The Coaling Falls

The Coaling Falls. "The Death Knell of the Enemy". , Mid-Morning, After the Union troops recaptured the Coaling again, Confederate Gen. Richard Taylor saw additional Federal troops moving toward this position like a solid wall from the river plain to your front, and said, "There seemed nothing left but to set our backs to the mountain and die hard.", But far more Confederates were converging on the height, including the 44th and 58th Virginia, led by Confederate Gen. Richard S. Ewell. Moving through the trees across the ravine to your left, Ewell walked to the front and cried "Men, you all know me. We must go back to that battery!" As Col. Henry Kelly and other officers started forward, "The men rose to their feet, and a shout - the death knell of the enemy - burst spontaneous [ly] from the line... and they again dashed forward to the battery.", Atop the Coaling, the Federals had already begun to withdraw. "They were not disheartened," one Confederate observed, but they were wiped out. As the Confederates surged around the spot where you are standing, the exhausted northerners broke - this time for good., Down in the river plain in the distance, the remaining Union infantry - now outnumbered and with the Confederates atop the Coaling behind them - also pulled back. As most of the northerners funneled onto the River Road (modern-day US 340, to your front) leading north, the Confederates used some of the 5 cannons they had captured here to shell the fleeing Federals. The fire crashed into the withdrawing Union troops, turning the disorderly retreat into a rout. The Federals fled north, pursued by the Confederates., Stonewall Jackson and his "foot cavalry" had earned a hard-fought but decisive victory. Jackson rode up to the Coaling, joining Generals Ewell and Taylor near this spot. As he scanned the scene around him, the pious Jackson said, "He who does not see the hand of God in this is blind, Sir, blind!", (Caption):, The struggle for the Coaling. , Courtesy Keith Rocco, Tradition Studios