Union Firepower
Steep terrain on both flanks of the Union line funneled the Confederate attackers into the face of 29 Union cannon lining this ridge. Six 12-pounder Napoleon guns of Company A, 5th U.S. Artillery, fired from near this spot.
During the afternoon of July 1, this battery fired 1,392 rounds of shell and canister. Most devastating was the canister - - shotgun-like blasts of iron balls fired at short range. The Confederate infantry lines melted away under the barrage. No Southerners reached the guns.
Marker is on Willis Church Road (Virginia Route 156), on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
