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once lived Mrs. Martha Custis, afterward Mrs. George Washington, and the marriage of the illustrious pair took place beneath its roof. Mrs. Robert E. Lee, who was the greatgranddaughter of Mrs. Washington, left the White House on the approach of the Union army. McClellan had gathered at this place great quantities of provisions and ammunition, which were carried from there to the Chickahominy in wagons. It was some of the wagons engaged in this work which Stuart had burned in his raid, and Lee saw that if he could cut off McClellan entirely from White House, he would have him at his mercy.

To deceive the authorities at Washington, and to keep them from sending troops to McClellan, General Lee sent reinforcements to Jackson, taking care to let it be known; but at the same time he ordered Jackson to march as rapidly as possible to his aid, and before it was known that he had left the Shenandoah Valley, Jackson had reached Ashland, twelve miles from Richmond, with twenty-five thousand men. This brought General Lee's forces up to about ninety thousand men, or not quite as many as in the Union army arrayed against him.

Stonewall Jackson's victories in the Valley had won him great renown and everybody was anxious to see him, but he was so modest and retiring in his habits that he shunned the public gaze; and his dress was generally so shabby that many did not know him even when he did appear riding awkwardly along on his old sorrel horse. It is said that once, about the time he joined Lee's army, he was riding with some of his officers through a field of oats. The owner, seeing the trespassers, ran after them in a rage, and angrily addressing Jackson demanded his name, that he might report him at headquarters.

"Jackson is my name, sir," replied the general quietly. "What Jackson?" inquired the farmer.

"General Jackson."

"What! Stonewall Jackson!" exclaimed the man in astonishment.

"That is what they call me," replied Jackson.

"General," said the man, taking off his hat, "ride over my

whole field. Do whatever you like with it, sir."

CHAPTER XXII.

SEVEN DAYS' FIGHT.

LEE ATTACKS MCCLELLAN.-BEAVER DAM CREEK.-BATTLE OF MECHANICSVILLE.-A CHANGE OF BASE.-BATTLE OF GAINES'S MILLS.-GENERAL MCCALL'S ESCAPE.-MCCLELLAN'S RETREAT TO THE JAMES RIVER.-THE WHITE OAK SWAMP.-BATTLE OF SAVAGE'S STATION.BATTLE OF FRAZIER'S FARM.-MCCALL A PRISONER.-BATTLE OF MALVERN HILL.-MCCLELLAN AT HARRISON'S LANDING.-END OF THE SEVEN DAYS' FIGHT.-DEPARTURE OF THE FRENCH PRINCES.-PRESIDENT LINCOLN VISITS MCCLELLAN.-THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND MORE VOLUNTEERS.

S soon as Jackson arrived, General Lee, leaving about twenty-eight thousand men, under Magruder and Huger, to guard the defences around Richmond, crossed the Chickahominy above McClellan's army, with about thirty-five thousand men under the two Hills and Longstreet. His plan was to join Jackson, which would increase his force to sixty thousand men, and then to attack Porter, who had only about thirty thousand men, the rest of McClellan's army being the other side of the river, getting ready to advance toward Richmond. Jackson was delayed a day, and after waiting till about four o'clock in the afternoon of June 26 for him, the Confederates made an attack on Porter, whose corps was strongly posted behind earthworks on the bank of a little stream called Beaver Dam Creek. Every effort was made to storm this position, but the Union troops, fighting behind their defences, on which were mounted large siege guns, repelled every attack, and at night the Confederates retired with a loss of more than three thousand men, while Porter's loss was only as many hundred. This battle, the first of the famous seven days' fight before Richmond, is sometimes called the battle of Beaver Dam Creek, and sometimes that of Mechanicsville, because it was not far from the village of that

name.

Some writers think that McClellan ought to have crossed the Chickahominy with the rest of his troops as soon as Lee showed that he was trying to get between him and White House, and marched directly against Richmond, which might have easily fallen into his hands. He would thus have crushed Magruder's force and cut off Lee from his supplies, which he

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BATTLE OF GAINES'S MILLS.

265

drew from Richmond, after which he would have stood a good chance of defeating him. But McClellan, who believed that Richmond was held by a very large force, says he did not have provisions enough for such a movement, and so he decided to change his base" to the James River—that is, to move his army across to the James, so that his provisions could be sent to him by that river instead of by the York, from which Lee was cutting him off. But this was a very difficult thing to do, for Porter's corps had to be taken across the Chickahominy in the face of an ever watchful enemy.

On the night following the battle of Mechanicsville most of the heavy guns and the wagons were carried from Beaver Dam across the river, and in the morning the troops fell back to a new position on a range of low hills between Cold Harbor and the Chickahominy. The object of this was to keep back the enemy long enough to give time to save the stores and to cross the river by the bridges, which were just behind. The Confederates followed Porter closely, but he had taken a firm stand on the hills before they attacked him, they having waited for Stonewall Jackson to come up. About two o'clock in the afternoon, A. P. Hill began the battle on the right of the Union line, but many of his troops being men who had never been under fire before, he was repulsed after a fight of two hours and driven back with great loss. Longstreet then attacked on the Union left, and Stonewall Jackson and D. H. Hill coming up an attack was made all along the line. General McClellan had sent to Porter all the reinforcements he could spare, but Magruder, who commanded the Confederate troops on the Richmond side, made a great show of moving his troops from one place to another, and the Union generals on that side, thinking that he had a very much larger force than he really had, and not knowing when he was going to attack, were afraid to let many of their men go. So it happened that Magruder with only twenty-eight thousand men kept in check seventy thousand Union troops on one side of the Chickahominy, while Lee with sixty thousand men fought thirty-five thousand Union troops on the other side. At last, when all the Confederates attacked at once, Jackson stormed the height on the Union left, capturing fourteen pieces of artillery. The Union line began to give way at all points, and the soldiers retreated in much confusion

toward the bridges. About dusk two fresh brigades came over from the other side and made a stand, and encouraged by them. the broken lines were reformed. Night soon set in and the Confederates stopped the pursuit, and under cover of the darkness the weary soldiers silently retreated across the river, destroying the bridges behind them. Thus ended the battle of Gaines's Mills, so named from a flouring-mill and saw-mill which stood near the field. The Confederates called it the battle of the Chickahominy. The loss of each side is not accurately known; but it is thought that the Unionists had about six thousand killed and wounded and two thousand taken prisoners. They also lost twenty-two cannons. The Confederate loss in men was

probably about the same.

General McCall had a narrow escape while riding over the field the night after the battle. He and Major Lewis of his staff mistook the road in the darkness, and after riding some distance were greeted by the sharp "halt" of a sentry.

try.

"Friends," answered the officer.

"Advance, friend, and give the countersign," said the sen

An orderly that is, a soldier who attends an officer to carry messages, etc.-who attended the General, rode forward at command and answered:

66

"Escort with the General."

"General what?"

"General McCall."

"Of what army?" asked the sentinel.

"The Army of the Potomac," replied the General himself, riding forward.

"Yes, yes," responded the sentinel, "but on what side?" "The command of Major-General McClellan," said the General.

"What!" yelled the sentry, and he and others with him. raised their rifles. Major Lewis, who had noticed by their voices that the men were Southerners, had wheeled around, and seizing the General's horse by the rein, he sank his spurs into his horse's side, and dashed off, followed by the rifle balls of the Confederate pickets. Though fired at more than twenty times, they got back safe to their own lines; but all their horses were hit, and one was killed.

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BATTLE OF SAVAGE'S STATION.

267

On Saturday, June 28, McClellan began the march toward the James River, but Lee knew nothing of the movement until the night of that day. The Confederates opened an artillery fire in two or three places, but finding the Union works fully manned, they concluded that McClellan's army was still within its intrenchments. Two days before, a large quantity of stores had been moved from White House to Savage's Station, south of the Chickahominy, on the line of the Richmond and York River Railroad. What could not be carried away had been burned, and the vessels there had been sent round to the James River. When the retreat began, the commanders were ordered to load the wagons at Savage's Station with only necessary things, and to destroy the rest; so vast quantities of clothing and provisions were burned. About twenty-five hundred sick and wounded had to be left behind in the hospitals. The line of retreat lay across a great morass called the White Oak Swamp, through which the trains of wagons and the troops had to pass by one narrow road. All day and all night long lines of wagons laden with stores, and droves of beef-cattle intended for food, passed over this causeway, followed by men and horses. General McClellan himself left Savage's Station on the morning of the 29th, and about the same time Lee, who had stayed on the north side of the Chickahominy, because he thought that McClellan intended to cross the lower Chickahominy and move down the Peninsula toward Yorktown, crossed the river and began the pursuit. Magruder, who had been ordered to follow the Union army, attacked Sumner's corps, which was guarding the rear. The fighting was severe from four o'clock in the afternoon until eight in the evening, but Magruder was repulsed, and Sumner crossed the swamp in the night, destroying the bridge behind him. This is commonly called the battle of Savage's Station.

Stonewall Jackson followed through the swamp on the morning of June 30, but the Union troops had stopped on the other side and planted cannons which commanded the site of the bridge, so that he could not rebuild it. He tried to force a passage, but was repulsed. While he was trying to advance by this route, Longstreet and A. P. Hill were marching by a road west of the swamp, which crossed the road on which the Union troops were retreating. The Confederates attacked about