Fisher’s Hill

Fisher’s Hill. “To give up all hope”—Confederate Left Disintegrates. , Fearing for the ability of Battle’s brigade to withstand Crook’s assault, Ramseur ordered Gen. William R. Cox’s North Carolina brigade to form on Battle’s left flank to your left. As Cox, regarded as one of the finest-dressed men in the Confederate army, moved his brigade toward the sound of combat, he became confused and turned his six regiments southwest and away from Battle’s command. Cox’s movement exposed Battle’s left flank and enabled Col. Rutherford B. Hayes’s division to fire directly into it. Hayes wrote that when Battle’s men learned that their left flank had been turned “they seemed to give up all hope of holding their works and fled in confusion toward the [Valley] turnpike.”, As Battle’s men gave way, the other regiments in Ramseur’s division soon followed. Not only Crook’s corps, but also Union Gen. Horatio G. Wright’s corps pressed them hard. One of Ramseur’s brigade commanders, Gen. Bryan Grimes, tried to hold the Confederate left by facing three of his regiments west to confront Crook while keeping his other two facing north to block Wright’s corps. Despite Grimes’s best efforts, however, the fire from two directions compelled him to withdraw his brigade from the field., (captions) , Col. Rutherford B. Hayes Courtesy Library of Congress , Gen. William R. Cox Courtesy North Carolina Office of Archives and History , Gen. Bryan Grimes Courtesy University of North Carolina