"
Barksdale further states that, "upon the pretext of taking care of their
wounded, the enemy asked a flag of truce, after the second assault at
Marye's hill, which was granted by Col. Griffin; and thus the weakness
of our force at that point was discovered."
The bulk of Early's division was holding the heights from Hazel Run to
Hamilton's Crossing; and the sudden assault on the Confederate positions
at Marye's, and the hills to the west, gave him no opportunity of
sustaining his forces there. But it is not established that any unfair
use was made of the flag of truce mentioned by Barksdale.
The loss in this assault seems heavy, when the small force of
Confederates is considered. The artillery could not do much damage,
inasmuch as the guns could not be sufficiently depressed, but the
infantry fire was very telling; and, as already stated, both colonels
commanding the assaulting columns on the right were among the casualties.
The enemy's line being thus cut in twain, sundering those at Banks's
Ford and on the left of the Confederate line from Early at Hamilton's
Crossing, it would now have been easy for Sedgwick to have dispersed
Early's forces, and to have destroyed the depots at the latter place.
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