At the appointed hour, everything was in motion—Wharton going with
Early, at 1 o'clock, towards
Strausburg;
Rosser starting before day, to attack at 5 A. M.; while
Gordon has gone to get in position at nightfall.
General Pegram having discovered from the signal station an entrenchment across the road over which
Gordon was to advance,
Early thought
Gordon might have greater difficulty than had been anticipated, and adopted
Pegram's suggestion to move toward the enemy's left to attack simultaneously with
Gordon and
Rosser.
The artillery concentrated at
Fisher's Hill, at 5 A. M., was to move at a gallop to
Hupp's Hill, being thus held back that the rumbling of wheels might not be heard on the macademzied road, and canteens and swords were left in camp, that no sound might startle the enemy.
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At 3:30 o'clock in the morning
Early, with
Kershaw's Division, came in sight of the enemy's fires, and, as the moon was shining, their sleeping camps were in plain view.
At 4:30 o'clock, the word forward was given, and
Kershaw crossed the creek at Bowman's Hill, and at exactly 5 o'clock, swept over the enemy's works, taking seven guns, which were at once turned upon them.
Rosser was now heard opening on the left, and as
Early, with
Wharton's troops, came hurrying to
Hupp's Hill, according to appointment, the musketry of
Gordon broke out in the enemy's rear; and presently
Early and
Gordon met in the enemy's camp, for success so far had crowned every effort.
Payne's troops followed by
Gordon's infantry, had swept through the camp, driving and capturing the panic-stricken enemy, for they and
Kershaw had been alike victorious.
The Nineteenth and
Crook's Corps, upon which they had fallen, were in complete rout and flying the field, abandoning their equipments, with many small arms, and over forty pieces of artillery.
As the sun rose,
Early, contemplating the wreck, exclaimed: ‘There is the sun of
Middletown.’
The Sixth Corps, perhaps the steadiest body in the
Federal army, however, had gotten under arms, and could be seen like a long, black serpent, moving slowly to the rear.
Pegram, attacking one of its divisions, was checked;
Wharton's Division was also thrown into some confusion, but
Colonel Carter,
chief of artillery, concentrated upon it twenty guns, and soon it was in full retreat,
Ramseur and
Pegram advancing to the position from which it was driven.
Some sixteen hundred prisoners had now been taken, and
Early was anxious to press forward.
