Second Manassas - Chinn Ridge

American Battlefield Trust’s map of the Battle of Second Manassas

Chinn Ridge - August 30, 1862

In the aftermath of Fitz John Porter's failed attack against Jackson on August 30, Federal commander John Pope was still unaware that a fresh body of 28,000 Confederates under James Longstreet had arrived on the field and were poised to deliver a crushing blow to the disorganized Union left. In the largest simultaneous mass assault of the war, Longstreet's brigades crushed the Union left flank. With daylight waning, Longstreet’s troops pitched into Pope's regiments on Chinn Ridge. Four Ohio regiments under Col. Nathaniel C. McLean and a mixed New York-Pennsylvania brigade under Brig. Gen. Zealous B. Tower, among other units, blunted Longstreet’s attack. Atop Chinn Ridge, Col. Fletcher Webster, son of Massachusetts statesman Daniel Webster, was killed leading the 12^th Massachusetts Infantry. Deprived of momentum, Longstreet’s assault was finally stopped along the Sudley Road at the base of Henry Hill.

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