four in the afternoon
The men had scarcely gripped their guns to receive the assault when from the rear rose the unearthly yell of the new army swooping down on their unprotected flank . It was too much for the raw recruits of the North . They had marched and fought with dogged courage since two o'clock before day -- without pause for food or drink . It was now four in the afternoon and the blazing sun of July was pouring its merciless rays down on their dust-covered and smoke-grimed faces without mercy . McDowell 's right wing was crumpled like an eggshell between the combined charges front and rear . It broke and rushed back in confusion on his center . The whole army floundered a moment in tangled mass .