As the Confederates swept by the Reed house on the battlefield, the ambush was sprung. The four guns of the Board of Trade Battery opened up on the surprised Rebels, raking them with double-shotted canister. When the Southerners stopped to redeploy, Minty sent the 4th Michigan across the bridge, followed closely by the 7th Pennsylvania. To cover the withdrawal, a squadron of the 4th U.S., led by the Lieutenant Wirt Davis, made a brave saber charge that gave the beleaguered cavalrymen time to get across the bridge. Crossing the bridge behind them, Davis and his men stopped under heavy fire and ripped up the flooring on the bridge, tossing the planks into the creek.

Minty now formed a line on the high ground west of the bridge. For the next two hours his brigade held the entire Rebel force in check. But by 3 p.m. the Confederates had crossed the bridge, and other forces were finding shallow places to cross the creek as well. Seeing that he could no longer hold out against vastly superior numbers being brought to bear on his tired troopers, Minty sent word to the 123rd Indiana to withdraw, adding that he was unable to hold out much longer.

Meanwhile, at Alexander's Bridge, Wilder and his two regiments were engaging another large Confederate force. At 10 a.m., a company of Southern infantry made the first attempt to cross the bridge, but was quickly driven back by the pickets of the 72nd Indiana. After the initial attack, members of the regiment ripped up the planking on the bridge and built a lunette fort on the west side of the bridge astride the road. Thirty-seven men from Company A then took up positions in the lunette, waiting for the next Confederate attack.

Lilly's battery of four rifled guns opened fire with long-range canister and percussion shells. Captain William Fowler's Alabama battery returned fire. One of the Rebel battery's first shells landed near Lilly's No. 2 gun, ricocheting and hitting the corner of the Alexander house and bouncing back among members of the battery. Private Sidney Speed alertly ran over, picked up the live shell and hurled it over the log house, where it exploded harmlessly.

For the next several hours, Wilder's men traded fire with the 30th and 34th Mississippi, who had taken positions in a cornfield on the east side of the creek. The Confederates continued to charge the bridge, only to be driven back by Company A, reasonably secure in their lunette.

For almost five hours, Wilder's brigade held off the Rebel attack. But eventually Confederate units began to find places where they could cross without opposition. With Minty withdrawal from Reed's Bridge, the Southerners gained a secure foothold on the west side of the creek. At 4 p.m., Wilder reported the crossing of the enemy: 'The enemy are crossing [infantry and cavalry] Chickamauga Creek at Alexander's and Byram's Ford below. Colonel Minty has fallen back toward Roseville; has two of my regiments. Colonel Minty reports cannonading toward Cleveland last night. This forenoon a column of dust arose in Napier Gap; three hours in passing. A large camp fire is now seen at Napier's. The column that attacked me came through Napier's Gap; another column came from the direction of Peeler's. Colonel Minty reports infantry flanking him on both flanks.'

Wilder's men were being pressed from all sides. Time was rapidly approaching when they could no longer hold their position and would have to withdraw. Wilder had already received word from Minty that he was being forced to withdraw from Reed's Bridge. With Minty gone, the Confederates began streaming across Chickamauga Creek and heading south towards Alexander's Bridge and Wilder's left flank.

At 5 p.m., Lilly's battery fired its last rounds, limbered up its guns and withdrew. The 17th Indiana covered their withdrawal, and the 98th Illinois slowly fell back, fighting as they withdrew. After these units started withdrawing, the men of Company A realized they would soon be surrounded and captured if they did not try to escape. The men knew that they could not all leave at once, so they decided to let two men at a time slip away. Sergeant Joseph A. Higinbotham, in running 30 yards, was shot five times–in the head, face, right arm, left side and right leg. Remarkably, he recovered from his wounds, but later died at Corinth, Miss, in January 1864. In all, the company lost two wounded, as well as 31 of their 37 horses killed.

Wilder's brigade fell back about three miles before stopping and setting up a new defensive line. There they threw up breastworks of fence rails, rocks and trees. The horses were sent to the rear, and the brigade prepared to meet another onslaught from the Confederate army. The 72nd Indiana and 123rd Illinois rejoined the brigade and were placed in line on the left. Minty's brigade took up positions to the right of Wilder's brigade.

Five Confederate brigades moved down the west bank toward Lee and Gordon's Mill. Marching as fast as they could, they ran right into Wilder's brigade. The Southern skirmish line was halted immediately by the deadly fire of the Lightning Brigade's Spencer rifles.

Captain Joseph Vale of Minty's command found General Crittenden, accompanied by General Wood and Wilder, at the Viniard house. He reported that Minty had been engaged since 7 a.m. Crittenden asked the captain: 'Who is it that is coming? What have you been fighting out there?' Vale responded, 'Buckner's corps, Hood's division of infantry and artillery, and some of Forrest's cavalry.' Crittenden refused to believe the report, saying, 'Wilder has come in with the same outlandish story; there is nothing in this country except Pegram's dismounted and Forrest's mounted cavalry, with a few pieces of artillery.'

Minty himself rode up a few minutes later and reported to Crittenden that the Rebels were now on the west side of the creek and advancing toward his position. Crittenden, still believing that the enemy did not have such a force in front of them, ordered Wood to take a brigade of infantry and drive off the Rebel units. While Wood was organizing his brigade, Wilder and Minty rode back to their units.

Wood moved his brigade up to Wilder's position and, accompanied by Crittenden, rode up to Wilder and demanded to know where the enemy was. Wilder replied, 'Ride forward, General, ten paces, and you will see for yourself.' Wood ordered his brigade to form a line of battle in front of Wilder's men. Crittenden added a further dig at Wilder, smirking, 'Colonel, we expect to hear a good report for you.'

Wood's infantry advanced into the woods and suddenly met a tremendous volume of musketry from both front and flank. The infantry broke and ran, bowling over Wilder's and Minty's men in panic. Wilder turned to Minty and remarked loudly, 'Well, Colonel Minty, the general has got his report.' Wilder and Minty then rushed forward to counter the enemy attack. Meanwhile, Wood galloped off toward Lee and Gordon's Mill, but not before exclaiming, 'By Gad, they are here!'

The Confederates advanced toward the rail barricades behind which Wilder's and Minty's men waited. When the Rebels got within 30 yards, Wilder ordered his men to open fire. Both brigades sent a hail of bullets from their Spencers into the enemy. The Confederates were cut down in droves. The graybacks wavered and fell back, leaving many casualties on the field.

The survivors of the first attack re-formed in the tree line and emerged again with fresh units, advancing toward the men of the Lightning Brigade. As soon as they were close enough, the brigade again opened fire, supported by Lilly's battery, and whole sections of the Confederate line ceased to exist. Again the Rebels were forced to withdraw to the safety of the woods. The Confederates gave up and broke off the attack around 10 p.m.

For the men of Wilder's and Minty's brigades, the fighting finally came to an end. The night of September 18 was cold and miserable, made even worse by the lack of blankets and food for the men because their horses had been moved to the rear, along with their bedrolls and equipment. No fires were allowed, so the exhausted men just lay down in their positions and went to sleep.

All night long, as Wilder's men tried to catch some sleep, the sounds of thousands of marching infantry and hundreds of caissons and wagons filled the night air. The entire Union army was on the march. Rosecrans had ordered a realignment of his three corps, and Thomas was ordered to march his XIV Corps north beyond Crittenden and extend the line northward in order to neutralize Bragg's flanking maneuver.

At 4 a.m., Wilder and Minty were relieved and moved their brigades to the west out of the Viniard house. For the first time in 24 hours the men and horses were fed–sweet potatoes for the men and two ears of corn for each horse. Wilder and his officers met to discuss the actions of the previous day and to prepare plans for the upcoming battle. The day before they had been the left flank of the Union army. Now they found themselves protecting the right flank, as the Union forces had shifted position during the night.

The bravery of the men of Wilder's Lightning Brigade and Minty's cavalry had prevented total disaster from befalling the Army of the Cumberland. Without the valiant Union stand on the banks of Chickamauga Creek, the Confederate army would have swept down the Union flank, and the Battle of Chickamauga would have been lost on the very first day. Once again, the Spencer rifles had proved their worth.

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This article was written by Hubert Jordan and originally appeared in the July 1997 issue of America's Civil War magazine.

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