Galloping up the turnpike, and urging the artillery forward with
voice and gesture, Jackson passed through the ranks of his eager
infantry; and then Rodes's division, rushing down the wooded slopes,
burst from the covert, and, driving their flying foes before them,
advanced against the trenches on the opposite ridge. Here and there
the rush of the first line was checked by the bold resistance of the
German regiments. On the right, especially, progress was slow, for
Colquitt's brigade, drawn off by the pressure of Federal outposts in
the woods to the south, had lost touch with the remainder of the
division; Ramseur's brigade in rear had been compelled to follow
suit, and on this flank the Federals were most effectively supported
by their artillery. But Iverson, O'Neal, and Doles, hardly halting to
reform as they Left the woods, and followed closely by the second
line, swept rapidly across the fields, dashed back the regiments
which sought to check them, and under a hot fire of grape and
canister pressed resolutely forward.
The rifle-pits on the ridge were occupied by the last brigade of
Howard's Army Corps. A battery was in rear, three more were on the
left, near Dowdall's Tavern, and many of the fugitives from Talley's
Farm had rallied behind the breastwork.
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