At last, however, Hunter and Heintzleman crossed Sudley Ford; and after marching a mile in the direction of Manassas Junction, the leading brigade struck Evans’ riflemen.  The Confederates were concealed by a fringe of woods, and the Federals were twice repulsed.  But supports came crowding up, and Evans sent back for reinforcements.  The fight had lasted for an hour.  It was near eleven o’clock, and the check to the enemy’s advance had given time for the Confederates to form a line of battle on the Henry Hill.  Bee and Bartow, accompanied by Imboden’s battery, were in position; Hampton’s Legion, a regiment raised and commanded by an officer who was one of the wealthiest planters in South Carolina, and who became one of the finest soldiers in the Confederacy, was not far behind; and Jackson was coming up.* (* Hunter and Heintzleman had 13,200 officers and men; Tyler, 12,000.  Bee and Barrow had 3200 officers and men; Hampton, 630; Jackson, 3000.)

Again the situation was saved by the prompt initiative of a brigade commander.  Bee had been ordered to support the troops at the Stone Bridge.  Moving forward towards the Henry Hill, he had been informed by a mounted orderly that the whole Federal army seemed to be moving to the north-west.  A signal officer on the plateau who had caught the glint of the brass field-pieces which accompanied the hostile column, still several miles distant, had sent the message.  Bee waited for no further instructions.  Ordering Bartow to follow, he climbed the Henry Hill.  The wide and beautiful landscape lay spread before him; Evans’ small command was nearly a mile distant, on the Matthews Hill; and on the ridges to the far north-west he saw the glitter of many bayonets.

11 A.M.

Rapidly placing his battery in position near the Henry House, Bee formed a line of battle on the crest above Young’s Branch; but very shortly afterwards, acceding to an appeal for help from Evans, he hurried his troops forward to the Matthews Hill.  His new position protected the rear of the companies which held the Stone Bridge; and so long as the bridge was held the two wings of the Federal army were unable to co-operate.  But on the Matthews Hill, the enemy’s strength, especially in artillery, was overwhelming; and the Confederates were soon compelled to fall back to the Henry Hill.  McDowell had already sent word to Tyler to force the Stone Bridge; and Sherman’s brigade of this division, passing the stream by a ford, threatened the flank of Bee and Evans as they retreated across Young’s Branch.

The Federals now swarmed over the Matthews Hill; but Imboden’s battery, which Bee had again posted on the Henry Hill, and Hampton’s Legion, occupying the Robinson House, a wooden tenement on the open spur which projects towards the Stone Bridge, covered the retirement of the discomfited brigades.  They were not, however, suffered to fall back unharassed.