Cleburne’s troops followed Breckinridge’s assault and suffered a similarfate. The hard-pressed Rebels pulled back 400 yards to the relative safetyof a protecting hill. As he inspected the ammunition supply of his menbefore ordering them forward again, one of Cleburne’s ablest brigadiers,James Deshler, was killed by an exploding shell that ripped his heart fromhis chest. Seeking shelter in a grove of tall pines, the Confederatestraded round for round but could not carry the breastworks.

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Thomas’ hastily constructed breastworks had proven to be of tremendousvalue, but several of the Union regiments suffered casualties of 30 percentor higher. The brigades of Colonel Joseph Dodge, Brig. Gen. John H. King,Colonel Benjamin Scribner and Brig. Gen. John C. Starkweather had held theextreme left of the Union line since the day before and had been engagedfor over an hour when Cleburne’s attacks gained their full fury. For alltheir seeming futility, the Confederate assaults against Rosecrans’ leftdid have one positive result. Thomas’ urgent pleas for assistance werecausing Rosecrans to thin his right in order to reinforce the left throughthe thick, confusing tangle of forest.

At the height of the fighting on the left, one of Thomas’ aides, CaptainSanford Kellogg, was heading to Rosecrans with another of Thomas/ almostconstant requests for additional troops. Kellogg noticed what appeared tobe wide gap between the divisions of Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Wood on the rightand John Reynolds on the left. In actuality, the heavily wooded areabetween Reynolds and Wood was occupied by Brig. Gen. John Brannan’sdivision. When Kellogg rode by, Brannan’s force was simply obscured bylate-summer foliage.

When Kellogg informed Rosecrans of the phantom gap, the latter reactedaccordingly. In his haste to avoid what might be catastrophe for his army,Rosecrans did not confirm the existence of the gap but, instead, issuedwhat might have been the single most disastrous order of the Civil War.”Headquarters Department of Cumberland, September 20th–10:45 a.m.,” thecommuniqu? read. “Brigadier-General Wood, Commanding Division: The generalcommanding directs that you close up on Reynolds as fast as possible andsupport him.”

Earlier that morning, Wood had received a severe public tongue-lashingfrom Rosecrans for not moving his troops fast enough. “What is the meaningof this, sir? You have disobeyed my specific orders,” Rosecrans hadshouted. “By your damnable negligence you are endangering the safety ofthe entire army, and, by God, I will not tolerate it! Move your divisionat once as I have instructed, or the consequences will not be pleasant foryourself.”

With Rosecrans’ stinging rebuke still echoing in his ears, Wood was notabout to be accused of moving too slowly again, even though this new orderconfused him. Wood knew there was no gap in the Union line. Brannan hadbeen on his left all along. To comply with the commanding general’s order,Wood was required to pull his two brigades out of line, march aroundBrannan’s rear, and effect a junction with Reynolds’ right. In carryingout this maneuver, Wood created a gap where none had existed.

Simultaneously, Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan’s men were ordered out of line onWood’s right and sent to bolster the threatened left wing, and Brig. Gen.Jefferson C. Davis’ division was ordered into the line to fill thequarter-mile hole vacated by Wood. Almost three full divisions of theFederal right wing were in motion at the same time, in the face of aheavily concentrated enemy.

Now, completely by chance, in one of those incredible situations on whichturn the fortunes of men and nations, Longstreet unleashed a 23,000-mansledgehammer attack directed right at the place where Wood had been momentsearlier.

At 11:30 a.m., the gray-clad legion sallied forth from the forest acrossLaFayette Road into the fields surrounding the little log cabin of theBrotherton family. Almost immediately it came under fire from Brannan’smen, still posted in the woods across the road. Brannan checked Stewart inhis front and poured an unsettling fire into the right flank of theadvancing Confederate column. Davis’ Federals, arriving from the otherside, hit the Rebels on their left while his artillery began tearing holesin the ranks of the attackers.

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