Colonel Wade Hampton's infantry occupied the Warrenton Turnpike in front of the Robinson farm as the Confederate position on Matthews Hill collapsed. Having arrived at Manassas Junction earlier that morning after a 30-hour train ride from Richmond, the 600 exhausted South Carolinians stood as the only organized Confederate resistance then on the field.
Realizing his men could not hold the turnpike, Hampton pulled his troops back here to the Robinson farm lane. Slowly, with repeated volleys of musketry, the Federals forced Hampton's men to yield ground and fall back toward the woods. The Confederate army seemed on the brink of defeat.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service