January 6, 1862

Cannon balls crisscross the air over the Potomac River as General Jackson’s gunners keep up their bombardment of Hancock while Union batteries answer from the Maryland side. As the day wears on, Federal reinforcements enter Hancock from the north. Construction on the bridge being built by the Fourteenth Tennessee moves at a snail’s pace as the soldiers struggle to work in the freezing water. Jackson realizes that his chances of forcing Hancock are dimming with each hour, and as the day nears its end, he finally decides that he has done enough by driving the northern troops off from his flank. “Stonewall” issues orders to withdraw back to Bath, beginning early next morning.

As the Georgians prepare to spend their last night on the bluffs overlooking the Potomac, they are relieved when their wagon train finally pulls up. For the first night since they left Winchester, they will sleep in their own tents.