A month passed by. General McClellan was preparing for a siege. There were six bridges built across the Chickahominy, which required labor day and night. The men were obliged to work up to their arms in water. Miles of corduroy roads were constructed. The ground was so swampy and marshy that nothing could be done by horses. All the timber hauled to construct the bridges and the batteries was drawn by the men. The month of June was rainy. There were frequent storms, succeeded by hot sunshine. Sickness, in all its frightful forms, made its appearance. The men became discouraged. It was expected, day after day, that the attack would commence; but the commanding officers issued orders that no batteries should open till all were ready. The army, meanwhile, began to be depleted of troops. Thousands were sent to the hospitals, and other thousands were carried out to their last resting-place, on the banks of the dark, dismal, sluggish stream, which soon became the river of death.

Re-enforcements were called for and received: McCall's division of Pennsylvania Reserves, which reached the army on the 12th and 13th of June.

On the night of the 13th, General Stewart, with 1,800 Rebel cavalry, appeared in rear of the army. He came first upon two squadrons of Regular cavalry, at Hanover Old Church, overpowering and capturing them; then pushed on to Gorlick's Landing, on the Pamunkey, burning two schooners and fourteen wagons; then moved to the railroad at Tunstall's Station.

men.

The train first arriving was one going east with sick and wounded The engineer saw the cavalrymen on the track as he rounded a curve. They motioned him to stop, but he put on more steam, and the train rushed past with lightning speed. Hundreds of bullets were aimed at him, but he escaped unharmed.

General Stewart crossed the Chickahominy at Long Bridge, below Bottom's Bridge, and came upon a Union hospital at Baltimore Cross Roads. He placed a guard over the hospital, and treated the sick men humanely. But the fright was very disastrous to many who found themselves thus suddenly in the hands of the enemy. Several died

during the night. In the pocket of one Union soldier, after death, the chaplain found some touching and beautiful letters from a little brother and sister, telling him how much they missed him, how they longed for his return, how they counted the days until he might come back, but above all telling how proud they were of their soldier brother. And they never heard a drum beat nor a fife play without thinking of him, and feeling glad that they had one noble brother to fight for their country.'

1 Chaplain Marks.

CHAPTER VIII.

TH

SEVEN DAYS OF FIGHTING.

HE chances for taking Richmond became less with each day's delay. While the Army of the Potomac were digging and delving in the swamps, and constructing batteries, their ranks thinning out by disease, the Rebels, also, were hard at work erecting defensive batteries, on firm ground, and mounting guns of large calibre. Their ranks, instead of growing thin, were filling up. Troops were hurried in from all parts of the South. The conscript law which the Confederate Congress had passed was in operation, and was carried out with remorseless energy. Men were compelled to enter the service.

The Union army in front of Richmond, on the 20th of June, numbered, fit for duty, 115,102 men. There were 12,225 sick, and 20,511 absent. Leaves of absence and furloughs had been granted freely. Officers and men, on a slight pretext, found it not very difficult to obtain leave of absence, and thus this army, through no fault of the government, became greatly depleted.

At this time General Jackson was in the Shenandoah Valley with a large force. By his operations there, it was found necessary to keep General McDowell in position to cover Washington. On the 18th of June, General McClellan informed the Secretary of War that deserters from said troops were on their way from Richmond to re-enforce Jackson.

On the same day, a man entered the Union lines at Fredericksburg, who pretended to be a Frenchman. He stated that he met from ten to fifteen thousand men on their way to Gordonsville, going to join Jackson.

A despatch was also received from General Sigel, who was in the Valley, that a large body of Rebels had arrived at Gordonsville.

All of this went to show that a grand movement was to be made in the Valley, or upon Washington. Such, undoubtedly, the Rebel commanders intended the government at Washington should understand their plan to be. But they had no intention of marching down the Shenandoah Valley, or of attacking Washington. They wished to prevent any more re-enforcements from joining General McClellan, and also to cover their real point of attack.

General McClellan's army was still divided by the Chickahominy. Sumner, Heintzelman, and Keyes were on the south side, and Porter and Franklin, with McCall's newly arrived troops, were on the north bank.

The real object of the Rebels was to crush the force on the north bank by a sudden stroke with their whole army. By the movement to Gordonsville they allayed suspicion, and transferred a division to a position from which it could be hurled upon the flank of General McClellan's force on the northern bank.

All of the railroad cars and engines which could be obtained were brought to Richmond over the Lynchburg road. Whiting's and Ewell's divisions were placed on board and taken to Lynchburg, and thence to Gordonsville where they joined Jackson; but not stopping there, were brought with Jackson's army to Frederickshall, on the Virginia Central Railroad. From thence this large force marched to Ashland, arriving there on the 25th.'

General McClellan was informed by a deserter, on the 24th, that Jackson, Whiting, and Ewell were at Frederickshall, and that it was intended to attack his rear on the 28th. The information was confirmed on the 25th by negroes who arrived at the Union lines, and stated that Jackson was at Hanover Court House.

General McClellan's lines were more than twenty miles in length. His extreme right was north of the city of Richmond, on the road called the Brooke Turnpike. No change was made in the position of the troops, no breastworks were thrown up to protect the rear and 1 Campaign from Texas to Maryland. 2 McClellan's Despatch. Testimony, p. 338.

flank. The only change was the removal of the headquarters' camp to the south side of the Chickahominy. General Fitz-John Porter was left

in command of the troops on the north side.

On the morning of the 26th, the Rebel forces in Richmond moved out to join Jackson. General Branch's division marched by the Brooke road. General A. P. Hill moved over the Mechanicsville Turnpike; while General Longstreet and General D. H. Hill took the Coal-Harbor road still farther east, and came to the Chickahominy at New Bridge. General Magruder, with one division, was left on the south side of the stream.' The Rebel force north of the Chickahominy numbered about 60,000; south of it, about 20,000. The Union army north numbered about 30,000; south, 70,000.

BATTLE OF MECHANICSVILLE.

If we were to start in a skiff at the bridge on the Brooke road, and float down the slow and winding Chickahominy three miles, we should come first to Meadow Bridge, on the road leading from Richmond to Shady Grove Church. Two miles farther would bring us to the Mechanicsville Turnpike. The little village of Mechanicsville is two miles towards the north. Two miles below the Mechanicsville Bridge is the Upper Trestle Bridge, built by General McClellan. Two miles farther down is New Bridge, on the road leading from Richmond to Coal Harbor. There is a high hill on the south side of the stream, on the plantation of Dr. Lewis, where the Rebels had a battery which commanded the bridge and prevented General McClellan from using it. There was also a battery on the north side, which General McClellan had planted to prevent the Rebels from crossing at that point, and cutting off the force which he had advanced to Mechanicsville. Still farther down the stream were other bridges which had been erected by General McClellan's engineers.

At noon the enemy was seen advancing upon Meadow Bridge. The long column descended the bank, forded the stream above the bridge, and disappeared in the woods.

Pollard's Southern History, p. 329.