Ten Thousand Devils

By mid-afternoon, Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon's 2,600-man division held the northern stretch of Gen. Jubal A. Early's battle line. Gordon's men mainly occupied the Second Woods nearby, but moved into the open ground to try to drive the Union 19th Corps from a fence line 350 yards ahead. They pushed back Union artillery and temporarily forced the infantry into the First Woods, but Gordon could not crush Sheridan's right flank. When Gordon saw Union Col. Isaac Duval's division moving across the high ground of the Huntsberry Farm toward the Confederate flank and rear, he shifted Col. Edmund N. Atkinson's brigade to face swampy Red Bud Run and protect his left. Gordon believed his position was secure, but after seeing Union Col. Rutherford B. Hayes and his men press through the morass and attack, his line gave way. He tried to move other troops to the northern face of the Second Woods, but the Federals adapted and continued their successful assault. Gordon then abandoned the woods and made another stand at a stone wall in the open fields about a half-mile to the rear.

Virginia · United States