BUTLER'S DISPATCH.

369

without meeting the enemy. About nine o'clock, Smith struck the railroad at Port Walthall Junction, and Gillmore at Chester Station, and the work of destruction commenced. But little resistance was made by the enemy, and it was evident that he had been taken wholly by surprise.

Butler now determined to advance on Petersburg, and the army, the same afternoon, moved forward. The place was held by Beauregard with a large force, who had been ordered up from the south to take charge of affairs around Richmond.

Butler, elated with his easy success, and fully believing that he could hold possession of the railroad communication between Richmond and Petersburg, sent the following telegram to Washington, summing up his achievements, and announcing the separation of Beauregard's forces from those of Lee :

"MAY 9, 1864.

Our operations may be summed up in a few words. With one thousand and seven hundred cavalry we have advanced up the Peninsula, forced the Chickahominy, and have safely brought them to our present position. These were colored cavalry, and are now holding our advanced pickets toward Richmond.

General Kautz, with three thousand cavalry, from Suffolk, on the same day with our movement up James River, forced the Blackwater, burned the railroad bridge at Stony Creek, below Petersburg, cutting in two Beauregard's force at that point.

We have landed here, intrenched ourselves, destroyed many miles of railroad, and got a position which, with proper supplies, we can hold out against the whole of Lee's army. I have ordered up the supplies.

Beauregard, with a large portion of his force, was left south by the cutting of the railroads by Kautz. That portion which reached Petersburg under Hill, I have whipped to-day, killing and wounding many, and taking many prisoners, after a severe and well-contested fight.

General Grant will not be troubled with any further reinforcements to Lee from Beauregard's force.

BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, Major-General."

More or less fighting occurred between the hostile forces, without bringing on a decisive battle, and Butler, at length, determined to advance against Fort Darling, located on

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ADVANCE OF BUTLER

Drury's Bluff. The batteries here were the main obstacle that prevented our gun-boats from moving as near to Richmond as the depth of water would allow, and if they were once silenced, it was believed that the advance of the fleet would compel the evacuation of the rebel Capital.

Butler having reached Kingsland Creek, formed line of battle on the south-east side, in view of James River. The fleet, in the meantime, moved to the vicinity of the fort to co-operate with the land forces.

The news of Hancock's brilliant success at Spottsylvania, reached the army on this day, causing immense cheering all along the front.

For five days there had been more or less fighting, and much of the time in a pouring rain, but no decisive advan tage had been gained by either side. Butler succeeded in taking some of the outer works of Fort Darling; and from the daily bulletins, published by war correspondents, the public expected the speedy capture of this stronghold. Foiled here, Butler attempted to get toward Petersburg the fall of which had been prematurely announced-but meeting with strong opposition, he, on Monday, changed front, and moved toward Richmond. His line, at this time, was three miles long, extending from the James River to the Richmond and Petersburg railroad. He had been molested so little in the occupancy of this road, that he seemed to think the enemy had abandoned all hope of re-occupying it, and hence neglected to take those precautions which a skillful Commander would have adopted.

Gillmore, one of the ablest engineers of the age, and of much experience in the field, advised him to throw up intrenchments so as to be able to hold this important position against any attack of the enemy. But Butler, in a pompous manner, replied, that he was acting on the offensive, and not defensive, and 'refused to follow his advice.

CAPTURE OF HECKMAN

371

Gillmore, clearly, did not believe that the rebels had abandoned all hope of re-taking this important railroad, and the event proved the correctness of his opinion. The movement to City Point had evidently been a surprise, and had Butler advanced at once, before the enemy recovered from it, Petersburg, if not Richmond, could have been easily captured.

But the five days, or more, that he had been campaigning in the open country, had been improved by Beauregard in hurrying up troops, which, the moment they were well in hand, he meant to hurl with resistless fury on our army. Monday morning, the 16th, was selected for the assault, and a better time could not have been chosen. The night had been exceedingly dark, and toward morning a dense fog 'wrapped everything in impenetrable gloom. Shrouded in this, the enemy came noiselessly down on our unsuspecting line, striking it first on the right flank. Heckman's brigade was posted here, on which the onset came with the suddenness of a thunder-clap.

The fog lay so thick over the fields, that a person, a few rods distant, was invisible; hence the proximity of the ene my was unknown till his unearthly yells rose out of the mist, right in the face of the brigade. Heckman, than whom a braver man never lived, dashed through the gloom, shouting to his men to stand firm, and succeeded, by great effort, in rallying a portion of his brigade, whose loud cheers soon answered the defiant yells of their assailants. So dense was the fog, that the troops were brought breast to breast, before they could see each other, and the fight became a handto-hand contest. Wholly unable to see the ground occupied by the enemy, Heckman could not tell what disposition to make of his regiments-in fact, was totally ignorant of the strength of the force opposed to him.

Under such circumstances, the contest could not be other.

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A NOVEL DEFENSE.

wise than a short one. The rebels knew the exact position of the brigade, and swiftly overlapping it, took it in rear, and captured nearly the whole, and with it its leader, the gallant Heckman. Two regiments of Gillmore's Corps had been detached from it, and, under Weitzel, lay in rear of the brigade as a reserve. These, aroused by the firing and yells, that rent the fog in advance, sprung to their arms, and were led, by Colonel Drake, swiftly forward toward the spot where the conflict was raging. Charging fiercely on the exultant foe, they bore him back, and rescued some three or four hundred of our prisoners. The rebels rallying, charged back, but could not move those noble regiments from their places.

The battle raged furiously here, for a long time, for both sides brought up reinforcements to this vital point. The contest, however, was not confined to the right flank, but drifted steadily down the line for two miles and a half.

"The rebel plan of massing brigade after brigade, in line of battle, and hurling them in rotation against us, was here tried with very bad results. General Smith, with that forcthought which is characteristic of him, anticipating, some such move on the part of the enemy, had ordered a large quantity of telegraph wire to be intertwisted among the trees and undergrowth which lay in front of our position. Wister and Burnham received the order and obeyed it. Heckman failed, unfortunately, to get it. When, therefore, the rebels charged upon our intrenchments, in the dull light, hundreds of them were tripped down, and unable to tell the cause. As they lay upon the ground, our musketry-fire kept many of them from ever rising more. As with the first line, so with the second. They met the same fate. The third line fared no better, and this simple agency of a telegraphic wire, interlaced among the trees, played more havoc in the rebel

RETREAT OF BUTLER.

373

ranks than anything else. The dead lay like autumn leaves before the front of Wistar and Burnham."

About eight o'clock, there was a lull, and Butler, now thoroughly alarmed, ordered a retreat. For the first time in his life, he had experienced a real rebel charge, and his confidence in his own powers seemed suddenly to vanish. Notwithstanding the disaster that had overtaken the army, Gillmore was not disposed to abandon so readily this position on the railroad, the holding of which was so necessary to ultimate success; and when he received the order to fall back, sent an urgent remonstrance to Butler to withdraw it, saying that he believed he could hold his position. Receiving, in reply, a peremptory order to retreat, he reluctantly obeyed, and the army fell back to its intrenched position at Bermuda Hundred.

Thus, in a single morning, the whole value of the Peninsula movement was lost, and might as well have not been undertaken at all, for the rebels not only had possession of the railroad again, by which they could forward troops and supplies to Lee, but had cooped up Butler in his strong position, so that he was as powerless to make any aggressive movement, as though locked up in an iron cage. There never was a movement begun with such a promise of success, that ended so disgracefully.

Grant saw a most important part of his great plan thus suddenly broken up, thereby increasing four-fold the magni tude of the work before him. The chagrin and feeling with which he received the news, may be gathered from the manner in which he alludes to the subject in his official report. He says:

"On the 16th, the enemy attacked General Butler in his position in front of Drury's Bluff. He was forced back, or drew back, into his intrenchments between the forks of the James and Appomattox Rivers-the enemy intrenching