The Third Battle of Winchester
The Confederates Reform
"Unless this force were driven back, the day was lost."
General Jubal A. Early, C.S.A.
Standing here about noon during the battle, you would have seen Union troops under Gen. Henry Birge pursuing Gen. Clement Evans' Georgians from right to left. The Confederates took shelter behind a rocky ledge and began to regroup. "The position was most critical," remembered Confederate commander Jubal Early, "for it was apparent that unless this force were driven back, the day was lost."
For now, all that stood in the way of a Union victory was a battery of guns under Confederate Lt. Col. Carter Braxton, partially hidden behind a haystack. A soldier of the 26th Massachusetts recalled that as his comrades "came in line with that innocent looking haystack, some pieces of artillery masked behind it opened at short range with canister upon our line which they completely enfiladed."
The Union troops slowed to a halt and Gen. Cullen A. Battle's Alabama Brigade arrived from your left and sent them flying in retreat. Three more brigades of Gen. Rodes' Division and all three brigades of Gen. Gordon's Division, under Gens. Alfred Terry, Zebulon York, and Clement Evans (whose brigade had just been reformed), joined the counterattack. Not only had the Confederates stopped the Union advance, they launched an all-out attack of their own.
Marker can be reached from Redbud Road (County Route 661), on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
