By noon, Johnson had a secure grip on the summit of Sitlington's Hill. Despite this, sporadic skirmishing continued into early afternoon. In the rear, Jackson had concluded there would be no fight this day and sent Hotchkiss to find a way for the artillery to gain Milroy's rear. If Johnson could hold the enemy's attention on Sitlington's Hill until a flanking route could be exploited, Milroy would be trapped. In the meantime, Stonewall ordered his three brigades fed and rested.

Johnson kept vigil on the crest line. With four regiments on Sitlington's Hill, he could count about 2,200 muskets. Yet down the slope toward McDowell, an unknown number of stubborn Federals continued to trade shots with his skirmishers. As Johnson "was making a reconnaissance on the hill on the right of the position of the Forty-fourth" about 4:30 p. m., heavy firing erupted in front of the 12th Georgia and 44th Virginia. "I immediately repaired to the field, and a very sharp fight continued for some time," he recalled, "when the Twenty-fifth and Thirty-first Virginia Regiments coming up I posted them on the right, when the fight became very terrific, my men holding the line upon the crest of the hill and driving back the enemy with great loss." [44]

In front of the 44th, but especially on the open slope before the 12th Georgia, the battle exploded into a searing exchange of heavy volleys. At close range, men grappled hand-to-hand, the Georgians defiantly holding their ridge crest against an enemy determined to seize it. Taking fire from three sides, Colonel Conner ordered his Georgians back from the peril of their advanced position. Few complied and those that did simply turned and charged the Yankees as soon as Conner went to another portion of the line. When confronted about their brazen if ill-advised courage, one survivor later snorted, "We did not come all this way to Virginia to run before the Yankees." [45]

Silhouetted against the evening sky, Johnson's old regiment paid a fearful price. Remembered one Federal, "our whole front being not over 100 yards from the enemy...when they (the Confederates) were ready to fire, they would advance quickly to the top of the mountain, exposing just enough of their persons to enable them to discharge their guns; when the volley would be fired, they would as quickly retire from view...our own boys soon got the hang of it, and awaited each time the coming of the exposure, our men loaded and fired at will." [46]

Alarmed by the growing sounds of battle on the mountainside, Jackson ordered William B. Taliaferro's brigade--23rd, 37th, and 10th Virginia regiments--up the steep ravine. Johnson pushed the 23rd and 37th straight to the center of the battle line in support of the Georgians, sending six companies of the 10th to support the 23rd when they arrived minutes later. At the forefront of his regiment, Lieutenant William Gregory fell mortally wounded. The remaining four companies of the winded 10th Virginia climbed to the left to aid the 52nd which had pushed back the enemy and threatened the Union right. While leading these men forward, Colonel Simeon Gibbons died with a bullet in the head.

Despite losing ground to the 52nd on their right, the Federals pushed a strong flank attack from their extreme left. Scrambling up wooded and steep terrain, Milroy's infantrymen battled Johnson's men for the northern crest of Sitlington's Hill. Perceiving a chance to exploit the enemy's movement from his position, Colonel Samuel V. Fulkerson interposed a portion of the 37th Virginia between Johnson's line and the enemy and charged. Downhill the 37th rushed, driving the Federals "precipitately before him to the base." To strengthen his right, Johnson sent several companies of the 25th and 31st Virginia "to a position in the elevated woods on the right and rear of our position, but commanding the position of the enemy." This prominence guarded both the Confederate right flank and all approaches from the pike below. Here in relative safety, Private Joseph Snider contented himself with sniping "at field officers on the road," but acknowledged soberly that on the ridge, "the 12th Georgia suffered dreadfully & fought like tigers." [47]

On the pike a half mile in the rear, Jackson listened to the swelling roar of musketry on Sitlington's Hill. The fierce, unexpected battle had exploded in less than an hour. From the sound of things, Ed Johnson had his hands full. Jackson sent Colonel John A. Campbell's brigade to the summit. Remembering that he had ordered the 31st Virginia from the road to the mountaintop, Jackson hurriedly recalled Campbell's rear regiment from the ravine. "Tell your men," he shouted to Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cunningham of the 21st Virginia, "they must hold that road!" Only one brigade remained in reserve--the Stonewall Brigade--still far to the rear. [48]

Johnson placed the 42nd Virginia and 1st Virginia Battalion in reserve beside the 31st Virginia on the same wooded hill. Hearing that "we were needed" on the left, Lieutenant Samuel Hale, acting adjutant of the 48th Virginia, led the southwest Virginia regiment up the open hill in support of the 58th Virginia and 12th Georgia. [49]

Along the crest line, crashing volleys of musketry had long since escalated into the crackling din of a blazing free-for-all. Minie balls plowed the ground in furrows, shearing tree branches and cutting down bushes "six inches in diameter." Lacking sufficient men to rout the Confederates from the summit, the Federals battled tenaciously to buy time. Determined to hold the hill, Johnson ranged all along the battle line, reckless exposing himself. With loud shouts and sweeping gestures of the club he preferred instead of a sword, he loomed as a bulwark to his soldiers. [50]

Aware that ammunition among the men was growing short, Johnson had called for Taliaferro's and then Campbell's regiments to reinforce the firing line. He entertained no notion of charging the enemy in the approaching gloom and chancing the fire of Milroy's waiting artillery. But neither would he be driven from this hill. As one of his staff officers remembered after the war, Old Alleghany "was emphatically a 'close quarters' commander, and a firm believer in the bayonet. His impetuosity at times was akin to rashness and on more than one occasion, involved troops in situations from which it required the most adroit skill to extricate them." [51]

In such circumstances, general officers rarely courted such peril. But Ed Johnson knew of no other way to fight. At McDowell-just as he had at Greenbrier and Alleghany Mountain-his personal presence and leadership on the firing line inspired bravery and lent confidence to the men.

None of this was lost on Colonel William Scott, Johnson's old Powhatan acquaintance. With his men wavering under a furious fire, Scott---bravely and conspicuously-spurred his horse among the earth-hugging timid to rally them back into line. Despite his horse being killed moments later, Scott scrambled to his feet and "rushed forward with hat in hand and with a voice audible to the entire line asked them if they 'intended to let the D-----d Yankees drive them from their own soil?'" The men rallied to "their gallant leader, reoccupied their position and held it against superior odds throughout the continuation of the battle." [52]

In the thick of the fight, Johnson's horse was killed. On foot now and with darkness approaching, he brazenly maintained his presence at the front…and if contemporary reports are true, directed the fire of his men with "a big hickory club, or cane." Said one veteran, Johnson suddenly found himself beyond the line of the 44th Virginia and in danger of being captured. "Seeing the perilous position of their brave commander," Captain Edward Alfriend of the regiment ordered his men to charge and rescue their commander, "thereby saving him from the yankees' clutches." [53]

A member of the Stonewall Brigade, although not present on the field, heard a similar incident. "The Federal soldiers knew General Johnson by sight, and, during the battle one time, being separated a little from his command, some of them hallooed out: 'There's old Johnson; let's flank him!' Johnson heard them, and, waving his club in the air, exclaimed, 'Yes, damn you. Flank me if you can.'" [54]

Into the twilight the fight raged. Down in McDowell, Union reserves kept eyes and ears on the embattled hillside as they prepared to evacuate the village. One member of the 55th Ohio wrote a friend a week later that "the flash of the guns up in the mountains looked about like lightening bugs over a marsh." A Confederate with the 58th Virginia described a scene almost as enchanting as it was deadly. "After the sun went down, the moon came out very brightly and we could see the enemy as plainly as during the day. The firing did not slacken at all and I was afraid that we would have to fight all night. The flashing of our guns was incessant and along the enemy's line we could see the fire leap from the mouths of the minnie guns while the smoke rolled back over their heads." To weary Private Robson who had been among the first on the field, "It seemed to me we had been at it about a week…" [55]

About 8 o'clock, Old Alleghany's luck ran out when a bullet smashed into his ankle. William H. Harman, volunteer aide-de-camp, gathered nearby soldiers to evacuate Ned Johnson to the rear, threading their way in the failing light down the steep, bumpy ravine toward the turnpike. The wound, while very painful, did not appear to be mortal. [56]

Mayhem reigned at the junction of the ravine and the road. In the gloom surgeons worked frantically to tend the wounded. Nearby, accumulating dead lay uncovered in the grass. Harman got Johnson into an ambulance and led it toward the summit of Bullpasture Mountain. Johnson's best care, they learned, would be at the temporary hospital at John Wilson's Hotel along the Cowpasture at the eastern base of the mountain.

Riding for the battlefield after conferring with Jackson at the pass on Bullpasture Mountain, Jed Hotchkiss met Johnson's ambulance coming up the mountain. Realizing that Stonewall had no knowledge of Johnson's wounding, Hotchkiss spurred back to the summit to inform the general. Johnson's party soon approached.

As best he could, Johnson gave Jackson "a short account of the situation" on Sitlington's Hill. The battle had been a vigorous one, but the mountain crest remained in Southern hands. Sounds of gunfire had almost sputtered to an end. Still, Jackson could assume nothing. As Johnson's ambulance started down the mountain for Wilson's Hotel, Jackson motioned for Hotchkiss. "Go up to Gen. Taliaferro and give him my compliments and tell him I am coming in person with the Stonewall Brigade and he must hold his position until I come." [57]

Yet the battle-bloody, hard fought, but a victory-was over. As the Stonewall Brigade trudged past Johnson's ambulance and approached the darkened, bullet-torn slopes of the battlefield, men mused on the events of the day. "Gen. Ed Johnson is slightly wounded. We pass many a wounded man who asks us to hurry on. It is late in the night when we arrive at the scene of action. The moon is partially obscured by clouds and casts a pale and sickly glow upon the field as though its purity was offended by these dreadful scenes. Gen. Jackson is here cool-collected-impenetrable-saying but little. Watchful--thoughtful." [58]

Ten days after the battle, James Wright struggled for words to describe the combat to his sister. "I can tell you but very little about the fight all though I was in it from beginning to end but it was something new…the Yankees fought well and bravely, and also shot fast and close. I understand old Gen. Johnson says it was the hardest fight he ever saw for the length of time engaged." [59]

One officer heard Yankee prisoners admit that they had gotten "a good thrashing" at McDowell. Yet this same officer grudgingly admired the enemy's discipline: "immensely superior to our(s)…Not a man shrank from his position…true soldiers to the attack." But victory he believed, was due to "Southern pluck…(which) was too much for them." [60]

Jackson's telegram announcing victory at McDowell reached Richmond after a flood of gloomy news. The loss of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in Tennessee, the fall of Fort Pulaski outside Savannah, the invasion of Roanoke Island in North Carolina, and the capture of New Orleans represented serious set backs for the Confederacy. Defeat at Pea Ridge in March, then horrific casualties at Shiloh Meeting House a month later cast a pall across the South. Then on 4 May, Confederates under General Joseph E. Johnston evacuated Yorktown and after a bloody fight at Williamsburg the next day, fell back toward Richmond. Thus Richmonders received Stonewall Jackson's one line missive, "God blessed our arms with victory at McDowell yesterday" with great hope. To some, it sounded like the clarion cry of an Old Testament prophet!

"Who can doubt when Jackson speaks?" thundered the Lynchburg Virginian. Like a Christian hero, as he is, he ascribes the victory to the Lord of hosts. Long live Jackson! May an overruling Providence shield him in the day of battle, and preserve him to drive our enemies out of the fair land they have despoiled." The mysterious, impetuous Stonewall had struck again! [61]

A least that quickly became the prevailing belief among Southern readers. Only more than a week after the battle did a small announcement appear in the Richmond Enquirer correcting "a general impression" that instead of Jackson's Army fighting at McDowell, it was primarily "the old army of the Northwest, commanded by General Edward Johnson." [62]

Footnotes

44. OR 12, pt. 1, p. 483. Regimental returns preserved in Hotchkiss Papers count 405 present in the 44th Virginia; 693 in the 52nd Virginia, 487 in the 58th Virginia, and 690 in the 12th Georgia for a total of 2, 275. Return to text

45. Dabney, Life and Compaigns, p. 349. continue

46. Lang, Loyal West Virginia from 1861 to 1865, p. 219. One member of the 12th Georgia remembered his regiment's position as "on the brow of the mountain…the highest point on the line." Undated article of Highland (VA) Recorder, (circa 1898), Hotchkiss Papers, reel 59, frame 105. continue

47. OR 12, pt. 1, pp. 471, 481, 483. Snider Diary, 8 May 1862.continue

48. Worsham, One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry, p. 40. continue

49. OR 12, pt. 1. pp. 478-9. continue

50. Snider Diary, 14 May 1862. It was Jackson's original intention for Johnson's regiments to hold Sitlington's Hill and engage Milroy's attention there until the rest of the Army could flank the enemy's rear via a narrow road over Bullpasture mountain several miles to the north. Sensing a trap and fearing artillery on the summit, Milroy attacked while the rest of his Army prepared to abandon McDowell. Morton, History of Highland, p. 129, estimates that 300,000 bullets were fired during the battle, "one in 400 finding a living target." continue

51. Winchester Times, 12 March 1873. continue

52. CSR, 44th Virginia; Norvell Cobb to Sec. of War, 28 April 1864. Although brave at McDowell, Scott possessed little notion of tactics. "His style of ambush was one so novel that (it) caused much merriment even among the men. Having taken us to a lane he placed the men on each side of the road facing each other and commanded them to fix bayonets and insert their bayonets through the fence, at the same time cautioning them not to fire until the enemy had passed. The folly of the thing was so apparent that such a peal of laughter went up that he had to command silence lest the enemy should discover our whereabouts." Wingfield Diary, 17 July 1862. continue

53. This account of Johnson's near capture, written 12 May 1862, by a correspondent of the Lynchburg Republican, was quickly picked up by other papers across the South including the Richmond Whig, 20 May 1862, and the Mobile (AL) Advertizer & Register, 25 May 1862. continue

54. Casler, Four Years, p. 74. continue

55. Manuscripts, (Fall 1981), George W. Runner, 55th Ohio to "friend Alvin," 15 May 1862, pp. 321-2; Charles C. Wight Recollections; Robson, One-Legged Rebel, p. 23. continue

56. OR 12, pt. 1. 483. Johnson put his wounding at 8 p.m. One contemporary report said the ball passed "through the small bone of the leg." Richmond Whig, 20 May 1862; Morton, History of Highland County, p. 128, states that Johnson was wounded in the leg near a sinkhole just in rear of the Confederate center, a position held by the 12th Georgia and 44th Virginia. Field research by the author (1989-90) located several limestone sinkholes in this area. Despite extensive research, there seems to be no record of which ankle was injured. One story, without supporting evidence and based entirely on local lore, cites a previous wounding earlier in the battle. Johnson had been told something funny, laughed so hard that he rolled over backwards with his feet up in the air and his big toe got shot off. When this happened, Johnson swore and said, "Goddam that Yankee." Goldthorpe, "The Battle of McDowell," West Virginia History, (April 1952), p. 199. continue

57. Hotchkiss Papers; McDonald, Make Me a Map, pp. 39-40. continue

58. Watkins Kearns Diary, 8 May 1862. continue

59. James M. Wright Letters, Wright to sister, 18 May 1862. continue

60. J. D. Ross Papers, 13 May 1862. continue

61. Lynchburg Virginian, as cited in the Lexington Gazette, 15 May 1862. continue

62. Richmond Enquirer, 16 May 1862. continue