‘For half an hour after the battle had grown to its full strength, the line of fire swayed neither way. Hooker’s men were fully up to their work. They saw their General everywhere in front, never away from the line, and all the troops believed in their commander, and fought with a will. Two thirds of them were the same men who under [Brig. Gen. Irvin] McDowell had broken at Manassas.

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‘The half-hour passed, the rebels began to give way a little–only a little, but at the first indication of a receding fire, Forward, was the word, and on went the line with a cheer and a rush. Back across the cornfield, leaving dead and wounded behind them, over the fence, and across the road, and then back again into the dark woods which closed around them went the retreating rebels.

‘Meade and his Pennsylvanians followed hard and fast–followed till they came within easy range of the woods, among which they saw their beaten enemy disappearing–followed still, with another cheer, and flung themselves against the cover.

‘But out of those gloomy woods came suddenly and heavily terrible volleys–volleys which smote, and bent, and broke in a moment that eager front, and hurled them swiftly back for half the distance they had won. Closing up their shattered lines, they came slowly away….They had met at the woods the first volleys of musketry from fresh troops–had met them and returned them till their line had yielded and gone down before the weight of fire, and till their ammunition was exhausted.

‘In ten minutes the fortune of the day seemed to have changed; it was the rebels now who were advancing, pouring out of the woods in endless lines, sweeping through the cornfield from which their comrades had just fled. Hooker sent to his nearest brigade to meet them, but it could not do the work. He called for another. There was nothing close enough, unless he took it from his right. His right might be in danger if it was weakened, but his center was already threatened with annihilation. Not hesitating one moment, he sent to [Brig. Gen. Abner] Doubleday: ‘Give me your best brigade instantly.’

‘The best brigade came down the hill to the right on the run, went through the timber in front through a storm of shot and bursting shell and crashing limbs, over the open field beyond and straight into the cornfield, passing as they went the fragments of three brigades shattered by the rebel fire and streaming to the rear. They passed by Hooker, whose eyes lighted as he saw these veteran troops, led by a soldier whom he knew he could trust. ‘I think they will hold it,’ he said.

‘General [Stephen] Hartsuff took his troops very steadily, but, now that they were under fire, not hurriedly, up the hill from which the cornfield begins to descend, and formed them on the crest. Not a man who was not in full view–not one who bent before the storm. Firing at first in volleys, they fired then at will with wonderful rapidity and effect. The whole line crowned the hill and stood out darkly against the sky, but lighted and shrouded ever in flame and smoke. They were the Twelfth and Thirteenth Massachusetts and another regiment which I cannot remember–old troops all of them.

‘There for half an hour they held the ridge, unyielding in purpose, exhaustless in courage. There were gaps in the line, but it nowhere bent. Their General was severely wounded early in the fight, but they fought on. Their supports did not come–they determined to win without them. They began to go down the hill and into the corn; they did not stop to think that their ammunition was nearly gone; they were there to win that field, and they won it. The rebel line for the second time fled through the corn and into the woods.’

Following Hooker’s wounding, Smalley watched as more and more Union troops poured into the woods to hold the cornfield. ‘At one o’clock,’ he reported, ‘affairs on the right had a gloomy look. Hookers’ troops were greatly exhausted, and their General away from the field. [Maj. Gen. Joseph] Mansfield’s were no better. [Maj. Gen. Edwin] Sumner’s command had lost heavily, but two of his divisions were still comparatively fresh. Artillery was yet playing vigorously in front, though the ammunition of many of the batteries was entirely exhausted, and they had been compelled to retire….All that had been gained in front had been lost! The enemy’s batteries, which if advanced and served vigorously might have made sad work with the closely massed troops, were fortunately either partially disabled or short of ammunition.

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