At 1:30 p.m. on May 16, 1863, Federal forces overran the crest of Champion Hill, one-half mile north of the Crossroads, pushing back the Confederate forces of Stephen D. Lee and Alfred Cumming. James Slack's brigade of Alvin P. Hovey's Union division attacked the Crossroads from the northeast. The 24th Iowa captured the four guns of Waddell's Alabama Battery, which had opposed Peter Osterhaus' and Eugene Carr's Union divisions approaching on the Middle Road. Frances Cockrell's Confederate brigade of Missourians and Arkansans counterattacked and drove the Federals back over the crest of Champion Hill, but the Federals soon rallied and recaptured Champion Hill and the Crossroads. The outnumbered Confederates hastily retreated to the Big Black River. Estimated casualties were 2,441 Union and 3,851 Confederate.
