By 12:30 pm, the battle had turned in favor of the Union as the Confederate troops of Gen. John B. Gordon and Stephen D. Ramseur fell back before pursuing Federals. Gen. Robert E. Rodes then arrived with his division and launched a counterattack into the center of the Union line, where a large gap had opened between the 6th and 19th Corps. Shouting, "Charge them, boys!" Rodes sent the attack into the gap, where it struck the exposed flank of both Union corps and checked the breakthrough. Gen. Phillip Cook's Georgia Brigade spearheaded the assault in this area, capturing many prisoners and three Union battle flags. Gordon and Ramseur rallied their men and joined the attack, which drove Union forces back hundreds of yards before U.S. reserves blunted the Confederate counter strike. During the fighting, Rodes was mortally wounded by a shell fragment that struck him in the head. He was taken to a home in Winchester and died shortly afterward, though his troops did not learn of his death until much later and continued their attack. Confederate Pvt. Marcus D. Herring recalled that Rodes "leaned for an instant, then fell headlong from his horse," and mapmaker Jedidiah Hotchkis later called him the best division commander in the Army after Stonewall Jackson.
