The Attack and Death of General Stevens
Acting to protect the Federal Army’s line of retreat along Fairfax-Centreville Road (today’s U.S. Route 29 / Lee Highway), Brigadier General Isaac Stevens, commanding the 1st Division, IX Corps, gave the order to advance.
As Stevens’ infantry came within 200 yards of the woods, concealed Confederates opened fire from behind a rail fence along the southern edge of the woods and from across the cornfield.
The blast staggered the Union line, decimating the front rank. The deadly Confederate fire intensified as more of General A. P. Hill’s brigades approached the cornfield. Determined to rally his faltering troops, Stevens seized the flag of the 79th New York from a wounded color-bearer. “Highlanders! My Highlanders! Follow your general!” Stevens cried.
As Stevens neared the rail fence, he was shot in the head and fell with the flag draping his body. With Stevens now dead, the Highlanders surged over the fence and drove the Confederates back.
Gen. Isaac I. Stevens, USA. Photograph taken in Beaufort, S.C., ca. March 1862