After a cold, hungry winter the colonel led his men into battle in Georgia at Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca and finally at New Hope Church. At New Hope Church "Colonel L. T. Woodruff was seriously wounded on the 25th of May, at 4 o'clock, the ball entering his thigh near the leading artery. He was carried from the field, believed to be mortally wounded." He survived and was recommended for promotion to Brigadier General, but his leg was so badly damaged that he could not walk fifty yards even with crutches, so the medical board recommended his retirement. On December 13, 1864, he retired from the Confederate Army and made his way back to Mobile in early 1865.