Third Battle of Winchester

Third Battle of Winchester. Duval's Attack. By mid-afternoon on September 19, 1864, the battle had reached a stalemate on the south side of Red Bud Run. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan ordered Gen. George Crook's little Army of West Virginia into the fight on the Union right. There, Lt. Elmer Husted, 123rd Ohio Infantry, wrote of wounded men “being carried off in every possible way, some on stretchers, some in blankets, some leaning on the arm of a comrade, covered with blood, minus an arm or hand.” Some of them encouraged Crook's men (“Hurry up boys, they need help up there; they are giving our boys hell") while others offered more pessimistic assessments., Crook strengthened XIX Corps' right flank and posted Col. Joseph Thoburn's division south of Red Bud Run. Crook led Col. Isaac Duval's division to the north side to charge across the fields of the Huntsberry Farm and to chase away the remnants of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's command. Thoburn joined in, and Crook's men gave "a mighty battle yell which never ceased for ten minutes.” Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon reacted quickly south of the stream, shifting troops to meet the onslaught. A XIX Corps officer wrote of Gordon's counterattack that "there arose... the most terrific, continuous wail of musketry I ever heard ...not a volley or succession of volleys, but an uninterrupted explosion without a single break or tremor [and] it did not seem to me possible that any troops could endure such a fire." Nevertheless, Crook's attack broke the Confederate left and turned the tide for the Union., (captions) , Col. Isaac Duval Courtesy Library of Congress , Gen. John B. Gordon Courtesy Library of Congress