The Coaling

The Coaling was the key position during the Battle of Port Republic, with Union cannon commanding the road and sweeping the fields below. Recollections differ on the exact gun locations, but at least three stood on the level plateau atop the height, at least three partway down the slope to the right, and two along the road to the left. During the battle, fire from these guns ravaged Confederate infantry and artillery attacking across the flat plain. The guns were spread well apart, with even those on the same level separated by 14-15 yards, and cannons, equipment, men, and horses stretched over a wide distance up and down the ridge. Each gun had 9-10 men to serve it, 6 horses to pull it, and at least 6 more horses to pull the caissons with ammunition. The 66th Ohio infantry stood 50 yards behind the cannons to protect the guns and their lightly armed crews from opposing infantry, fought in the thick of the struggle that swept back and forth across the Coaling, and suffered over 200 casualties. Two companies, one from the 66th Ohio and one from the 5th Ohio, served as skirmishers in the woods to the right to guard the flank. Behind the Coaling, the ground rose to a high wooded bluff, and although thick undergrowth frustrated a Confederate attempt to move cannons through the woods to that spot, the woods let southern infantry advance close unseen until they burst from the trees. The Coaling was a hearth leveled for burning charcoal, mostly cleared of trees whose wood supplied charcoal for the blacksmith shops at the Lewis Farm across the road, and the clearing once extended far beyond the area visible today.

Virginia · United States