On May 15, 1864, 6,000 Union troops under the command of Maj. General Franz Sigel, were attacked by a Confederate force of only 4,100 led by Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge. As the battle hung in the balance, 250 teenage cadets of the Virginia Military Institute joined in the final charge across a field on the Jacob Bushong farm, causing the federal troops to retreat. As the soldiers charged across the muddy field, many had their boots sucked off by the mud. An Emmy Award-winning television documentary, "The Field Of Lost Shoes", described this battle.