street opened with three batteries upon his left rear. Thus unexpectedly received, Porter's men fled in routed masses, followed by the men of Jackson's old division, from his right, who leaped across their defenses and chased them in hot pursuit. The fierce attacks of Pope on Jackson's left had, in the meantime, been also repulsed.
Lee now saw that the supreme moment for action had come, and he ordered Longstreet to close in upon the Federal left; but his veteran soldiery, now well trained in the art of war, had at the same moment reached the same conclusion, and without waiting for the word of command, they fairly leaped forward, swinging on their left, and, with Lee leading in person in the midst of them, charged grandly to the front, responding to the movement of all of Jackson's men on the left and hurrying on the rout of the Federal army.[1] The Confederate batteries also joined in the rushing charge and were abreast of their infantry comrades all along the lines, where there was opportunity for giving parting shots to the retreating Federals. Stuart, on the right, on the old Alexandria road, heard the well-known shouts of Confederate pursuit, and rushed his brigades and batteries far in advance against the Federal left. Warren's attempt to stem the tide, just east of Groveton, cost him dearly. Schenck, with German tenacity, hung on to the Bald hill, on the Federal left, but the victory-compelling Confederates swarmed upon his flank and forced him from the summit. Hood swept the line of the turnpike to the east of the Stone house. Pope's reserves, on the Henry hill, the old plateau which was the center of the fierce fighting of the year before, resisted the tide of victory, for a time, on his left, until Jackson closed down with his left, upon the retreating Federals, toward the stone bridge, until darkness put an end to his advance, and gave Pope's demoralized brigades an opportunity to follow the crowd of fugitives that, long before the sun went down, crowded over that bridge, seeking safety behind Franklin's corps, then advancing from Alexandria, and the earthworks at Centreville. This day's advance and retreat cost Pope some 20,000 of his brave men, in killed, wounded and
- ↑ "General Longstreet, anticipating the order for a general advance, now threw his whole command against the Federal center and left." (Report of Gen. R. E. Lee.)
