Sending orders for Ewell and A.P.  Hill to attack at once, he galloped forward, unattended by either staff officer or orderly, and found himself in the midst of his own men, his soldiers of the Valley, no longer presenting the stubborn front of Bull Run or Kernstown, but an ungovernable mob, breaking rapidly to the rear, and on the very verge of panic.  Drawing his sword, for the first time in the war, his voice pealed high above the din; the troops caught the familiar accents, instinct with resolution, and the presence of their own general acted like a spell.  “Rally, men,” he shouted, “and follow me!” Taliaferro, riding up to him, emphatically insisted that the midst of the melee was no place for the leader of an army.  He looked a little surprised, but with his invariable ejaculation of “Good, good,” turned slowly to the rear.  The impulse, however, had already been given to the Confederate troops.  With a wild yell the remnant of the 21st Virginia rushed forward to the front, and received the pursuers with a sudden volley.  The officers of other regiments, inspired by the example of their commander, bore the colours forward, and the men, catching the enthusiasm of the moment, followed in the path of the 21st.  The Federals recoiled.  Taliaferro and Early, reforming their brigades, again advanced upon the right; and Jackson, his front once more established, turned his attention to the counterstroke he had already initiated.

Ewell was ordered to attack the Federal left.  Branch, leading the Light Division, was sent forward to support the Stonewall Brigade, and Lane to charge down the highroad.  Thomas was to give aid to Early.  Archer and Pender, following Branch, were to outflank the enemy’s right, and Field and Stafford were to follow as third line.

Ewell was unable to advance at once, for the Confederate batteries on Slaughter Mountain swept the whole field, and it was some time before they could be induced to cease fire.  But on the left the mass of fresh troops, directed on the critical point, exerted a decisive influence.  The Federal regiments, broken and exhausted, were driven back into the wood and across the wheat-field by the charge of the Stonewall Brigade.  Still they were not yet done with.  Before Hill’s troops could come into action, Jackson’s old regiments, as they advanced into the open, were attacked in front and threatened on the flank.  The 4th and 27th Virginia were immediately thrown back to meet the more pressing danger, forming to the left within the wood; but assailed in the confusion of rapid movement, they gave way and scattered through the thickets.  But the rift in the line was rapidly closed up.  Jackson, riding in front of the Light Division, and urging the men to hold their fire and use their bayonets, rallied the 27th and led them to the front; while Branch’s regiments, opening their ranks for the fugitives to pass through, and pressing forward with unbroken line, drove back the Northern skirmishers, and moving into the wheatfield engaged their main body in the opposite wood.