The Battle of Payne’s Farm

The Battle of Payne’s Farm. The Worm Fence. “We gained a slight rise in the land behind an old worm fence. The enemy had fallen back under cover of a piece of woods well in our front. Soon they came out in splendid battle array, with waving banners, and charged our position. It was a desperate effort to dislodge us.” , Sgt. John R. King, 6th Maryland Infantry, USA, “The skirmishers in the center of my line being upon the crest of a hill and directly in line of fire from both lines, I ordered them to fall back upon our line of battle and reform in its rear.” , Capt. Charles H. Stewart, 2nd Virginia Infantry, CSA, Exhilarated by their first taste of battle, the men of Union Gen. Joseph B. Carr’s division advanced to this position and pushed back the strong Confederate skirmish line on top of this rise. With the arrival of Col. J. Warren Keifer’s brigade, the Federals assembled a formidable line in the woods along the worm fence. From this position, they beat back two Confederate assaults. When Carr’s men were almost out of ammunition, elements of Gen. David B. Birney’s division advanced and held the line until the battle’s end., The third brigade of Carr’s division under the command of Col. Benjamin F. Smith became greatly disorganized while moving through the tangled brush and timbers and into the low ground of a miry creek, known as Russell’s Run, several hundred yards to your left. The fire of Confederate skirmishers convinced Smith that he was outflanked. He pulled his men back to a position of safety and, with the exception of a single regiment, did not engage the Southerners., (captions) , In his 1900 book, Slavery and Four Years of War, Col. J. Warren Keifer proudly stated that while his command suffered 172 killed and wounded, not a single man was captured or missing. Keifer was brevetted to brigadier general in 1864 for gallant and meritorious service in the Shenandoah Valley. , Courtesy Army Heritage and Education Center, As Union forces gained the worm fence along this ridge, the Confederates were wheeling into position across the field in front of you and preparing to charge., Col. Matthew Roberts McClennan, 138th Pennsylvania Infantry, was one of six officers whom Carr singled out in his official report for “cool, intrepid and gallant conduct” on the field. McClennan was wounded in the foot late in the action and forced to leave the field. , Courtesy Army Heritage and Education Center