th their concurrence, adopted
the conclusion that his orders prohibited him from leaving Winchester at
that time, even if he could have done so with safety, which was more
than doubtful. He resolved, therefore, to await the events of Sunday,
when the enemy would probably have massed his forces; and if relief
should not come during the day, it would then be more easy to determine
in what manner and by what route it would be possible to escape. This
conclusion was undoubtedly the wisest that could have been adopted. The
most critical military judgment will hardly succeed in finding any
ground of complaint against this decision in that serious emergency.

So passed the night of Saturday. On Sunday morning the contest was
renewed, and kept up with great energy during the whole day, chiefly
within the suburbs of the town of Winchester. In the afternoon a sudden
and unexpected attack was made upon an unfinished earthwork on Flint
Ridge, which, as it commanded the Pughtown and Romney roads, was
occupied by Battery L of the 5th regular artillery, supported by the
110th and part of the 116th Ohio volunteer infantry, all under command
of Colonel Keifer, of the former regiment. A reconnaissance had been
previously ordered in that direction, and had been made or pretended to
be made by part of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, the officer in charge
of the party reporting that there was no enemy on either of those roads
or between the two for a considerable distance from Winchester. Within
two hours after this report was made, an overwhelming force appeared in
that very quarter. The enemy opened on the position with not less than
twenty guns, and precipitated upon it a column of at least ten thousand
men. After a gallant but ineffectual resistance, Colonel Keifer was
enabled to make good his retreat, under cover of the guns from the main
fort, which commanded the position. The guns of Battery L were most
effectively served in this affair, and executed great slaughter in the
ranks of the enemy; but the horses having been nearly all killed, they
were necessarily spiked and abandoned.

Our forces, pressed by the enemy on all sides, were now concentrated
within the fortifications, and the rifle pits immediately in front of
them; and the contest was continued with artillery on both sides until
darkness compelled its cessation. In his report of this affair, General
Milroy, with characteristic ardor at this juncture, says: 'To my regret,
the