From this view we are located just south of the Cornfield looking
south.
The Hagerstown Turnpike-Smoketown Road intersection is directly ahead,
just in front of the Dunker Church, which can be seen right against the
edge of the woods.
Doubleday's brigade reached this point at about 6:30 am, before being turned back by Hood's furious counterattack. After more desperate fighting in the Cornfield, Confederate troops were eventually pushed out of this region. At about 9:00 am, the first Union assaults directed against the West Woods swept across this ground, entering the along the face of the woods shown here.
The high ground on the left horizon is the position occupied by S. D. Lee's Confederate artillery, now occupied by the Battlefield Park's visitor's center. The importance of this high ground is plainly obvious: it guards all approaches to the critically important Hagerstown Turnpike-Smoketown Road intersection.
At around 12:00 pm, Cooke launched his gallant but futile attack from the cornfield-topped ridge visible in the far distance. Cooke momentarily took Federal troops in the Sunken Road in flank, until they were driven back to were they started.