Grover's Attack

Grover's Attack. "I only ask you to follow me!". , Time: Late Morning , You're standing where the First Woods ended and the Middle Field began at the time of the battle. Union commander Gen. Philip H. Sheridan assigned Gen. William H. Emory's 19th Corps to attack in this sector of the battlefield during Sheridan's major assault at 11:40 am. One soldier described the area they were about to advance over as "a rolling farm interspersed with woods.",

"They commenced firing [on] us when we first came into the open lot." - Lt. William Root, 75th New York, Grover's Division

, Emory deployed Gen. Cuvier Grover's 8,000 man division into a double line of battle, a formation that neutralized much of the 3:1 manpower advantage that Grover held over the 2,600 Confederates of Gen. John B. Gordon's division that they were facing., After deploying in the area of the present-day high school, about a half-mile behind you, Grover's division advanced into and through the First Woods. Grover's men halted briefly at the western edge of the woodlot before entering a large open expanse that became known as the Middle Field. Along the edge of the woods, officers rectified the alignment of their battle lines and steeled the men for action. Col. Willoughby Babcock, yelled to the men of the 75th New York. "Boys, 1 only ask you to follow me!", When Grover's division entered the Middle Field, Gordon's Confederates advanced toward them through the Second Woods beyond the meadow , and Confederate horse artillery shelled their flank from the heights of Huntsberry Farm, some 800 yards to your right. Grover hoped for a paced, orderly attack, but his soldiers dashed across the field to avoid the incoming cannon fire. Although they lost their formation, they slammed into Gordon's left flank and sent it reeling in confusion., Unfortunately for the Federals, the disorder of their attack would lead to disaster when Confederate Gen. Robert E. Rodes launched a counterattack a short time later., [Caption:] , Col. Willoughby Babcock. Babcock was mortally wounded by Confederate artillery fire.