Breaking the Deadlock

Breaking the Deadlock. Converging Lines of Battle. Time: Late Afternoon , The fields in front of you are part of the Hackwood Farm Late on the afternoon of September 19, Gen. George Crook's little Army of West Virginia swept Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon's division and Col. George Patton's brigade across these fields in a southwesterly direction toward Winchester. The Southerners halted their retreat and rallied behind an extensive stone wall on the opposite side of the interstate to your left and rear. Reinforced by two fresh brigades under Gen. Gabriel Wharton, the Confederates checked Crook's further advance., "Mackenzie (rode) ahead, holding his hat aloft on the point of his saber." - Union Gen. George Cook, Other Union troops came forward to the area behind you, including two New England regiments under Col. Stephen Thomas that had charged through the Second Woods, driving out the last vestiges of Confederate resistance to your right and rear. However, 19th Corps commander Maj. Gen. William Emory ordered them to halt there, although they were ideally positioned to attack the right flank of the Confederates behind the wall. Soon after, George Crook rode to these troops and requested their assistance without success., He encountered Gen. Emory Upton of the 6th Corps who had likewise failed in his effort to induce Thomas to advance. "Upton was nearly crying, he was so mad," recalled Crook. At length. Upton deployed Col. Ranald Mackenzie's 2nd Connecticut in front of Thomas's command and opened fire at the exposed Confederate flank, breaking the deadlock and allowing Crook's advance to resume., (captions) , This sketch by Allen Waud shows the final Federal assault, looking south from behind Crook's attacking troops. Library of Congress., Ulysses S. Grant considered Union Col. Ranald "Bad Hand" Mackenzie, "the most promising young officer in the army." , Col. Ranald Mackenzie, This sign made possible through funds donated by the Millbrook High School Cross Country Team