column had withdrawn, Johnson ordered all his troops who had been fighting there to join the battle on the left flank, and the concentrated Confederate fire broke up the left Union assault and the final Union troops withdrew. In a piercing winter wind, fighting had raged for much of the sunlit morning as each side maneuvered on the hillside slopes, fields and woods to gain the advantage. On the right flank, Milroy's force found a position in a mountain clearing, among the fallen timber, stumps and brush, which proved to be too difficult for the Confederate infantry to dislodge. A Confederate artillery battery unlimbered and unleashed a "storm of round shot and canister among them, knocking their timber defences about their heads, and making their nest too hot to hold them..." The fighting on the right moved back and forth from advance to retreat, with the Union temporarily occupying the post, only to be driven off. The Confederates attempted their own flanking maneuvers which quickly failed because their force was too thin. The fighting was in such close quarters that the Confederate cannons in the fortification could not be used. After fighting for over seven hours without taking the positionMilroy's troops withdrew, retreating to his camps at Green Spring Run near Cheat Mountain. Johnson claimed the Confederate losses were 20 men killed and 96 wounded and 28 missing. According to one Confederate soldier in the 52nd Virginia Infantry: I had a splendid position in this battle and could see the whole fight without having to take any part in it, and I remember how I thought Colonel Johnson must be the most wonderful hero in the world, as I saw him at one point, where his men were hard pressed, snatch a musket in one hand and, swinging a big club in the other, he led his line right up among the enemy, driving them headlong down the mountain, killing and wounding many with the bayonet and capturing a large number of prisoners... Confederate units under Johnson's command during the battle were the 12th Georgia Regiment, the 52nd Virginia, the 31st Virginia, a detachment of Pittsylvania (Virginia) cavalry, which fought dismounted with carbines, and the "Lee Battery" of Virginia light artillery, consisting of four pieces. Aftermath The battle, though considered insignificant compared to later battles in the Civil War, was actually one of the bloodiest in the initial year of