The Union troops, unsupported and now outnumbered, were spent. By the end of the fighting all 12 of the regiments had fought inside or near the salient and had become so intertwined that they were under no one’s control, each man fighting for himself. Upton wrote, “Reinforcements arriving to the enemy, our front and both flanks were assailed. The impulsion of the charge being lost, nothing remained but to hold the ground. Our position was three quarters of a mile in advance of the army, and, without prospect of support, was untenable.” General Wright did not have the intestinal fortitude nor the military facility to snatch victory from defeat. Upton rode back to the edge of the woods and was granted permission by General Russell to retreat.

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Giving up ground purchased so dearly gained was a painful, defeatist step for a soldier. The Vermonters would not retreat until repeatedly ordered to do so. One participant wrote, “I came back, tired out and heartsick. I sat down in the woods, and as I thought of the desolation and misery around me, my feelings overcame me and I cried like a little child.” Union losses were significant, about 1,000 casualties. Union troops captured between 1,000 and 1,200 prisoners who had been surprised and overtaken by the sprinting Federals.

Upton’s inability to hold the position did not detract from the tactical success of the attack. His job was to create a breach in the Confederate lines, not to hold the breach indefinitely. With proper support from Mott, the breach created by Upton’s troops could have been exploited, paving the way for the potential destruction of Lee’s army. But blame for the failure lay not with Mott but clearly at the feet of Meade and Grant, who recalled in his memoirs, “Upton had gained an important advantage, but a lack in others of the spirit and dash possessed by him lost it to us….I conferred the rank of Brig. Gen. upon Upton on the spot, and this act was confirmed by the President.”

Upton’s gambit was so nearly a success on May 10 that Grant decided it was worth trying again two days later with four times the force and far superior coordination. On May 12, General Grant ordered II Corps commander Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock to lead the attack on the Muleshoe, this time from the north, near its tip, where in theory it should have been most vulnerable. A heavy rain fell as Hancock lined up his divisions, realizing that he and his commanders had only a vague idea of how strong the Confederates were at the expected point of attack or even what the ground in front of the north side of the Muleshoe was like. No reconnaissance had been possible because a ridge had blocked the view of Hancock’s staff officers.

At 4:35 a.m. Hancock started his men toward the Muleshoe, the division of Brig. Gen David B. Birney on the right and that of Brig. Gen. Francis Barlow on the left. During the night Confederate pickets heard a rumbling that sounded like troops moving, and Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson alerted his brigade commanders. The Union’s surprise element was shot when the Rebels heard hundreds of Federals let out a loud cheer in the morning fog, thinking they were close to the Rebel works.

Once they reached the earthworks, abatis blocked the way. The Union’s front worked feverishly to clear them away. Within the works Rebels got the order to fire, but in the damp morning air many powder charges failed to ignite. The Yankees poured over the Confederate works by the hundreds, fighting hand-to-hand with bayonets and clubbed muskets. The Federals captured 4,000 prisoners including General Johnson and Brig. Gen. George Steuart, who refused to shake Hancock’s hand when taken to him. Johnson, who accepted Hancock’s courtesy, was taken to breakfast by a member of Meade’s staff. Birney’s troops, meanwhile, captured most of the Stonewall Brigade. Hancock’s attack, plunging into the heart of the Muleshoe, was close to splitting Lee’s army in half.

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