Franz Sigel, however, undertook Pope’s instructions at dawn when his troops began probing Jackson’s lines as the Confederates pulled back toward the railroad embankment. From 6:30 to 10:30, Sigel’s divisions engaged the Southerners. The Federals advanced incrementally, and Jackson’s soldiers had little difficulty in repulsing the thrusts. The fighting crackled along the Confederate front, but the Yankees made little headway. As the combat subsided, Heintzelman’s and Reno’s corps reached the battlefield.

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Skirmishing between the opposing lines characterized the action throughout the midday hours. Pope arrived about noon, conducting a reconnaissance along the length of the front. Finally, about two o’clock in the afternoon, Pope directed Hooker to launch a frontal attack with his division. Hooker objected, requesting a simultaneous advance against Jackson’s flank. Pope ignored Hooker’s argument, and the latter’s men went in alone about 3 p.m.

Brigadier General Cuvier Grover’s brigade spearheaded Hooker’s assault. Grover advanced with three regiments in the front and two in support. The Federals drove gamely toward the wooded embankment, which soon exploded in sheets of musketry. The men from Massachusetts and New Hampshire kept coming, scrambling into the Confederate works. At several points the foes exchanged fire muzzle to muzzle and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. At length, Grover’s men wavered and broke. They had lost nearly a third of their numbers.

Two brigades from Starke’s division then counterattacked. The Southerners hurried Grover’s men rearward and routed Hooker’s remaining two brigades deployed in some woods. One of Reno’s IX Corps brigades also got caught in the onslaught and tumbled back in disarray.

The final Union assault came shortly afterward against Hill’s division on Jackson’s left. One of the Federals’ best combat officers, Philip Kearny, led the attack. When his men stepped out, Kearny exclaimed, “Fall in here, you sons of bitches and I’ll make major generals of every one of you!” The force of Kearny’s blow fell upon the South Carolina brigade of Brig. Gen. Maxcy Gregg, positioned at the end of Hill’s front. The fierce combat centered on a rocky knoll. Gregg was in the midst of the fury, shouting, “Let us die here, my men!” Many did, but Confederate reserves saved Gregg’s ranks, repulsing Kearny’s troops. The South Carolinians lost over 600 of their comrades; only two field officers passed through the ordeal unscathed.

Kearny’s withdrawal concluded the day’s fighting along Jackson’s front. One Northerner wrote of the day’s combat, “The slope was swept by a hurricane of death, and each minute seemed twenty hours long.” To Dr. Hunter McGuire, Jackson’s medical director, the battle’s outcome “had been won by nothing but stark and stern fighting.” “No,” replied Jackson. “It has been won by nothing but the blessing and protection of Providence.”

To the south and west of the main battlefield, events of this day would result in controversy and court-martial. When Pope redirected the V Corps to Gainesville early in the morning, Porter complied. The command advanced cautiously toward the village, not approaching it until well after noon. Before they reached the Manassas Gap Railroad just east of Gainesville, Longstreet’s Confederates barred the route. Porter stopped, deploying his troops into a defensive position. Pope, however, expected an attack from Porter against Jackson’s right throughout the afternoon. Finally, at 4:30 p.m., the army commander issued a peremptory order for an immediate attack, but the order did not reach Porter’s headquarters until nearly nightfall.

Longstreet, in fact, had secured Jackson’s right flank by noon. Hood’s division led the march on this day, arriving on the field about 10 o’clock. He aligned his brigades north of the turnpike and waited as the divisions of Brig. Gens. James Kemper and D.R. Jones lengthened the front across the roadway toward the railroad, while Brig. Gen. Cadmus Wilcox’s division formed behind Hood. The deployment was completed well before Porter’s column appeared from the southeast.

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