Fisher's Hill
Union Flank Attack
1864 Valley Campaign
You are standing behind the extreme left flank of Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early's thinly stretched infantry line. At 4 p.m. on September 22, 1864, the soldiers here found themselves wrapped in a deadly pocket of Federal fire.
Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan had sent Gen. George Crook's corps sweeping around Early's left flank that morning, and around 4 p.m. Crook's men overwhelmed Confederate Gen. Lunsford L. Lomax's cavalrymen at the foot of Little North Mountain to your left. The Federals then swept on to this point, where Confederate Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur's infantrymen held firm to buy time for the rest of Early's line to retreat. They also faced an attack from the north (your front) by Gen. James B. Rickett's division, while other Federal units pressed the Confederate forces to your right.
Here, and in nearby earthworks, occurred the heaviest fighting of the Battle of Fisher's Hill. Ramseur sent Gen. Cullen Battle's Alabama Brigade to strengthen the Confederate line. Battle staked his position with a cedar stick, threatening any man who thought of running.
(Sidebar): To your left is a "lookout" tree in which Confederate observers erected a platform after trimming branches and the top of the trunk. Scars from these modifications are still visible.
Marker can be reached from Battlefield Road (County Route 601), on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
