The Battle Begins

The Battle Begins. August 30, 1862. The Battle of Richmond began in the early morning hours of August 30, 1862. Near this site Confederate cavalry pushed Union pickets north - toward the main Union line. Confederate Gen. Patrick Cleburne placed his artillery to the southeast, on a rise just north of CR 499, the Old Irvine-Lancaster Road. His target was Union Gen. Mahlon Manson's infantry, positioned near Mt. Zion Church., The roar of Union and Confederate artillery sounded as both sides extended their lines of infantry in anticipation of an epic struggle. Gen. Manson extended his line eastward to block a Confederate attack from that direction. The Confederates sent skirmishers north, testing the Union line. Smoke drifted in the hot, humid morning air. The concussion of artillery shot and shell shook the ground as soldiers on both sides readied themselves for battle., "The brigade was marched in column along the road a half mile beyond...[Kingston] and formed into line of battle on the right of the pike at 7 o'clock. The enemy then commenced a heavy artillery fire upon our line and also the village." Col. Benjamin J. Hill, "As we stood here under the trees I could notice a stillness, an unwonted stillness, among such numbers of men only broken by the thunders of Lieutenant Landrum's guns, or as the rebel shells with fiend-like scream came crashing through the trees." Lt. Col. James R. S. cox, 16th Indiana