Determining time on a Civil War battlefield is an imprecise science at best, and proves especially difficult in accounts of Chickamauga. But Captain Seth Moe, Steedman’s assistant adjutant general, reportedly said, “[A]nd as this is likely to be an important event, gentlemen, just remember that it is now ten minutes past one o’clock.”

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It was now a race to the crest of the ridge. Steedman flung Whitaker’s exhausted brigade forward in a double line. In front were the 96th and 115th Illinois and the 22nd Michigan. Behind them came the 40th and 89th Ohio and the 84th Indiana. They sprinted uphill for almost 400 yards through oaks, fallen trees, boulders and brambles.

After traversing a series of shallow ravines, the brigade ascended a long ridge where it encountered the first sporadic shots of the Rebel skirmishers approaching from the other end. As the hard-charging blue lines reached the crest of the hill, they got their first glimpse of the disciplined Confederate regiments aligned scarcely 60 yards below them.

Their bayonets fixed, the Union attackers assaulted their foes with an élan that momentarily stunned the Mississippians. The Confederates quickly regained their poise, however, and—supported by a battery of six guns pouring out solid shot, grape and canister—halted the headlong Union advance about 100 yards down the southern slope. Then Colonel Cyrus Suggs’ veteran Tennessee regiments began to counterattack and slowly pushed the exhausted Union regiments back up the ridge.

For the next 30 minutes, the two sides thrust and parried at each other, often at almost point-blank range. The 22nd Michigan, the first Reserve Corps regiment to come under enemy fire, suffered about 100 casualties in its first two minutes of battle. Every officer in the 115th Illinois was hit, and Colonel Kinman’s death premonition became a reality during the regiment’s first charge. The Confederates succeeded in pushing the first wave of Steedman’s troops off the crest.

While General Granger remained with Thomas at the Snodgrass cabin, General Steedman chose to lead from the front. As the series of savage engagements seesawed up and down the slopes, he observed the decimated 115th Illinois again falling back in apparent disorder. When Colonel Jesse Moore told the general that his regiment had no fight left, Steedman told Moore he could go to the rear in disgrace if he wanted to. Then Steedman grabbed the regimental standard from the color bearer and ordered the stunned troops to follow him back to the top of the ridge. They did. There, after his horse was shot out from under him, Steedman continued to rally his troops on foot.

The 96th Illinois was also breaking in the face of determined attacks by Suggs’ Brigade, now reinforced by Colonel John Fulton’s Brigade of Tennesseeans. Lieutenant Colonel Clarke’s optimism about coming through the battle unscathed ended abruptly when a Minié ball hit him in the chest, knocking him off his horse and killing him.

But the timely arrival of Steedman’s 2nd Brigade under Colonel Mitchell pushed through the tattered remnants of the 96th and succeeded in extending the Union line beyond Fulton’s left flank. Mitchell formed his brigade into a double line in dense woods and moved up the ridge.

The Confederates, fearing enfilading fire from Mitchell’s regiments and Battery M of the 1st Illinois Light Artillery, fell back toward the protection of their own batteries. An eerie silence enveloped Horseshoe Ridge about 2:45 p.m.

Just a few minutes earlier, Thomas and his beleaguered defenders had received a second contingent of unexpected but welcome reinforcements. Colonel Ferdinand Van Derveer had pulled his 1,200-man brigade out of the line above the now quiet Kelley field and, also without orders, marched his troops toward the sound of fighting. Thomas immediately ordered Van Derveer to relieve the tired remnants of Brig. Gen. John M. Brannon’s troops of the XIV Corps’ 3rd Division, who had been under a blazing sun and continuous gunfire since 1 p.m.

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