Burnside waited until the morning of December 13 to issue his orders. He directed General William B. Franklin's division to attack Jackson's Corps. Then General Edwin Vose Sumner's division was to attack Marye's Heights. But Burnside's orders were unclear on several points. In his orders to Franklin, he ordered the attack with "a division at least". Without taking time to clarify, Franklin sent just one—General George G. Meade's division of 4.500 men. They were to attack Jackson's line about a mile away. Two small Confederate cannon were on the road perpendicular to Mead's advancing troops. Even though he had orders to disengage, Major John Pelham kept up the shelling for over an hour. Finally, when Pelham ran out of ammunition he withdrew the cannons. Meade continued his march on Jackson's position. When Meade's division came to within , Jackson's hidden 14 artillery pieces opened fire cutting down many of Meade's soldiers. Union artillery opened fire on the Confederate guns and an artillery duel started that lasted for an hour. Meade's troops found a gap in Jackson's line in the woods and exploited it. A South Carolina brigade at first mistook Meade's troops for retreating Confederates and did not fire on them. This allowed the Union troops to get deep within Jackson's line. When Jackson learned of this he ordered a counterattack and drove the Union troops back to their own lines.