The Union infantry continued to sweep forward against the enemy, their “huzzahs” screamed against the roar of musket and cannon fire. Prince moved the 111th Pennsylvania and 3rd Maryland through the corn toward Early, then received orders to throw his entire brigade at the Confederates en echelon. The orders, executed under extreme duress, were dispatched with a notation for the 109th Pennsylvania and 102nd New York to take care not to fire into the lead regiments.

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But just such a volley was fired. Troopers from the 3rd Maryland fell, shot in the back, and both the Marylanders and the Pennsylvanians broke for the rear. The 109th Pennsylvania and 102nd New York did not hesitate, but moved in good order out of the corn. The 109th volleyed into the 12th Georgia, while the 102nd wheeled right and opened on Thomas’ recently arrived brigade. The Rebels’ return fire was a nearly solid wall of lead, and Prince’s valiant troops were halted, victimized by Thomas’ oblique flanking fire.

Confederate artillery fire bellowed into the faces of the oncoming infantrymen. Their spherical case ammunition had long been used up, and the gunners now were using short-fused canister, double-shotted. The effects were immediate. The Federal assault ground to a halt as the advance troops began to flounder over reddened fields thickly coated with human gore.

Minutes earlier, north of Culpeper Road, Crawford had sprung something of a surprise on the poorly tended Confederate left. Three of his regiments, the 5th Connecticut, 28th New York and 45th Pennsylvania, had formed line with several companies of the 3rd Wisconsin of Brig. Gen. George Gordon’s command. The commingled brigade faced due west, looking across a recently harvested wheat field, into an undeveloped line of Confederate infantry commanded by Lt. Col. T.S. Garnett.

The Federals emerged from the woods at the edge of the wheat field, dressed on their colors and burst with loud cries toward Garnett’s Rebels. On their left, across the road, Geary’s Ohioans were catching hell from Taliaferro’s Virginians and Alabamians. But the Ohioans’ bravery effectively shielded Crawford’s men from enemy flanking fire. The Federals made it to the center of the wheat field without taking any musketry at all. Then came a shrill, apocalyptic volley of musketry, so loud that for a brief moment it drowned out the artillery fire. The Federal casualty lists began to swell. Colonel Dudley Donnelly was hit, then Lt. Col. Edwin F. Brown. Eventually 17 out of 18 field officers of the 28th New York would join their commanders on the list of honor before the sun had set.

Somehow, Crawford’s men kept coming. They met the enemy in close combat at the edge of the wheat field, and the Confederate line began to waver. Garnett’s left collapsed, and within minutes the entire brigade was broken as the 28th New York and 5th Connecticut left the woods and drove down on the 42nd and 48th Virginia. Hit from the front, flank and rear, the Southern troops finally were overrun.

A stygian pall descended over the smoke-filled woodlands. Several Virginians who had been taken prisoner reported, following their release, that Union soldiers had mercilessly murdered a number of Rebels after they surrendered. One soldier stated that he had been bayoneted as he lay wounded and helpless.

The fighting in the wheat field was not yet over. Coming close on the heels of the 5th Connecticut and 28th New York, several companies of the 3rd Wisconsin and 46th Pennsylvania were struck by flanking fire from the renowned Stonewall Brigade, which had tardily arrived on the northern edge of the field. They were too late to halt the two Union regiments now massacring their comrades in the woods, but they did punish the trailing edge of Crawford’s makeshift brigade. The Wisconsin men suffered greatly and were forced to withdraw, leaving behind their dead. The 46th Pennsylvania fought on into the woods, driving back the 10th and 27th Virginia, then turned left and brought up the rear as the 28th New York and 5th Connecticut fell on the unsuspecting Virginians who had formed line on Culpeper Road.

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