On September 1, 1862, Confederate forces under the command of Major General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson moved across and to the southwestern edge of this site to engage Union forces determined to prevent a glancing movement on demoralized Union troops fleeing the field at Second Manassas.
The ensuing battle raged on for a little less than three hours terminating in ferocious hand-to-hand combat in a violent late afternoon thunderstorm.
Tactically the battle ended in a stalemate leaving approximately 610 dead or wounded Union and 501 Confederate troops on the field. Union forces, however, suffered the greater loss when Major General Issac I. Stevens was shot and fatally wounded while leading the 79th New York against Hay's Louisiana and Thomas' 49th Georgia Brigades. Major General Philip Kearny, in an attempt to fill a suspected void in Stevens' line, moved out in front of the 21st Massachusetts Brigade and into the eastern edge of a cornfield where he encountered troops, presumably the 49th Georgia, who took issue with his presence within their line and killed Kearny as he attempted to escape.
The battle ended the hostilities of Second Manassas and set into motion General Robert E. Lee's excursion into Maryland and the bloody Battle of Antietam.
Contributed by Dennis W. King.
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