At daybreak of May 25, Major General Gouverneur K. Warren advanced his 5th Corps to confront Lieutenant General A. P. Hill's 3rd Corps, which extended from Anderson's Tavern to the North Anna River, and soon connected with the relieved men of Crittenden and Crawford's divisions. Warren then ordered the 7th Indiana Infantry of the Iron Brigade to drive back Confederate skirmishers and determine the extent of the enemy line while avoiding surprise from Hill. Major Merit C. Welsh led the Indiana infantry into the woods, where intense gunfire erupted as Confederate sharpshooters stood their ground and a deadly close-range fight followed. Within minutes, Welsh lost Lieutenant David B. Gageby and six men killed, with one officer and twenty-four men wounded. Although the Federals pushed the Confederates back to their main line of earthworks, they suffered heavily. Warren chose not to attack the strong trenches, and Hill remained behind his protective earthworks awaiting orders that never came. The skirmish fighting was especially vicious, with no real object beyond a mutual disposition to kill one another, and Warren's Fifth Corps alone suffered over 150 casualties during the day.
