Point-Blank Volley
An Officer’s Error?
In clear view of artillerymen here, Confederates lined up at the fence and trees across the open field. The two cannon and supporting infantry could have stopped the Rebels cold, yet the four hundred charging Virginians were able to fire a musket volley at such close range that they virtually wiped out the Union gun crews. Congressional inquiries failed to clear up the mystery: how did the Confederates manage to get that close?
Though the 33rd Virginia captured these guns, the battle was far from over. New York infantry were marching up from Sudley Road to counterattack.
Marker can be reached from Sudley Road (Virginia Route 234) 0.6 miles south of Lee Highway (U.S. 29), on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
