The Confederate infantry of the 4th and 27th Virginia moved quickly toward Ricketts’ guns, their ranks bunched together into a four-deep line (No. 1 on map). According to some accounts, these Virginians hollered what would come to be recognized as the first “Rebel Yell” of the war during their rush for the battery. The Federal guns were without their commander, who was lying on the ground with a painful thigh wound. Switching to canister loads, the cannoneers cut wide swaths in the attacking lines, but the Virginians pressed forward. Without their infantry supports and with men and horses dropping to the ground all around them, the survivors took to their heels, leaving the six guns behind them. Ricketts’ battery lost nearly thirty percent of its men during fighting on July 21. Griffin’s three guns that had been firing to the left of Ricketts’ pieces had already limbered up and rolled to safety.1
A quarter-mile to the south, the 6th North Carolina under Col. Charles Fisher was briefly savoring its victory over the 14th Brooklyn. Ahead and to the northwest were two recently rescued guns from Griffin’s battery, defended by a small remnant of the 14th Brooklyn. The Tar Heels opened fire, killing and wounding some of the New Yorkers attempting to protect the exposed pieces. Capt. Isaac Avery, who would suffer a mortal wound in July 1863 at the head of a brigade at Gettysburg, yelled to the 6th North Carolina’s Col. Fisher, “Colonel, don’t you think we ought to charge?” Even without formal military experience, Fisher could see a beckoning opportunity. “Yes Captain,” he replied. He turned to his regiment and yelled, “Charge!” (No. 2 on map).
The North Carolinians advanced rapidly toward the guns. A heavy small arms fire delivered by remnants of the 14th Brooklyn, 1st Minnesota, and 11th New York in the woods along their left flank tore through their ranks. The men of the 1st Minnesota were ordered to lie down in the woods to protect themselves, but the area they occupied was so small they were almost lying on top of one another. Inexperienced in war, their task was made all the more difficult by being forced to lie on their backs to load before flipping over to fire at the moving North Carolinians. The carnage on this part of the field was appalling. “[E]very horse killed and the ground covered with the bodies of the dead and wounded artillerists, and of the Brooklyn Zouaves, who were distinguished by their loose red pants,” remembered one Federal soldier. To remain stationary was to encourage terrible losses, so Col. Fisher ordered his men to continue moving toward the Manassas-Sudley Road. As they did so, Fisher led a smaller group that obliqued toward the woods on the left—the location of the pesky Federals firing into their flank. A bullet slammed into Fisher’s head, killing him instantly. Capt. Avery, with the main body of the attackers, continued charging toward the road. The fire directed at the regiment’s front and left flank increased when bullets began zipping through the North Carolina ranks from unknown troops firing from their rear. Thinking the rounds were friendly fire, many Carolinians turned and beseeched the troops to cease firing. Some of the men later insisted that the fire was from soldiers belonging to the 4th Alabama. They also yelled to the Federals in the woods to cease firing, thinking that they too might be Confederate troops.2
While the North Carolinians were fighting for their lives, the 1st Michigan, part of Col. Orlando Willcox’s brigade, marched south over the Warrenton Turnpike and down the Manassas-Sudley Road toward the fighting swirling on the left of the Rebel defensive line. Once they were close enough, the Wolverines fired into the exposed right flank of the 6th North Carolina. The Michiganders had already lost several men from long distance artillery fire, and so were more than ready for a fight. Their small arms fire was the last straw for the Carolinians. With their ranks ragged and depleted, and with the firing now tearing into them from three directions, Capt. Avery pulled the regiment back the way it had come (No. 3 on map) and settled the men behind Jackson’s line. His withdrawal abandoned the pair of Federal cannons from Griffin’s battery. The Tar Heels were spent and for all practical purposes, were out of the fight. Although their attack had initially captured Griffin’s two guns, there had been no opportunity to haul them to safety. They now had nothing to show for their effort except fields sprinkled with the blue uniforms of their men.3