The Third Battle of Winchester
The First Woods - A Perfect Slaughterhouse
As Confederates drove Union Gen. Grover's 2nd Division back across the fields in front of you, the 1st Division of the Nineteenth Army Corps was moving up to the edge of the First Woods behind you, (the tree line was then some 400 yards further east). Union Gen. William Dwight recalled that his men were barely in position when the 2nd Division "came back ... flying over the open ground between the two woods in the grandest disorder." Union Gen. William H. Emory, commander of the Nineteenth Army Corps exclaimed "My God! ... This is a perfect slaughterhouse." Dwight's Division joined the action while Emory and Sheridan rallied the fleeing troops. In the fierce melee that ensued, the Southern line was forced back, reforming at the edge of the Second Woods.
on the left of the Nineteenth Corps, the attack of the Sixth Corps had ended in the same fashion, with enemy troops facing each other across the Middle Field. During the next two hours both sides exchanged fire at long range. Meanwhile, several Union regiments, including the 8th Vermont and 12th Connecticut, took positions in the field (to your left front) between the lines to occupy the attention of the Southerners.
"For three mortal hours they [8th Vt. & 12th Conn.] stubbornly held the exposed position, while the ranks were thinned, and the hot carnage raged on every hand. They stood the test without flinching, and many a brave deed was there enacted...."
George Carpenter, 8th Vermont, U.S.A.
Marker can be reached from Redbud Road (County Route 661), on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
