Last updated: February 12, 2024
Place
Information Panel: Broken By Artillery
Photo: NPS / Claire Hassler
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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
In response to Stonewall Jackson's urgent request for support, General Robert E. Lee directed General James Longstreet to send reinforcements to bolster the Confederate line along the Unfinished Railroad, one-half mile ahead of you. Union troops were threatening to overwhelm the gray-clad defenders near the Deep Cut. Longstreet, on his own initiative, chose instead a far swifter method of relieving Jackson. He ordered artillery onto this knoll.
Captain William Chapman's Virginia battery, the Dixie Artillery, swept forward and unlimbered. The open ground afforded a perfect line of fire into the flank and rear of the advancing Union troops. The fire from Chapman's four guns, adding to that from other Confederate batteries on the Brawner Farm, effectively broke up the Union attack. As the enemy troops fled the field, Longstreet launched a massive counterattack that drove back the Federal left flank.
Captain William Chapman's Virginia battery, the Dixie Artillery, swept forward and unlimbered. The open ground afforded a perfect line of fire into the flank and rear of the advancing Union troops. The fire from Chapman's four guns, adding to that from other Confederate batteries on the Brawner Farm, effectively broke up the Union attack. As the enemy troops fled the field, Longstreet launched a massive counterattack that drove back the Federal left flank.