The three Federal corps engaged numbered, according to their return of May 31, 1862, 51,543 present for duty. The four Confederate divisions engaged were those of Smith, Longstreet, D. H. Hill, and Huger. According to the return of May 21, 1862, the strength of Smith was 10,592, that of Longstreet 13,816, and that of D. H. Hill (deducting Crump's brigade and Ward's command detached) was 9,474. The strength of Huger, according to Johnston's estimate, was about 7,000. Hence the combined strength of the Confederate troops engaged was 40,882.

According to the tables in the Official War Records, the Confederate loss in the battle was 6,134, and the Northern loss was 5,031. But there has always been something peculiar about the losses in this battle. Since the war the Confederate loss has been constantly growing and the Federal loss diminishing. Although the latter has now been reduced to 5,031, McClellan originally reported it at 5,739. On June 4th he wrote to the President:

"I have to be very cautious now. Our loss in the late battle, will probably exceed five thousand. I have not yet full returns. On account of the effect it might have on our own men and the enemy, I request that you will regard this information as confidential for a few days."*

On the same day he wrote to the Secretary of War: "The losses in the battle of the 31st and 1st will amount to seven thousand. Regard this as confidential for the present."†

On the other hand, there has been some mystery about the Confederate returns of loss. In the original report of Longstreet, as made to Johnston, the loss of

* McClellan's Own Story, p. 386.

† Ibid., p. 386.

the troops under him is stated at about three thousand, which was after the report of Dr. Cullen, his surgeon in chief, had been filed, for that report is mentioned in Longstreet's report. After the original was sent to Johnston a summary of the loss seems to have been added to the copy retained, it nowhere appears by whom. The loss on the left was twelve hundred and eighty-three.*

Even if the Confederate loss was the greater, it was not as much greater as in the Seven Days' battles, which McClellan alone considers a Northern triumph. The contemporaneous telegrams to Sumner, allaying his fears of an attack, and the testimony of Heintzelman, showing that Sumner, the leader of the relief force, was himself calling for aid, do not indicate any very great elation. The elation was only manifested when the Southern troops had withdrawn to their camps in consequence of the wounding of the commander, and free from pursuit. It is true that General Hooker in his report graphically describes a bayonet charge by his troops, when "the enemy were thrown into wild confusion, throwing away their arms, hats, and coats, and broke through the forest in the direction of Richmond." It is also true that General Sickles in his report claims to have picked up Enfield rifles marked "Tower, 1862," and muskets marked "Virginia," and other stores. But when the reports of these two officers are read, the Chancellorsville campaign and their dispatches then irresistibly rise to the mind. After that great disaster Hooker did not hesitate to issue an address to his army congratulating it on a victory; and during the operations

* On the subject of this alteration of the original report of Longstreet, see General Johnston's letter, published in vol. iv, p. 42, of the Southern Historical Society Papers.

he telegraphed to Sedgwick that the Confederates were "flying, trying to save their trains," and on that occasion also it was Sickles who was "among them."*

The experience of these officers at Seven Pines no more justifies such statements than their exploits at Chancellorsville. If Sickles picked up any small arms at Seven Pines, they must have been inferior arms exchanged during the fight by the Confederates for the better muskets of their foes, and could not have been very numerous, for D. H. Hill had already gleaned the field. Sickles, at all events, did not pick up ten pieces of artillery and four regimental colors.

The mere loss of men is no indication of the result of a battle. The victors may lose the greater number and still be entitled to the palm of victory. When Marlborough gained the fight at Malplaquet, capturing the French intrenchments, no one denied him the honors of success because his loss was greater. Those are the victors who capture the field and hold it till they retire of their own volition. A defending army is the victor when it stops the advance of its foe. After Seven Pines McClellan did not once jeopardize Richmond by any forward movement. After it few additional troops of his ever crossed the Chickahominy. Seven Pines made the Seven Days possible.

Seven Pines and Shiloh may well be considered counterparts. The one was the first great contest in the East, the other in the West. In each a Johnston boldly changed to the offensive and moved forward to drive his foe back upon a difficult river. In each the Southern chief was struck down at the head of his men, and their successors failed to follow up the plans of their predecessors. In each the fighting on both sides was worthy

* Swinton's Army of the Potomac, p. 284.

of veterans, and the losses such as even veterans are not supposed to be capable of enduring. In each the result, was to restore confidence to the Confederates and to convince them of their final triumph, despite the disasters of Donelson and New Orleans. The young nation, buoyant with hope, could again look the world in the face, confiding in the prowess of her troops and the gallantry of generals who led the van and taught their undisciplined soldiery by personal example how to charge, and, if need be, how to die.

CHAPTER XI.

TENNESSEE.

WHEN Johnston was struck by the shell, the severity of the blow deprived him of consciousness, which did not return till he was placed upon a stretcher; and the first thing he observed was that his sword and pistols were missing. It was his father's Revolutionary sword, which he greatly prized, and he valued the pistols scarcely less, for they had been a present to him from Colonel Colt, their inventor. On his expressing deep regret at their loss, several of his soldiers volunteered to hunt them up on the field. They were found by Drury L. Armistead, one of his couriers, at much personal risk. In appreciation of such devotion one of the pistols was presented to him.

The day after his injury Johnston was borne to the house of Mr. Crenshaw, on Church Hill, in Richmond, followed by the anxious prayers of his army and the entire South. His wound was exceptionally painful, the fragment of shell having broken several ribs, inducing a constant tendency of his lungs to adhere to his side, and continually threatening pleurisy. During the exciting period of the Seven Days' battles he was within hearing of the sound of the conflict, chafing, a second Ivanhoe in the besieged castle, at lying like a bedridden monk, while the game that gave him freedom or death was being played by the hand of others. The many kind