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Stony Ridge
Less than a mile north of the Warrenton Turnpike [US 29],
with a nearly unimpeded view of it, lay Jackson’s three divisions in wait behind the unfinished railroad. A
messenger arrived from Lee that Thoroughfare Gap was clear of Union troops and
that Longstreet would join him in the morning. Satisfied, Jackson found a fence
post to his liking and sat down to take a nap. Near the end of the hour, he was
woken by an aid, who reported a Union division marching up the Turnpike towards
Centreville.
Thoroughfare Gap
In the very uncleared Gap, the battle raged on.
G.T. Anderson formed up his brigade and made a counterattack
against Ricketts’ lead brigade:
Having thus formed my line and advanced my skirmishers to the front, I ordered the line to advance, which was done in the most gallant manner, the men climbing the rough mountain-side on their hands and knees to reach the enemy, occupying the crest of the hill, and delivering a murderous fire in their faces as they made the perilous ascent. From the nature of the ground and the impenetrable thickets of laurel and brush none of the regiments except the First Georgia obtained a favorable position, but the regulars succeeded in getting a good position and inflicted a very severe chastisement on the superior force of the enemy. Captain Patton brought down 5 with his pistol, killing 3 of them.
Meanwhile Ricketts had managed to get his artillery into
action, giving his men an advantage over the Confederates that Anderson failed
to remember a few months later when he wrote his report. The epicenter of the
struggle was Chapman’s Mill in the Gap, which Confederate sharpshooters had
taken over and refused to be dislodged from.
Longstreet, meanwhile, was faced with a difficult situation.
The Gap must be cleared, but Ricketts’s men could hold the narrow entrance
indefinitely, with their artillery. Forfeiting the planned rest, he sent his men
into action almost as soon as they came up. A second of Neighbor Jones’
brigades climbed the side of the mountain to the right of Anderson, while
another brigade of a different division attempted to scale the mountain to the
left of Anderson, guided (not very well) by the local Mr. Beverley, future
owner of Chapman’s Mill.
Perhaps more promisingly, Longstreet ordered the division of
Cadmus Wilcox south to the Hopewell Gap with Anderson’s useless artillery.
Haymarket
Jeb Stuart’s cavalry had been split and split and split
again over the course of the previous days. But when General Order No. 10 had
been captured, he had asked Jackson for permission
to ride towards Haymarket to “do what I could with the two fragments of
brigades I still had.”
I proceeded to [Haymarket], capturing a detachment of the enemy en route. Approaching the place by a by-path, I saw indications of a large force there prepared for attack. About this time I could see the fight going on at Thoroughfare Gap, where Longstreet had his progress disputed by the enemy, and it was to establish communication with him that I was anxious to make this march. I sent a trust man with the dispatch to the right of Hay Market [sic]. I kept up a brisk skirmish with the enemy without any result until in the afternoon…
Centreville
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