Walker's Flank Attack

Walker's Flank Attack. "Mowing the Wheat Like a Hail Storm". , Mid-Afternoon, As the fighting moved north on this part of the battlefield, the high ground some 400 yards to your front was manned by Union Gen. Henry Bohlen's brigade. After the Federals were pushed off the wooded hill to your left, Bohlen's brigade suddenly became the front line of the Union army - and the Confederates were coming., It was Bohlen's brigade and the four cannon with them that had attracted Confederate Gen. Isaac Trimble's attention as he moved through the ravine to your left. And it was those troops that Trimble was marching towards with half of the 15th Alabama., As he got closer, Trimble realized the Federals were too strong to attack alone. But help was at hand. The 13th and 25th Virginia, commanded by Col. James A. Walker, had been sent to support Trimble. Trimble ordered Walker "to move on my right...and advance on the enemy in line of battle." But the slope of the ground led Walker's men to crowd Trimble's troops, so Trimble ordered Walker to move further to the right., Unfortunately for Walker's men, this movement exposed them to a volley of musketry in their flank - and a greater ordeal awaited them. "As we rose to the top of [a] hill" [in front of you], recalled Sgt. Samuel Buck of the 13th Virginia, "we came face to face with more of the enemy than I had ever seen... which opened on us with grape, canister, and small arms... mowing the wheat about us like a hail storm... nothing but pride and a sense of duty kept me from running.", Fortunately for the Confederates, a Union artillery commander, fearing for the cannon, ordered them withdrawn, and the infantry was forced to follow. "Our troops were seen slowly returning to the position they had occupied in the morning," a northern newspaper correspondent observed., As the Confederates occupied the ground vacated by the Federals, the fighting on this part of the field came to an end., (Captions):, Confederate Col. James A. Walker, who later commanded the famous Stonewall Brigade. , Courtesy VMI Archives., Union Gen. Henry Bohlen. , Library of Congress., Confederate Lt. Reuben Conway Macon, 13th Virginia, was shot in the thigh during the attack on Bohlen's brigade.