BATTLE OF LEE'S MILLS.

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WILLIAMSBURG-SECOND

CHAPTER XXI.

OPERATIONS OF GENERAL MCCLELLAN AT YORKTOWN-BATTLE OF LEE'S MILL-DISASTER AND RETREAT OF THE FEDERAL TROOPS-EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN BY THE REBELS-MOTIVES OF THAT MOVEMENT-PURSUIT BY THE FEDERALS-ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN CAVALRY NEAR CONFLICT NEAR WILLIAMSBURG-INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE -GENERAL HOOKER'S DIVISION-BRILLIANT CHARGE OF GENERAL HANCOCK-FEDERAL VICTORY-SKETCH OF GENERAL HANCOCK-BATTLE AT WEST POINT-INCIDENTS OF THE CONTEST-EFFICIENCY OF THE FEDERAL ARTILLERY-ROUT OF THE REBELS-BOMBARDMENT OF SEWELL'S POINT-ITS RESULTS-EXPEDITION OF GENERAL WOOL AGAINST NORFOLK -ITS SURRENDER-OPERATIONS OF GENERAL FREMONT IN THE MOUNTAIN DEPARTMENTMCDOWELL'S DIVISION AT FREDERICKSBURG-ROUT OF COLONEL MORGAN IN TENNESSEEINCIDENTS OF THE CHASE-BOMBARDMENT OF FORT WRIGHT COMMENCED-ENGAGEMENT OF THE FEDERAL GUNBOATS AT FORT DARLING, ON JAMES RIVER-ITS INCIDENTS AND RESULTS -STEADY ADVANCE OF MCCLELLAN'S ARMY TOWARD RICHMOND-IT CROSSES THE CHICKAHOMINY-VARIOUS SKIRMISHES-DECISIVE ENGAGEMENT ANTICIPATED-GENERAL HUNTER'S ABOLITION PROCLAMATION-PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S POLICY RESPECTING IT

WHILE General Banks was driving the Rebel forces under Jackson through the valley of the Shenandoah toward Woodstock and Harrisonburg, General McDowell, with another corps of the divided army of the Potomac, was approaching Fredericksburg, which lay on a different route to Richmond. Cotemporaneous with these movements, and in concert with them, important operations were progressing under McClellan at Yorktown. The fortifications which the Rebels had constructed to defend that place were extensive and strong; and it became the employment of the Federal army during some days to erect opposing works, which, by their superior formation and their greater strength, would command them. This laborious task had been progressing with vigor under the direction of General McClellan; the most skillful engineering had already produced the most formidable results; when, on the 16th of April, 1862, a collision took place between portions of the hostile armies. The Rebels had erected a fort at Lee's Mill, about eight miles south of Yorktown, on the Warwick river, which they had manned with a number of guns. The special purpose of this fort was to protect the road leading to this mill, which passed a few hundred yards in front of it. In advance of this fort there was a bog several hundred feet wide, and above the bog a large dam. It was necessary to reduce this fort, and to expel the rebels from. its possession. Accordingly, at nine o'clock on the morning of the 16th, Captain Mott placed his battery within range, and commenced the bom bardment. The Rebels responded with spirit. The engagement continued for an hour. During its progress three of the guns of the enemy were silenced. They then ceased to fire, and evacuated the fort. The Federal sharpshooters were immediately sent forward to reconnoitre, and

to ascertain what had become of the garrison. They had wholly withdrawn from the field; and all remained quiet until about four o'clock. At that time a body of Rebel troops appeared in possession of another breast work at some distance, on which they had mounted several guns. Again Mott's battery was brought to bear upon them, and the firing during half an hour was continuous. Soon the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Vermont regiments were ordered to advance against the Rebels, who were seen to be occupying the woods adjacent to the fort in large numbers. The Green Mountain boys rushed forward bravely to the charge, wading through a bog several hundred feet wide, sometimes to their knees, sometimes to their waists in mud and water. Having passed this obstruction without flinching, they advanced, and suddenly encountered a line of concealed rifle-pits. They fired into these, and their occupants quickly fled. They then advanced again, and met another line of these concealed and deadly man-traps. The Vermonters sent a second volley among their occupants; while Mott's battery, which had also reached the scene of action, delivered a number of shell and canister among them with immense effect.

But at this stage of the action the retreating Rebels were reinforced by numerous accessions; and the Federal troops, receiving no assistance, were compelled to fall back. During their advance the enemy had opened the dam, and had flooded the bog, by which means it had become covered with several additional feet of water. A number of the wounded, in passing through it, sank exhausted in the mud, and were strangled to death. Others, while slowly retreating, were shot by the pursuing Rebels, fell and expired in the swampy waste. In vain seven companies of the sixth Vermont turned heroically on the foe, and made every effort to cover the retreat of their comrades. Overwhelming numbers gave the enemy a resistless advantage. At length all except the wounded and the dying reached a position of safety, and the battle ended. The Federal loss in this disaster was forty-four killed, one hundred wounded and missing. The loss of the Rebels is unknown; although appearances indicated that they paid dearly for their temporary and inconsiderable victory.

Meanwhile preparations for the general assault of Yorktown proceeded with energy. To the astonishment, however, of the Federal troops, and eventually of the whole nation, the vast army which the Rebels had assembled at that place, suddenly evacuated all their works before daylight on the 4th of May, 1862, and commenced their line of retreat toward Richmond. During the preceding night they had kept up a heavy firing till after midnight; at that time it suddenly ceased; they then commenced to dismount their guns and prepare to retire. The first intimation which. the Federal commanders received of the retreat of the enemy was when the Federal pickets reconnoitered their position on the morning of the 4th ;

EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN BY THE REBELS.

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and, cautiously advancing, found the intrenchments entirely deserted. The news spread with rapidity along the whole Federal line. The regi mental bands commenced to play, filling the air with sweet, exultant melodies. General McClellan issued an order to prepare to follow the enemy instantly, each man provided with two days' rations. About eight o'clock on the morning of the 4th all was ready, and the pursuit began toward Williamsburg, on the heels of the flying Rebels. The first and sixth cavalry, with four batteries of artillery, led the advance under the orders of General Stoneman.

The evacuation of Yorktown by the Rebel army was one of the most im portant and singular events of the war. It had evidently been the original intention of the Rebel chiefs to defend that position to the last extremity; and they had assembled there for that purpose sixty or seventy thousand men, commanded by Generals Johnston, Lee, and Magruder. It is a probable conjecture that the most potent consideration which induced them to withdraw from a position which they had so carefully fortified, was that they might encounter the Federal army at a safe distance from the Federal gunboats on the York river. The painful lesson taught them at Pittsburg Landing had not been forgotten. It is also probable that they hoped, by a single decisive victory nearer to the Rebel capital, to break the strength of the Federal army in the Peninsula. The trophies which they left behind them at Yorktown were not inconsiderable, consisting of seventy-one cannon of various calibre, with their carriages and implements complete, and several magazines. Without stopping in the deserted works, the Federal army pressed forward, through a desolated country, in the wake of the retreating Rebels. About two miles from Williamsburg, the Federal advance under General Stoneman encountered their rear guard, on the afternoon of the 4th of May, and a vigorous engagement ensued. Just as the Federal advance, emerging from the woods, obtained the first glimpse of Williamsburg, they also saw the Rebel rear guard. A regiment of cavalry was seen approaching in line of battle about a mile distant. Captain Gibson's battery was immediately ordered to the front, to open upon them as they advanced. At the same time a portion of the sixth United States cavalry were deployed as skirmishers to the right and left. Notwithstanding the havoc produced by the battery on the Confederate squadrons, they continued steadily to advance. As they did so, a fire was opened on the Federals from an earthwork to the right, which had seemed to be deserted. At that crisis portions of the first and sixth cavalry were ordered to charge upon the Rebel horse. The order was executed in an admirable manner. A desperate hand-tohand fight ensued, during which the enemy broke and fled. The pursuit was not continued for any distance on account of the absence of the infantry. After the close of the action, the Rebel troops continued their line of retreat toward Williamsburg. General Hancock's brigade arrived

at the scene of conflict soon afterward; but further operations were postponed for the present. The Federal loss in this engagement was two killed and twenty wounded.

But a conflict of much greater importance and extent impended at Williamsburg. The Rebels had determined not to permit the Federal troops to occupy that place without a struggle. Accordingly, on the morning of Monday, May 5th, as General Hooker's division approached the breast works which the enemy had erected in the vicinity of the town their guns opened upon the Federal troops with great fury. The approach to these works lay through a series of ravines and swamps, which rendered the operations of the Union forces extremely difficult. The Rebel batteries were supported by a very numerous body of troops commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. Nevertheless, their assailants marched forward to the combat with an admirable spirit, which gave the assurance of ultimate success.

The battle began at seven o'clock in the morning, when three brigades of the enemy assailed a portion of the division of General Hooker. General Grover's brigade was the first which encountered them. It consisted of the first and eleventh Massachusetts, the second New Hampshire, the twenty-sixth Pennsylvania, with a regular battery. The remainder of General Hooker's division acted as a reserve. The contest continued during the entire day, and was marked by various and often painful vicissitudes. At one time the ammunition of the Federal troops became exhausted, and the enemy had nearly gained possession of their batteries before a fresh supply could be brought forward. At that crisis the Rebels succeeded in spiking several of the Federal guns, though these were afterward retaken. The most important and decisive operation of the day was a brilliant and skilful movement of General Hancock, by which he suc ceeded in turning the left of the line of the enemy. From that moment the resistance of the Rebels became less vigorous, and their ultimate defeat inevitable. Toward the close of the day the division of General Kearney reached the scene of conflict, and joined in the engagement. During its progress Generals Heintzelman, Hooker, and Frank Patterson had their horses shot under them. The Rebels fought on this occasion with a great preponderance of numbers and advantage of position over the Federals; but the nature of the ground was such as to render it im possible for a larger body of the latter to be brought into the action. The operations of Hancock's brigade, which decided the fortunes of the day, were specially worthy of admiration. The furious charges which they made on the enemy proved resistless. The havoc in their lines became terrible; they at length broke and retired in a general and tumultuous retreat. They left nearly seven hundred of their dead upon the field. The Federal troops then pressed on and occupied their deserted position. The loss of the Union forces was three hundred killed and