Out of ammunition and energy, the 8th Virginia was ordered to lie down to rest and avoid Federal bullets. The 17th Mississippi’s commander, Col. Winfield Featherston, may have realized that the battle hung in the balance when he yelled to his troops, “Forward Mississippians, & drive them into the Potomac or into eternity!” When his men reached the edge of the field, Featherston ordered them to halt and fix bayonets. The men swept across the clearing yelling like “wild Indians.” Ahead were scores of discharging Federal muskets on the opposite side of the field that killed and wounded Mississippians with each step. On the right, some of the men of the 17th Mississippi could make out a line of Confederate infantry sweeping ahead in the same direction. It was the 18th Mississippi. For the first time that afternoon, the Confederates were moving and attacking in unison.1
The surge of some 1,000 Confederate infantrymen quickly overwhelmed the exhausted and confused Federals. According to Col. Featherston, the Mississippians drove “to within 40 or 50 yards of their line, when we poured in a close and deadly fire, which drove them back, and continued to advance …” The Federal line began breaking apart. Their only hope was to try and escape the way they had come—down the bluff and to the boats. A resigned Col. Cogswell finally gave the order for a full retreat to the river. Col. Devens asked that he repeat the order in the presence of a witness, for he did not want to be blamed for the unfolding fiasco.
There was still some fighting going on, particularly on both Federal flanks, as some Massachusetts and New York companies fought to stave off the pending annihilation of the small force on the bluff. Capt. William Bartlett of the 20th Massachusetts noted, “[E]very man that was left sprang forward … both sides were surprised to see each other … we stood looking at each other … for some twenty seconds, and then they let fly their volley at the same time we did … they [the bullets] came in sheets … it is surprising that anyone could escape being hit … we were driven back again.” Lt. Bramhall ordered his men to throw the James Rifle over the side of the bluff, lest the Southerners capture it. He was seriously wounded, however, and order never seems actually to have been carried out though many men apparently thought it was.2
The battle now entered a new and gruesome stage. Beaten and demoralized Federal troops tried desperately to escape in any way they could. His infantry, reported Col. Featherston of the 17th Mississippi, continued “loading and firing until the enemy were driven to seek shelter beneath a high bluff immediately upon the brink of the river, and some of them in the river itself.” One Southern soldier recalled how the side of the bluff was rubbed smooth by so many men sliding down it. About 300 Federals realized that the enemy was already upon them and set their arms down in surrender.
Col. Lee of the 20th Massachusetts was so demoralized by the sudden turn of events that he simply sat down and awaited capture. His men helped him navigate the steep slope, but he eventually fell into Confederate hands. Col. Cogswell was also among the captured. Turning away from the fast-flowing river, many soldiers ran north or south along the riverbank hoping to elude the pursuing enemy. Some, including Col. Lee, were captured upriver by Southern cavalry. Many of the Federals sought to find a way back across the river in a boat, but most either took to the water or concealed themselves at the base of the steeper parts of the bluff trying to escape from the sheets of Confederate bullets raining down upon them. Hundreds of men jumped in the water in an attempt to swim across the Potomac. Many perished as a result, their heavy clothes and accouterments dragging them under the swift water. The chaos and spread of death worsened when the Mississippians lining the bluff opened fire on the helpless men packed below, slaughtering scores. “[W]e arrived at the brink of the bluff & fired down on them,” was how one private casually recalled the mass killing.3