Milroy's Attack

In mid-afternoon during the battle, Union forces under Generals Robert H. Milroy and Robert C. Schenck faced the main Confederate defensive line on Mill Creek Ridge. Frustrated by the lack of direction from Union commander Gen. John C. Fremont, Milroy decided to attack the ridgeline and try to seize the Confederate cannon "at the point of a bayonet." He found a gully leading to Mill Creek at the base of the height and pushed his men forward, though Union soldier Thomas Evans of the 25th Ohio felt he was "rushing pell mell to probable destruction." As the Federals advanced to within 500 yards, Confederates concealed in tall grass and atop the ridge unleashed a torrent of fire that "mowed down the head" of the company. Evans recalled the "deafening roar of musketry" and "the crushing of timber by the dread missiles... the unearthly yells of opposing forces and the moaning of the dying and the screams of the wounded." Milroy then directed his men toward a forested hillside to his right, just 300 yards ahead, where they were struck again by "a perfect storm of bullets" from hidden Confederates. The Federals answered with "a tremendous fire into the woods," but "a deadly fire came out of it," and the northerners fell rapidly. Milroy tried once more, moving about 1,000 feet to the left, and this time his men appeared to make greater progress. One witness said the Federals "charged gallantly up the hill where one of the opposing batteries was planted, cutting down the gunners with their fire," and another said they were "almost in contact" with the Confederate guns. Milroy believed he was near success, but orders from Fremont to withdraw were about to leave him "thunderstruck." Major John DeHart Ross of the 52nd Virginia, nicknamed "Mad Boy," was wounded during the assault.

Virginia · United States