The 149th Pennsylvania’s initial volley could not have come at a worse time for the 2nd North Carolina Battalion and the 45th North Carolina. The Southerners were in the act of climbing a rail fence when it hit. According to Lt. Col. Walton Dwight of the 149th Pennsylvania, “the effect on the enemy was terrible, he being at the time brigade en masse, at 9-pace interval. He now broke to the rear in great confusion.” General Daniel sent the 32nd North Carolina to assist in storming the pike, but it arrived too late to participate in this action. Two of Brander’s Napoleons also arrived, crossing Willoughby Run and deploying southeast of the Bender homestead.6
The 2nd North Carolina Battalion and the 45th North Carolina made another attempt to pry the 149th Pennsylvania from the railroad cut, but were repulsed again with heavy loss. According to Lt. Col. Dwight, his men held their fire until “we could almost reach him with the muzzles of our pieces.” Reynolds’ and Calef’s batteries, firing from almost perfect enfilade positions to the southeast, played a major role in beating back these attacks. The North Carolina units took fire from infantry to the front and artillery from the flank; losses on both sides mounted. Finally realizing the folly of their efforts, the two Confederate units retreated.
The 149th Pennsylvania’s stay in the unfinished railroad cut ended when Brander’s two guns unlimbered west of its position and poured a deadly fire into the Pennsylvanians, forcing them back to Chambersburg Pike. When they arrived, Dwight berated the men for their “cowardice” in vacating the railroad cut.7
As the 149th Pennsylvania withdrew to Chambersburg Pike, the 150th Pennsylvania changed front. The 150th Pennsylvania had been positioned to receive an attack from the west by Heth’s Division, but when his troops remained inactive, Stone shifted the 150th regiment to face north against the more imminent threat emanating from Daniel north of Chambersburg Pike. Before making the movement, Col. Langhorne Wister divided his regiment into two wings, with Lt. Col. Henry Huidekoper commanding the right and Maj. Thomas Chamberlin the left. The movement drew Confederate artillery fire and Daniel launched still another attack. This time the 32nd North Carolina moved to the right a bit to drive against Stone’s left flank from the northwest while the 2nd North Carolina Battalion and the 45th North Carolina attacked once again from the north.
The North Carolinians faced a deadly fire from the 143rd and 149th Pennsylvania regiments. Many took refuge in the unfinished railroad cut, which must have resembled a slaughterhouse after all the fighting it had witnessed this day. From this shelter, they opened an effective fire against the Federal position along Chambersburg Pike. When some of the Confederates advanced toward the 143rd Pennsylvania, its commander, Col. Edmund Dana, yelled to his men, “Steady now my men. Every one of you pick your man, ready now, Fire!” Much of the North Carolinians’ first line fell, but a second rank quickly took its place. Some Confederates came as close as the fence lining the northern side of Chambersburg Pike before being driven back by point-blank fire from the two Pennsylvania regiments. Dana remarked that they had advanced “with a determination that was brave, and which befitted a better cause.”8
A bullet tore into Col. Stone’s hip about this time, and while he remained with the troops, he passed command of the brigade to Colonel Wister of the 150th Pennsylvania.9