The first Federal attack was made by French's division, followed by Hancock's division. General Couch, who commanded the army corps to which both these divisions belonged, says of their charge in the face of ‘the sheet of flame’ that came from the stone wall:
As they charged, the artillery fire would break their formation and they would get mixed; then they would close up, go forward, receive the withering infantry fire, and those who were able would run to the houses and fight as best they could; and then the next brigade coming up in succession would do its duty, and melt like snow coming down on warm ground. Battles and Leaders, III, 113.Before the first assault, General Ransom had brought up Cooke's brigade to the crest of Marye's hill, and during the assault Cooke took the Twenty-seventh and Forty-sixth and part of the Fifteenth North Carolina into the sunken road. The Forty-eighth North Carolina, under Walkup, fought on top of the crest all day. General Howard was next ordered by the Federal commander to assail the hill, but was hurled back as his predecessors were. General Ransom now moved the rest of his division to the crest, and sent the Twenty-fifth North Carolina to the front line; General Kershaw came up with some of his regiments, and subsequently some of Kemper's were ordered forward. The men in the rear loaded guns, and the ranks interchanged, and in this way an almost continuous fire blazed forth from the line of the stone wall.
