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The warlike spirit was now fairly roused; the mighty breast of the nation heaved with powerful and patriotic emotions, while hope buoyed up the spirits of the brave, and it was ardently hoped and believed that the war would be of short continuance. In twenty-eight battles, of more or less importance, the Union army had been victorious in twenty. Public expectation already saw the rebellion crushed, and rebels laying down their arms in submission. Thus ended the first year of the war.

CHAPTER XVII.

MAY AND JUNE, 1862.

BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG-COLONEL DWIGHT'S BRAVERY—BERRY AND KEARNEY RUSH TO THE RESCUE-GALLANT BEHAVIOR OF HOOKER'S BRIGADE-HANCOCK'S SPLENDID BAYONET CHARGE-GREAT VALOR OF THE ELEVENTH MASSACHUSETTS-FRANKLIN ATTACKS THE ENEMY AT WEST POINT-FALL OF NORFOLK-DESTRUCTION OF THE MERRIMACFORT DARLING BOMBARDED-MCCLELLAN ADVANCES ON RICHMONDBATTLE OF HANOVER COURT HOUSE-FLOOD IN THE CHICKAHOMINYBATTLE OF FAIR OAKS-ROUT OF CASEY'S DIVISION-BRAVERY OF THE TROOPS UNDER HEINTZELMAN-THE SECOND EXCELSIOR.

SEVERAL movements of the great Army of the Potomac were, for the sake of unity, anticipated in the last chapter. Yorktown was occupied on the 4th of May, 1862, and the pursuit of the retreating Confederates resulted in the battle of Williamsburg, on the 5th.

General Hooker, of Heintzelman's, and General Smith, of Keyes' division, with their brigades, had come up the preceding evening, and next morning moved on the enemy, who were commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. Hooker advanced through the woods on his right, and Smith on his left. A heavy rain drenched the soldiers to the skin. They had bivouacked the night before in the rain, and now pressed on through it. The enemy's batteries, protected by trees in front, opened fire on Hooker's brigade as it approached. The tree tops presented a great obstruction, as they lay in the way of the troops, and any attempt to remove them, being under fire, would be deadly. The men endeavored to make their way over the fallen timber, and many fell from the musketry poured upon them, from an enemy partly concealed. One of the Federal guns was now advanced, but sunk in the mud, and the enemy rushing on in great force, the horses were shot to prevent capture. Hooker sent back for reinforcements, and boldly maintained his ground by charging the enemy, till the expected aid should arrive. Hour after hour passed, and yet it came not, and the wearied troops, with brave efforts, would now

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advance on overwhelming numbers, and again be compelled to fall back.

Heintzelman, exposed to balls which rained around him, as he coolly sat on horseback, became exceedingly anxious, seeing his best troops melting away like frost, and unless supported, would have to fall back. The enemy already had captured four guns; the gunners lay dead where they had fallen. The Excelsior brigade occupied the place of the New Jersey brigade, whose ammunition was spent or wetted. Fiercer now was the strife, and the woods resounded with the din of battle. Colonel Dwight, with the First Excelsior, though bleeding from his wounds, and told that the rebels were outflanking him, determined to die rather than yield, and his brave men, losing a third of their number, stood firm as a rock until reinforced. Kearney's division now hurried up, and the soldiers, casting away their haversacks, rapidly advanced in the direction of the firing. The appearance of Berry, at the head of his brave brigade, was a joyful sight to Heintzelman, and when the two Michigan regiments and the Thirty-seventh New York drew near, he waved his cap and shouted, while an answering cheer was sent up by the men as they hurried on through the rain.

For nearly eight hours, Hooker's brigade had borne the brunt of the battle alone. The help which now came, at three o'clock in the afternoon, was very opportune. Berry at once attacked the enemy, and the Fifth Michigan being galled by their fire, charged with the bayonet, and left one hundred and forty-three rebel dead in their destructive path. Kearney now advanced.

The wounded of Hooker's brigade uttered groans and distressing cries as the ambulances bore them to the rear. This was not calculated to animate the exhausted troops of Kearney, marching in the rain. By order of Heintzelman, the bands struck up the soul-inspiring tunes which have never failed to rouse the brave. On hearing the notes, the wounded forgot their sufferings, and their loud cheers reechoed with those of the brave men who now advanced with renewed courage to where the firing was hottest. Berry and Birney, with impetuous charges, rolled the tide of battle back upon the enemy. Hooker's brigade, which, after the exhaustion of its ammunition, had relied on the

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bayonet, was now sent to the rear. The Eleventh Massa chusetts, of Grover's brigade, commanded by Colonel Blaisdell, was greatly distinguished on this bloody field by breaking the enemy's line and scattering his best regiments.

Peck, in the meantime, advancing up the road near York river, encountered the enemy's centre. He stood in the open space near Fort Magruder, and though assailed by its shot and shell, and the deadly fire from the rifle pits, held his ground with tenacious firmness all day, being sheltered by pine woods. While it was thus with the left and centre, General Hancock moved on the extreme right, and having occupied some earthworks, was assailed in the afternoon by a large force of the enemy. To prevent them from cutting off his retreat, he began slowly to retire in line of battle, followed by the enemy, cheering and firing as they advanced. The artillery being secured in a safe position, he halted his twenty-five hundred dauntless men, and sweeping the enemy's ranks with a terrible volley as they ascended the slope, followed up his success with a resist less bayonet charge, which broke the lines of the foe, and sent him flying over the field. The victorious troops entered Williamsburg with flying banners, shouts, and beating drums.

The Federal loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, was two thousand. This loss fell mostly on the troops of Hooker. The small loss of only twenty men by Hancock, called forth the praises of McClellan to the two charging regiments.

Meanwhile, Franklin had ascended the York river in transports, and was drawing near West Point to cut off the rebel retreat. He landed on the afternoon of the 6th, and was attacked by the rebels. In a battle that ensued, the Federal loss was two hundred and fifty killed and wounded, and about five hundred prisoners. The rebels lost one thousand killed and wounded.

On the 8th of May, the Galena and two other gunboats ran the batteries on the James river, and proceeded toward Richmond. General Wool, on the 10th, landed at Willoughby Point with five thousand men, and moved on Norfolk. After the fall of Yorktown, it had been evacuated by the rebel General Huger. The Union forces were met by a delegation from the city, and this immense dépôt, which

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furnished the foe with heavy cannon, once more fell into our hands, without loss. The fate of Yorktown had sealed that of Norfolk and of the Merrimac, which was blown up by her crew on the night succeeding the day of General Wool's occupation. Her end was a triumph to the fleet, as her presence in the Chesapeake had been considered an insult. She could now do no more mischief, and left the Galena, Naugatuck, and other vessels, free to go up the James river, attack the batteries on its banks, and feel their way up to the rebel capital.

The navy yard had been destroyed, and as much injury as time allowed done to the granite dry dock, before the rebels evacuated Norfolk. Sewall's Point, and all the batteries in the vicinity, with a great quantity of heavy ordnance, came into the Federal possession. General Viele commanded as military governor, to the common satisfaction, though little Union sentiment existed in the city.

On her way up the James river, the Galena passed or silenced the batteries till she came almost opposite Williamsburg. The Monitor, Aristook, Naugatuck, and Port Royal accompanied her, and in a sharp bend, seven miles from the city, they came upon Fort Darling, on a bluff one hundred and fifty feet high, strongly fortified with heavy guns, and commanding the river.

On the morning of the 15th, the Galena ran within six hundred yards of the battery, and, swinging across the channel, began to shell the fort. The Monitor, after finding a proper elevation for her guns, hurled her heavy shot on the works. The other vessels took up their positions, and a heavy cannonading began. The heavy shot of the fort, in the two hours during which the fight had lasted, pierced the Galena in the deck and sides. She continued to maintain the unequal contest till twenty-four of her crew were killed or wounded, her ammunition expended, and eighteen shots in her side. She was at last compelled to drop out of the fight. The Monitor was hit three times, but, except the bending of some plates in her armor, was unscathed. The bursting of her one hundred pound Parrott gun disabled the Naugatuck. The other vessels, however, received little damage. This reverse to the Federal gunboats greatly encouraged the rebels.

Meanwhile, McClellan was moving his army steadily