Milroy Moves Forward

By mid-morning to mid-afternoon, Union commander Gen. John C. Fremont's forces had advanced to this area and deployed on a line that began here and stretched nearly a mile and a half to the left. Facing a daunting Confederate position on "an amphitheater of hills" a mile ahead, some Federal soldiers were relieved to finally come to grips with their opponents after about 16 days. Fremont and his staff rode toward the firing to examine the Confederate position, but after reaching the Armentrout farm and looking over the somewhat precipitous Mill Creek Ridge, cannon shells struck around them and drove them back to safer ground. Union Gen. Robert H. Milroy then moved his cannon forward to the Armentrout farm, where they opened fire on the Confederates, and brought his infantry into a ravine that sheltered them from enemy fire. For almost six hours, the opposing batteries traded blasts, and one Union battery in a clump of trees endured Confederate shells that tore through large oaks and broke off thick limbs until fire and smoke from its own guns forced it to move. Growing impatient because he received no direction from Fremont, Milroy went in mid-afternoon to find the best way to bring up his infantry regiments for an attack on the Confederates atop the ridge, found a gully leading into Mill Creek at the base of the ridge, and sent his men forward without realizing that concealed Confederate skirmishers were waiting in the tall grass.

Virginia · United States