Hackwood And Patton

Hackwood And Patton. "Cost its brave commander his life". Time: Mid-Afternoon , 350 yards in front of you is the Hackwood House, constructed in 1777 by John Smith, a Winchester area politician and militia leader. Hessian prisoners of war from the Battle of Saratoga hewed stone from a nearby rock outcropping and built the home., During Union Gen. George Crook's mid-afternoon attack, combat swirled around the Hackwood House and adjoining fields. When Crook's soldiers crossed Red Bud Run, Confederate Col. George S. Patton's Brigade, posted behind a stone wall lining the lane that ran west from the house to the Valley Pike, fired heavy volleys at the Federals as they charged past the house., The Virginians put up an obstinate fight, but reinforcements from Union Col. Joseph Thoburn's division poured into the battle from behind you while Union cavalry operating in the distance beyond the interstate joined the attack., Hit on three sides, Patton attempted to fight his way back 1,000 yards toward another stone wall where Gen. John B. Gordon was rallying his men, but Patton's troops were overwhelmed by "converging columns of infantry and cavalry,” the cavalry hacking with their sabers. Patton's brigade was effectively destroyed, and Patton himself was mortally wounded by a shell fragment; he died 6 days later., Meanwhile, Crook quickly consolidated his command, advanced, and engaged the Confederates behind the second wall, located today about 1,000 yards to your left on the west side of the interstate., (captions) , Hackwood House. The house was used as a hospital by both Confederate and Union troops. Sketch by James Taylor. Image courtesy Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio, Col. George S. Patton, Patton's grandson was the famed World War II general, George S. Patton. Library of Congress,