Bloody Repulse

In the late morning, Sheridan attacked at 11:40 am, driving the opposing Confederates through the wooded lot known as the Second Woods. On high ground immediately west of the interstate, about 1,000 yards behind this position, eleven cannon from Maj. Carter Braxton's battalion of Confederate artillery waited. The Union battle line descended into the hollow in front and then charged up the open hill beyond, where Braxton's guns met it with a lethal blast of canister. Col. Thomas H. Carter, chief of the Confederate artillery, recalled that Carter Braxton suggested double-shotting the guns with canister, that General Early believed capture was certain and galloped off, and that the artillerymen and lieutenants held steady at their posts until the guns fired together when the enemy line was almost upon them, after which the smoke cleared to reveal shattered banners, broken columns, and disorganized men fleeing back to the woods.

Virginia · United States