The battle began early in the morning and the Union army was soon forced to take refuge behind its works and assume the defensive. The Confederates also paused, waiting for reinforcements. The men slept on their arms that night, and arose at dawn, ready to renew the conflict.
But the Confederates did not attack until late in the afternoon. Jackson had made a long flanking movement, and just as twilight fell, he burst from the woods in overwhelming force and routed the Federal right wing. For an instant it seemed that all was lost, but at this critical moment the Eighth Pennsylvania cavalry got in touch with the Confederate flank and charged.
KEENAN'S CHARGE
[May 2, 1863]
The sun had set;
The leaves with dew were wet—
Down fell a bloody dusk
On the woods, that second of May,
Where "Stonewall's" corps, like a beast of prey,
Tore through with angry tusk.
"They've trapped us, boys!"
Rose from our flank a voice.
With rush of steel and smoke
On came the rebels straight,
Eager as love and wild as hate;
And our line reeled and broke;
Broke and fled.
Not one stayed,—but the dead!
With curses, shrieks, and cries,
Horses and wagons and men
Tumbled back through the shuddering glen,
And above us the fading skies.
There's one hope, still,—
Those batteries parked on the hill!
"Battery, wheel!" ('mid the roar),
"Pass pieces; fix prolonge to fire
Retiring. Trot!" In the panic dire
A bugle rings "Trot!"—and no more.
The horses plunged,
The cannon lurched and lunged,
To join the hopeless rout.
But suddenly rose a form
Calmly in front of the human storm,
With a stern commanding shout:
"Align those guns!"
(We knew it was Pleasanton's.)
The cannoneers bent to obey,
And worked with a will at his word,
And the black guns moved as if they had heard.
But, ah, the dread delay!
"To wait is crime;
O God, for ten minutes' time!"
The general looked around.
There Keenan sat, like a stone,
With his three hundred horse alone,
Less shaken than the ground.