastic cheering from across the field.
