o Confederate batteries, trotting forward from the wood, deployed
upon the ridge. The range was soon found, and the effect was
instantaneous. But the confusion in the Northern ranks was soon
checked; the troops found cover inside the bank which lined the road,
and two batteries, one with the advanced guard and one from the
centre of the column, wheeling into the fields to the left, came
quickly into action. About the same moment Bradley Johnson became
engaged with the skirmishers near Groveton.

The Confederate infantry, still hidden by the rolling ground, was
forming for attack, when a Federal brigade, led by General Gibbon,
rapidly deploying on the slopes, moved forward against the guns. It
was Stuart's horse-artillery, so the Northerners believed, which had
fired on the column, and a bold attack would soon drive back the
cavalry. But as Gibbon's regiments came forward the Southern
skirmishers, lying in front of the batteries, sprang to their feet
and opened with rapid volleys; and then the grey line of battle,
rising suddenly into view, bore down upon the astonished foe.
Taliaferro, on the right, seized a small farmhouse near Gainesville,
and occupied the orchard; the Stonewall Brigade advanced upon his
left, and Lawton and Trimble prolonged the front towards the Douglass
House. But the Western farmers of Gibbon's brigade were made of
stubborn stuff. The Wisconsin regiments held their ground with
unflinching courage. Both flanks were protected by artillery, and
strong reinforcements were coming up. The advanced guard was
gradually falling back from Groveton; the rear brigades were hurrying
forward up the road. The two Confederate batteries, overpowered by
superior metal, had been compelled to shift position; only a section
of Stuart's horse-artillery under Captain Pelham had come to their
assistance, and the battle was confined to a frontal attack at the
closest range. In many places the lines approached within a hundred
yards, the men standing in the open and blazing fiercely in each
other's faces. Here and there, as fresh regiments came up on either
side, the grey or the blue gave way for a few short paces; but the
gaps were quickly filled, and the wave once more surged forward over
the piles of dead. Men fell like leaves in autumn. Ewell was struck
down and Taliaferro, and many of their field officers, and still the
Federals held their ground. Night was settling on the field, and
although the gallant Pelham, the