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Lee of the approach of Gen. McDowell, and it was not until he received reliable intelligence of the latter's inactivity that he resolved upon a general attack. As soon, therefore, as he was informed that Gen. Jackson had reached Coal Harbor, steps were taken for an immediate attack on the retiring corps of Gen. Porter, which was supposed to be the mass of Gen. McClellan's army, and which had taken up the position it was ordered to hold on the left bank before the bridges. The Confederate attack was opened by the columns of Gen. D. H. Hill, Anderson, and Pickett. These brave masses rushed with "thundering hurrahs" upon the musketry of Gen. Porter's corps, and whole ranks went down under the terrible fire that met them. After a fierce struggle the Confederate troops began to give way, and at length all orders and encouragements were vain. They were falling back in the greatest disorder. Immediately Gen. Cobb appeared on the field with his legion, and the 19th North Carolina, and 14th Virginia, and renewed the attack, but all their efforts were in vain. Broken to pieces and disorganized, the fragments of that legion came rolling back from the charge. The 19th North Carolina lost eight standard bearers, and most of their officers were either killed or wounded. The shattered regiments of Gens. Hill and Anderson were again led up, but their foes quietly and coolly held out against every attack that was made. During this moment of success for the Federal army, Gen. McClellan hastened to throw upon the left bank all the troops not absolutely necessary to guard the lines in front of Richmond. It was nearly night when some of the divisions reached the river, and at this time the Confederate left and reserves had been brought up. The weight of their attack was made on the Federal left, where the troops had sustained an unequal fight all day, and were worn out, having fired almost their last cartridge. The left gave way and disbanded. This disorder extended until it reached the centre of the Federal lines, which fell back in increasing confusion, until the fresh brigades of Gens. Meagher and French were met. The vigorous shouts of these troops, and 'the placing a few guns anew in battery and opening fire served to check the enemy, who paused at this final determination, and darkness closed the contest at Gaines's Mill.

The left wing, under Gen. Porter, subsequently supported from the main body, had accomplished the purpose of holding the Confederates in check, and that night the train of five thousand wagons, the seige train, a herd of twenty-five hundred oxen, and other material was in motion for James river. During the night the troops of Gen. McClellan repassed the bridges of the Chickahominy in perfect order, destroying them after they had passed. The field of battle, with the dead, and those most seriously wounded, a few guns and some prisoners. was abandoned. The corps of Gen. Keyes in the advance toward James river took

possession of the road across the White Oak Swamp, and the principal lines of communication by which the Federal army could be annoyed by their enemies.

Meantime the Confederate officers and men supposed, from the manner in which the day closed, leaving them in possession of the field of battle and its spoils, that Gen. McClellan was completely cut off from his base of retreat. The capture or destruction of the entire Federal army was regarded as certain. The rejoicing bordered on frenzy. Their demonstration on the 28th was made to the White House, where the immense stores which were expected to fall into their hands were found to have been destroyed, and nothing but ruins remained. The burial of the dead, and the care for the wounded, and repose for the troops, and uncertainty as to the position of the Federal army, caused the day to pass without any movement of the Confederate troops. The mass of them were now on the left bank of the Chickahominy, over which the bridges had been destroyed, while Gen. McClellan's army united was on the right bank. Time now was worth everything to them. Before they could be attacked, however, it was necessary for the Confederate force to rebuild the bridges, or to fall back some distance to the Mechanicsville bridge. It was not until the reports of the state of affairs at the White House were made in the afternoon of the 28th, and the statements of prisoners, that Gen. Lee comprehended the real movements of Gen. McClellan, and that he was on his way to James river to form a junction with the fleet. The twelve brigades of Gens. D. H. Hill and Longstreet were instantly put in motion to give the death blow to the enemy, whom they supposed now to be flying.

The position of Gen. McClellan on Saturday night was such that the Confederate officers, who were unaware of his design, were confident of his capture. Having abandoned, and, as they supposed, been driven from all his strongholds on the north side of the Chickahominy, cut off from all communication with his supplies at the White House, and with the Chickahominy in his rear, and the divisions of Gens. Longstreet, Magruder, and Huger in his front, all hopes of his escape were thought to be impossible.

The morning of the 29th was spent by Gen. McClellan's troops in destroying all that could not be carried away from the camps. A complete railroad train, locomotive, tender and cars, which had been left on the track, was sent headlong over the broken bridge into the river. Nothing was left but three siege guns which could not be moved.

The corps of Gens. Sumner and Franklin had been left in the works at Fair Oaks with instructions to evacuate and protect the baggage and supply trains on their way to the river. Hardly had they commenced to fall back on the railroad and Williamsburg turnpike, when the enemy, perceiving the movement, pressed forward, giving the former barely time to place'

their men in position. The attack was commenced by the Confederates about two o'clock P. M., about one mile and a half above Savage's Station, and the conflict continued until near night. The enemy, advancing in solid masses to within a short distance of the artillery, suffered severely and were repulsed. During the night Gens. Sumner and Franklin fell back to White Oak Swamp bridge.

On the morning of Monday, the 30th of June, all the troops and all the trains were in safety beyond White Oak bridge, which presented a new obstacle to the Confederates. Gens. Sumner and Franklin were left to act as a rear guard, and hold the passage of the White Oak Swamp, whilst Gens. Heintzelman, with the divisions of Gens. Hooker, Kearny, Sedgwick, and McCall, were placed at the point of intersection of the roads leading from Richmond, called Charles City cross roads. These movements protected the trains until they arrived at the James river, precisely at the time when the transports with provisions and ammunition and hospital stores arrived from Fortress Monroe. The advance of the Confederate force was actively resumed early in the morning. Gens. D. H. Hill, Whiting, and Ewell, under the command of Gen. Jackson, crossed the Chickahominy by the Grapevine bridge, and followed the Federal retreat by the Williamsburg road and Savage's Station. Gens. Longstreet, A. P. Hill, Huger, and Magruder took the Charles City road with the intention of cutting off the Federal retreat. At the White Oak Swamp the left wing under Gen. Jackson came up with the Federal force under Gens. Franklin and Sumner, about 11 A. M. They had crossed the stream and burned the bridge behind them. An artillery fire was opened upon both sides, which continued with great severity and destruction until night. The result of this battle was to prevent the further advance of the enemy in this direction, which was the single line of road over which the trains had passed.

Late on the same day, a battle was fought between the forces under Gen. Heintzelman and the main force of the enemy, which attempted to advance by the Charles City road to cut off the retreat. This force was led by Gens. Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and Huger. The former, however, being called away, the command devolved upon Gen. Hill. As the masses advanced upon the Federal batteries of heavy guns they were received with such a destructive fire of artillery and musketry as threw them into disorder. Gen. Lee sent all his disposable troops to the rescue, but the Federal fire was so terrible as to disconcert the coolest veterans. Whole ranks of the Confederate troops were hurled to the ground. Says an actor in the conflict, "The thunder of the cannon, the cracking of the musketry from thousands of combatants, mingled with the screams of the wounded and the dying, were terrific to the ear and to the imagination." The conflict thus continued within a narrow space for hours, and not a foot

of ground was won by the Confederates. Night was close at hand. The Federal lines were strengthened and the confidence of the Confederate general began to falter. The losses of his exhausted and worn out troops in attempting to storm the batteries were terrible. Orders were given to Gen. Jackson to cover the retreat in case the army should have to fall back, and directions were sent to Richmond to get all the public property ready for removal. The Federal forces, perceiving the confusion, began step by step to press forward. The posture of affairs at this time is thus related by a Confederate officer: "The enemy, noticing our confusion, now advanced, with the cry, Onward to Richmond!' Yes, along the whole hostile front rang the shout, Onward to Richmond!' Many old soldiers who had served in distant Missouri and on the plains of Arkansas wept in the bitterness of their souls like children. Of what avail had it been to us that our best blood had flowed for six long days?-of what avail all our unceasing and exhaustless_endurance? Everything, everything seemed lost, and a general depression came over all our hearts. Batteries dashed past in headlong flight; ammunition, hospital and supply wagons rushed along, and swept the troops away with them from the battle field. In vain the most frantic exertion, entreaty and self-sacrifice of the staff officers! The troops had lost their foot-hold, and all was over with the Southern Confederacy.

"In this moment of desperation Gen. A. P. Hill came up with a few regiments he had managed to rally, but the enemy was continually pressing nearer and nearer; louder and louder their shouts, and the watchword, 'On to Richmond!' could be heard. Cavalry officers sprang from their saddles and rushed into the ranks of the infantry regiments, now deprived of their proper officers. Gen. Hill seized the standard of the Fourth North Carolina regi ment, which he had formerly commanded, and. shouted to the soldiers, 'If you will not fol low me, I will perish alone.' Upon this a number of officers dashed forward to cover their beloved general with their bodies; the soldiers hastily rallied, and the cry 'Lead on, Hill; head your old North Carolina boys!' rose over the field. And now Hill charged forward with this mass he had thus worked up to the wildest enthusiasm. The enemy halted when they saw these columns, in flight a moment before, now advancing to the attack, and Hill burst upon his late pursuers like a famished lion. A fearful hand to hand conflict now ensued, for there was no time to load and fire. The ferocity with which this combat was waged was incredible. It was useless to beg the exasperated men for quarter; there was no moderation, no pity, no compassion in that bloody work of bayonet and knife. The son sank dying at his father's feet; the father forgot that he had a child-a dying child; the brother did not see that a brother was expiring a few paces from

him; the friend heard not the last groans of a friend; all natural ties were dissolved; only one feeling, one thirst, panted in every bosom -revenge. Here it was that the son of Major Peyton, but fifteen years of age, called to his father for help. A ball had shattered both his legs. When we have beaten the enemy then I will help you,' answered Peyton; 'I have here other sons to lead to glory. Forward!' But the column had advanced only a few paces farther when the major himself fell to the earth a corpse. Prodigies of valor were here performed on both sides. History will ask in vain for braver soldiers than those who have fought and fell. But of the demoniac fury of both parties one at a distance can form no idea. Even the wounded, despairing of succor, collecting their last energies of life, plunged their knives into the bosoms of foemen who lay near them still breathing.

"The success of General Hill enabled other generals to once more lead their disorganized troops back to the fight, and the contest was renewed along the whole line, and kept up until deep into the night; for everything depended upon our keeping the enemy at bay, counting, too, upon their exhaustion at last, until fresh troops could arrive to reënforce us. At length, about half past ten in the evening, the divisions of Magruder, Wise, and Holmes, came up and deployed to the front of our army.

"So soon as these reënforcements could be thrown to the front our regiments were drawn back, and as far as possible reorganized during the night, the needful officers appointed, and after the distribution of provisions, which had also fortunately arrived, measures were adopted for the gathering up of the wounded and

the burial of the dead."

In this conflict Gen. McCall was taken prisoner by the Confederates.

During the same day an attack was made upon the corps of Gen. Porter by the divisions of Gens. Wise and Holmes near Malvern Hill, but without success.

On the night of the 30th all the divisions of the Federal army were united at Malvern Hill, a strong position where the whole train, including the siege guns, were sheltered. The army was thus in communication with its transports and supplies. Five days of incessant marching and fighting had passed, during which many had been sun struck by the heat, and others from exhaustion had quitted the ranks and fell into the procession of sick and wounded. Attacked by a force far superior to itself, it had succeeded in reaching a position where it was out of danger and from which, if reënforced, it could have advanced.

Gen. McClellan immediately put his army in a position for defence by arranging his batteries along the high grounds so as not to interfere with the defence by the infantry of the sort of glacis upon which the enemy would be obliged to advance to the attack. About four P. M. on the 1st of July, the Confederate forces

advanced to storm the position. But a destructive fire of grape mowed them down until the fragments of their divisions were compelled to seek shelter in the woods. The position being within range of the gunboats they also opened a destructive fire with their hundred pounders upon the enemy. The attack was a failure, the loss of the Confederates being immense while that of the Federal troops was insignificant. On the evening after the battle the exhausted enemy retired to Richmond to appear no more, and the army of the Potomac took up a position at Harrison's Bar, a spot chosen by the engineers and naval officers as the most favorable for defence and for receiving supplies. These battles were fought at a time when the military strength of the Confederate States had been brought into the field and concentrated at Richmond. Thus the Confederate army greatly outnumbered the Federal force, reduced by losses during the campaign and by sickness, on the banks of the Chickahominy. No official reports have appeared of the losses on either side. They were not far from fifteen thousand men. On the 3d of July the War Department published a despatch from Gen. McClellan dated at Berkeley, Harrison's Bar, stating that he had lost but one gun, which broke down and was abandoned, and that the rear of his train was then within a mile of camp and only one wagon abandoned.

On the 4th of July Gen. McClellan issued the following address to his army:

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, July 4, 1862. SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC: Your

achievements of the past ten days have illustrated the ed by superior forces, and without hopes of reenforce

valor and endurance of the American soldier. Attack

ments, you have succeeded in changing your base of operations by a flank movement, always regarded as the most hazardous of military operations. You have saved all your guns except a few lost in battle, taking in return guns and colors from the enemy.

Upon your march you have been assailed, day after day, with desperate fury, by men of the same race and nation, skilfully massed and led. Under every disadvantage of number, and necessarily of position also, you have in every conflict beaten back your foes with

enormous slaughter.

Your conduct ranks you among the celebrated armies of history. None will now question what each of you may always, with pride, say: "I belonged to base complete in organization and unimpaired in spirit. the Army of the Potomac." You have reached this new The enemy may at any time attack you-we are prepared to meet them. I have personally established your lines. Let them come, and we will convert their repulse into a final defeat.

Your government is strengthening you with the resources of a great people. On this, our nation's birthday, we declare to our foes, who are rebels against the best interests of mankind, that this army shall enter the capital of the so-called Confederacy; that our na

tional Constitution shall prevail, and that the Union, which can alone insure internal peace and external security to each State, must and shall be preserved, cost what it may in time, treasure, and blood.

GEO. E. MCCLELLAN, Major-General Commanding. On the 5th President Davis issued the following address to the Confederate army:

RICHMOND, July 5, 1862. To the Army in Eastern Virginia: SOLDIERS; I congratulate you on the series of brilliant victories which, under the favor of Divine Providence, you have lately won, and as the President of the Confederate States, do heartily tender to you the thanks of the country, whose just cause you have so skilfully and heroically served. Ten days ago, an invading army, vastly superior to you in numbers and the material of war, closely beleaguered your capital and vauntingly proclaimed its speedy conquest; you marched to attack the enemy in his intrenchments; with well directed movements and death-defying valor, you charged upon him in his strong positions, drove him from field to field over a distance of more than thirty-five miles, and despite his reënforcements compelled him to seek safety under the cover of his gun boats, where he now lies cowering before the army so lately derided and threatened with entire subjugation. The fortitude with which you have borne toil and privation, the gallantry with which you have entered into each successive battle, must have been witnessed to be fully appreciated; but a grateful people will not fail to recognize you and to bear you in loved remembrance. Well may it be said of you that you have "done enough for glory;" but duty to a suffering country and to the cause of constitutional liberty, claims from you yet further effort. Let it be your pride to relax in nothing which can promote your future efficiency; your one great object being to drive the invader from your soil, and, carrying your standards beyond the outer boundaries of the Confederacy, to wring from an unscrupulous foe the recognition of your birthright, community, and independence. [Signed]

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

Early in July Gen. Halleck resigned his command of the army of the West, and in obedience to an order of the President assumed, on the 23d of July, the duties of general-in-chief of the entire army of the United States. This was the position held by Gen. McClellan, previous to his departure from Washington to conduct the peninsular campaign. Its duties had been subsequently performed by the Secretary of War, under the supervision of President Lincoln, assisted by the counsel of Maj.-Gen. Hitchcock, an elderly officer of the army. Gen. Halleck, upon assuming these duties, had his attention immediately called to the army of the Potomac. He thus relates his action in relation to it:

"The first thing to which my attention was called on my arrival here (at Washington), was the condition of the army at Harrison's Landing, on the James river. I immediately visited Gen. McClellan's headquarters for consultation. I left Washington on the 24th and returned on the 27th. The main object of this consultation was to ascertain if there was a possibility of an advance upon Richmond from Harrison's Landing, and if not to favor some plan of uniting the armies of Gen. McClellan and Gen. Pope on some other line. Not being familiar with the position and numbers of the troops in Virginia and on the coast, I took the President's estimate of the largest number of reenforcements that could be sent to the army of the Potomac.

"On the day of my arrival at Harrison's Landing Gen. McClellan was of opinion that he would require at least 50,000 additional troops. I informed him that this number could

not possibly be sent; that I was not authorized to promise him over 20,000, and that I could not well see how even that number could be safely withdrawn from other places. He took the night for considering the matter, and informed me the next morning that he would make the attempt upon Richmond with the additional 20,000, but immediately on my return to Washington he telegraphed that he would require 35,000, a force which it was impossible to send him without leaving Washington and Baltimore almost defenceless. The only alternative now left was to withdraw the army of the Potomac to some position where it could unite with that of Gen. Pope, and cover Washington at the same time that it operated against the enemy. After full consultation with my officers, I determined to attempt this junction on the Rappahannock, by bringing McClellan's forces to Aquia Creek.

"Accordingly, on the 30th of July, I telegraphed to him to send away his sick as quickly as possible, preparatory to a movement of his troops. This was preliminary to the withdrawal of his entire army, which was ordered by telegraph on the 3d of August. In order that the transfer to Aquia Creek might be made as rapidly as possible, I authorized Gen. McClellan to assume control of all the vessels in the James river and Chesapeake Bay, of which there was then a vast fleet. The quartermaster-general was also requested to send to that point all the transports that could be procured. On the 5th I received a protest from Gen. McClellan, dated the 4th, against the removal of the army from Harrison's Landing. On the 1st of August I ordered Gen. Burnside to immediately embark his troops at Newport News, transfer them to Aquia Creek, and take position opposite Fredericksburg. This officer moved with great promptness, and reached Aquia Creek on the night of the 3d. His troops were immediately landed, and the transports sent back to Gen. McClellan.

"About this time I received information that the enemy were preparing a large force to drive back Gen. Pope, and attack either Washington or Baltimore. The information was so direct and trustworthy that I could not doubt its correctness. This gave me serious uneasiness for the safety of the capital and Maryland, and I repeatedly urged upon Gen. McClellan the necessity of promptly moving his army so as to form a junction with that of Gen. Pope. The evacuation of Harrison's Landing, however, was not commenced till the 14th, eleven days after it was ordered."

The following correspondence, respecting this removal of the army of the Potomac, took place between Gen. McClellan and Gen. Halleck:

BERKELEY, Va., August 4, 12 M. Maj.-Gen. Halleck, Commander-in-Chief:

confess that it has caused me the greatest pain I ever Your telegraph of last evening is received. I must experienced, for I am convinced that the order to withdraw this army to Aquia Creek will prove disastrous in

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