The regiments of the brigade were posted from right to left in the following order: The Thirteenth, Col. O. E. Edwards; the First, Maj. Edward McCrady; the Twelfth, Col. Dixon Barnes; the Fourteenth, Col. Samuel Mc-Gowan; Orr's Rifles, Col. J. Foster Marshall, in reserve.
Early in the morning, the enemy's advance being reported, General Gregg sent forward McCrady to skirmish with it. The enemy lay in force in a wooded hollow in front, and McCrady's advance drew the fire of his line, front and flank. A sharp musketry contest followed and Gregg sent up the Twelfth on McCrady's left. The two regiments charged and gained ground forward, but on the right the enemy held his ground and fired on McCrady's flank. Barnes had passed on beyond, and McCrady's position was critical. Edwards, with the Thirteenth, came to his support, but met such resistance that he had to fight independently. Meanwhile Marshall, with the Rifles, had gone to Barnes' support, and those two regiments were driving victoriously forward. McCrady, fighting front and flank, was stubbornly holding his ground, and Edwards was stemming the tide against his regiment. At this juncture Gregg recalled the four regiments to the railroad position, as his orders were to act on the defensive and not to bring on a general engagement. Time was everything to Jackson, who knew his enemy was in his front with superior numbers, and he did not risk a battle until Longstreet was reported to be on his right.
The affair of the four regiments had checked the arrangements for assault in Gregg's front, and he was in solid line awaiting the next move. It soon came. Pressing on through the thick growth of bushes along Gregg's front, the attack drove in his skirmishers, and the
