As the Confederates consolidated their position, the Union command formulated a plan of attack. Upon examination of the salient, they had noticed a distinct weakness. On the west face, a corner jutted near a thick pine woods, behind which were excellent avenues of approach for the Federal troops. Confederate skirmishers attempted, as Rodes had ordered, to occupy rifle pits in the woods, but were repeatedly driven back inside their works since they could not be supported by their main line. Twelve Federal Infantry Regiments were chosen to carry out an attack, a total of 4500-5000 soldiers. Colonel Emery Upton was delegated to lead the attack.

Occasional firing was heard the next morning and then at about ten o'clock a heavy cannonading commenced. It continued to grow and the terrible fire lasted all through the remainder of the day and would continue until about nine o'clock at night. At about five o’clock that evening, the Confederates were suddenly attacked in their entrenchments where Dole’s Brigade was positioned. Union Colonel Upton had arranged his attacking force in four lines of three regiments each, the first line had loaded and capped their rifles, all others had loaded only. All had fixed bayonets. So tightly packed were Upton’s mass that intervals between the lines were only ten feet. The Union troops pressed forward. Within an hour, their heavily massed columns succeeded in breaking through the salient at the positions occupied by Daniel's and Doles' brigades. Rushing through the breach, frenzied by their success, for a few moments the Federals poured a dreadful fire into the rear and flank of those brigades. It was a crisis of dreadful suspense and for a brief interval the worst fears prevailed on the part of the Confederates. The enemy poured through the breach, captured quite a number of men on the extreme right of Daniel’s brigade, forcing the brigade to retire to avoid the enfilading fire, and causing them the temporary loss of sixteen pieces of artillery. The brigade slowly fell back firing as it retreated, the enemy advancing and taking possession of their abandoned guns. In a short time they were in line at right angles to the works; the enemy massing in great numbers in their front. It seemed even to the eye of a private soldier that a dangerous crisis was upon them. Suddenly a single horseman came dashing up to the rear of the 45th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. He was instantly recognized by the men who saw him, as General Ewell, the Corps commander. He had outstripped his staff officers who were following him, but not then in sight He halted in the rear of the Forty-fifth Regiment, and called out, "Don't run boys; I will have enough men here in five minutes to eat up every d—d one of them." His eyes were almost green. The line steadied and poured volley after volley into the enemy.

Battle’s Brigade was positioned a few hundred yards north of the Harrison house and about three hundred yards south of the breach. Captain Williams of the 5th Alabama Infantry remembered the night of May 10, 1864, well. “The calm was broken by an order from General Rodes, who had ridden up as close as he could get, for “Battles’ Brigade to move forward quick.” Our brigade was standing left in front, which placed the Fifth Alabama the right regiment, and Company D the right company. We did not take time to form, but went in at a run. When we came out into the open fields someone said, “Which way General?” and Rodes replied, “into the pine thicket and retake those works.” In going into this thicket in front, we crossed a little branch bottom. There we met a good many artillerymen, waving their red caps, calling, ”Charge them Alabamians, charge them!” Company D was now in front and the fastest runner in front of the company with the rest of Battles’ Brigade coming as fast as possible. When we passed through the thicket, which I think, was not more than thirty yards wide, there was said to be three thousand Yankees not more than eighty yards in our front and nothing to break the view.” The men of the 45th North Carolina of Daniel’s Brigade saw them coming. “Presently we heard a yell up the line in our rear as we stood, and Battle's Brigade of Alabamians were seen coming to our support. They ran down the line by us. We raised a yell and dashed forward.

Captain Williams continues, “The men in Company D of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment took the first fire and not a man flinched. We halted a few seconds, and seeing reinforcements coming up moved on. Soon began the bravest fight I ever saw. Not a Yankee bent his body that I could see, and I know our men stood perfectly erect, loaded and fired. The fifth Alabama was now doing the principle fighting. It was melting away before the fire as a snow does before the summer sun. We asked no favors, and granted none. We returned shot for shot, and yell for yell. As the regiment was being thinned out, men from the Brigade would push forward and take their place. Every man left was square in front doing his duty. They saw their best friends shot down, but nothing daunting, moved forward slow but sure. We could see that when the Yankees fired their guns, they would move back among their men and load. Our men would fire, lower their guns to load, and then push forward to the front and fire once again. We had the advantage of them as we were fighting at the base of the angle, and the Yankees were in the apex. As we got nearer and nearer to each other, the roar of the musketry and the cheering of the men in the rear was deafening. Just about this time I heard a man at my side receive an awful blow to the head with a gun. I turned and saw it was one of the men from Dallas county (Company F) trying to kill a prisoner. I caught him by the coat and asked him, “What in the world are you treating that prisoner so, for?” He replied, “Captain, he was just in the act of shooting you.” We moved on, and when the company from Pickens county (Company H) got to where the Yankee was, he raised himself and shot and killed Lieutenant Smith (2nd Lieutenant David N. Smith) of that company. I was told that as quick as lightening, nine bayonets were thrust through the Yankee’s body. We gradually pushed them back until we were about twenty-five yards from each other. A dense smoke rested over us for a few seconds, and when it rose, those Yankees were going back over the works much faster than they came. The regiment made a rush for them and about one hundred and fifty of them threw down their guns and surrendered. Probably there were about fifty of them on the other side of the works that would not take the chances of crossing the little open field in front, and they crawled back over the works and surrendered to us. I think they were the most imprudent Yanks I had ever seen. They were not satisfied with trying to kill us with their own guns, but were trying to turn our own guns on us. They had captured a battery (four guns) when they captured the angle, but we pushed them back until they were standing so thick that they could not turn their guns on us. I never heard a cannon that evening, the noise was so great; but I learned after the fight that there were twelve cannon close up to us on one side and eight on the other, pouring grape in a perfect stream in the rear of those Yankees, cutting off all support from the assaulting forces. As the officer who told me this, afterwards said, “A humming bird could not have lived at the edge of that little field in the rear.” When the men of the 5th Alabama came up to one of their batteries which the Yankees had taken for the moment, some of Federals, who were noticeably drunk, were working the guns furiously, firing upon their own retreating troops. When ordered to stop they refused saying they wanted to kill some of the rascals. The Confederates let them fire to their hearts content as our own men, being of the infantry, did not understand the workings of the guns. The fighting had ended by 7:30 P.M. and had been some of the most vicious witnessed during the entire war. Colonel Josephus Hall of the 5th Alabama Infantry had been severely wounded in the arm. However, the excellent practice of the artillery, along with the prompt arrival of Battle’s Brigade and other troops at the point of danger, had soon turned the tide, and the briefly jubilant foe, inflamed with momentary success and whiskey were hurled as by a thunderbolt back to their own lines with a fearful penalty upon their temerity.

The solemnity of the calm that followed a full twenty minutes after the men had recaptured the works was awe inspiring. The deafening roar of the artillery was hushed, and not a sound was to be heard except for the groans of the wounded. On about three quarters of an acre in the point of that angle there were more dead Yankees than the men had ever seen on twenty times that amount of space. In a great many instances, men had fallen wounded, only to be pinned to the earth by someone else that was killed and fell across their body. The men of the regiment went over and rolled the dead off the wounded, and in that way saved the lives of many that would have been crushed to death. There had been fights in which the men had come in such close quarters with the Yankees that bayonets were used. Prior to this fight Private Charlie Briggs of Company D, one of the company’s best soldiers and jolly, whole-souled fellow, threw his bayonet in the bushes. Captain Williams had heard it ring, and asked him why he did it. With his accustomed laugh and ready humour, he replied, “I’m not going to get close enough to a Yankee to stick him with that thing, or let one get close enough to stick me.” After the fight, Captain Williams asked him if he thought of his bayonet. He said he did, but made up his mind “to use the butt end of his gun for all it was worth.”

Not long after the end of the fighting, a Confederate band solemnly assembled near the works and played “Nearer My God to Thee.” A Yankee band replied with the “Dead March,” and the Confederates answered with “The Bonnie Blue Flag,” followed by full-throated rebel yells. Then “The Star Spangled Banner” wafted from the northern lines, accompanied by cheers, and the southerners replied with “Home Sweet Home.” “A united yell went up in concert from the men on both sides,” reminisced a Confederate soldier, “such a one as was never heard among the hills of Spotsylvania county before or since.”

Lieutenant Arrington, who had been a member of Company D, but was then serving as an aid to General Rodes, told Captain Williams that after they had established Division Headquarters for the night, Captain Peyton, who was General Rodes’ Adjutant General, spoke to General Rodes of how gallantly his old regiment (the 5th Alabama), recaptured the works. He replied that it made him sad to see how it had been cut to pieces, but he was glad the 5th Alabama had the honor of recapturing them. When he was told that Colonel Hall was severely wounded and would lose his arm, he asked where he was, and on being told that he was in the field hospital in our rear, he ordered Captain Peyton to go with him to see Hall at once. Colonel Hall later told Captain Williams, that General Rodes after expressing deep regret at his misfortune, said to him: “Colonel, you and your regiment saved Lee’s army this evening, for his center was broken and nothing but your quick work saved it.” Due to the severity of his injury, Colonel Hall would never return to command the regiment.

Lieutenant Pompey Jones of Company D, a brave soldier and a good man, was honoured that day by receiving a direct order from General Lee. Pompey said that he had a squad of twenty men on a special detail, and was standing about four hundred yards from where Company D went into the pine thicket. He said he remarked that the company was rushing up there “as if Bill Ellison (our sutler) had just come up with a fresh supply of ginger cakes and fly-specked apple pies.” Pompey went on to say that General Lee rode up and said to him: “Lieutenant, what are you doing here? Take your men in. Those people MUST be driven back!” Lieutenant Jones said he felt like he could drive them all back himself after that order from “Mars Bob”. When he got there, Battle’s Brigade had all gotten in and were, at least, twenty men deep. He could hear the roar of musketry, but could not see the regiment; as he said, “he could only stand at our backs.” General Lee rode up not far from the fighting and sat pensively awaiting the outcome of the struggle before him. He didn’t take his eyes off of the pine thicket until he heard a wild yell which he immediately recognized and a pleasant smile passed over his face, for he knew his men had recaptured the works. He rode over to where General Ewell was, and both expressed themselves much please at the way the works were recaptured.