The Attack on Rice's Hill

The Attack on Rice's Hill. "That's what God gave me legs for.". , Time: Early Afternoon , You're standing on the short-lived Union defensive line on Rice's Hill, where the 18th Connecticut and 123rd Ohio infantry regiments desperately and vainly tried to hold off advancing Confederates., When Union Gen. Franz Sigel withdrew his outflanked troops from Manor's Hill (400 yards to your right), he ordered the two regiments to form a defensive line here on Rice's Hill to slow down the Confederate pursuit and buy him time to prepare a new position on Bushong's Hill. The other end of this new line extended onto the Rice Farm, anchored by Capt. Alfred von Kleiser's battery on the Valley Turnpike., The Confederates were close behind them. The Federals were "hardly in line," Union Col. Augustus Moor reported, "When the rebels heralded their advance by their peculiar yell, and advanced in two strong lines, by far overlapping our own." One Federal said, "As [the Confederates] appeared over the eminence we had lately occupied [Manor's Hill], they poured in upon us such a storm of shot and shell so thick that the very air seemed alive with bullets." Many Federals were hit, including Edmund Snyder of the 123rd Ohio, who was struck in the groin. "It seemed to me that a red-hot stone, weighing about ten pounds and hurled with mighty force had hit me," he recalled., After a "short but resolute struggle," the outflanked Federals gave way and retreated in chaos. A group of retreating soldiers came upon a religious officer who said their "only chance for salvation is to kneel down and pray to God to save us." One soldier replied, "That's what God gave me legs for, and I'm going to use them while I can.", Despite the rout, the brief resistance had bought Sigel valuable time to form his new, stronger line on Bushong's Hill., (Captions):, Union Major Henry Peale, commander of the 18th Connecticut., Union Major Horace Kellogg, who commanded the 123rd Ohio Infantry. He was wounded in the fighting. A member of the regiment wrote that, "A ball struck his belt, passed through it, and also through his pants, grazed the flesh and dropped down into the seam of his pants where he afterwards found it." , Image courtesy of L.M. Strayer Collection, "The Skirmish Line" by Gilbert Gaul, This marker was made possible through the generosity of Bradley and Pamela Owen.