BATTLE OF MECHANICSVILLE.

419

and when the Mechanicsville bridge should be uncovered, Longstreet and D. H. Hill were to cross, and proceed to the support of the troops on the left side of the stream. This movement would leave only the divisions of Huger and Magruder between McClellan's left, at Fair Oaks, and Richmond.

The projected movement of the Confederates was delayed until the afternoon of the 26th, when, at about three o'clock, A. P. Hill crossed the Chickahominy, and drove a

regiment and battery at Mechanicsville, back to the main line near Ellison's Mill. The movement had been discovered in time to call in all the pickets and prepare for the shock of battle. The Nationals were now strongly posted on the heights overlooking Beaver Dam Creek, near Ellison's Mill. There McCall's Pennsylvania Reserves, eight thousand five hundred

strong,, with five batteries, occupied a position commanding the stream below and the open fields beyond, over which the Confederates must approach. These, with two regiments of Meade's brigade as reserves, were well supported by Morell's division and Sykes's regulars. General Reynolds held the right, and General Seymour the left, and the brigades of Generals Martindale and Griffin were deployed on the right of McCall. The bridges over the creek had all been destroyed, and trees were felled along its margin.

In the face of these formidable obstacles, and a heavy fire of artillery and infantry, the leading brigades of Hill, followed by Longstreet's, moved to the attack. Then they massed on the National left to turn it, expecting Jackson to fall on its right at the same time; but the movement was foiled by Seymour, who stoutly opposed it. There was a terrific battle, and the Confederates were hurled back with fearful carnage. Night fell, and at nine o'clock THE BATTLE OF MECHANICSVILLE ceased.' The Nationals were

1 This is a view of the bridge from the Mechanicsville side of the stream as it appeared when the writer sketched it, at the close of May, 1866. The Chickahominy was then "up," and overflowing the wooded bottom. In the distance toward Richmond is seen the edge of the high plain, along which was a line of heavy fortifications erected by the Confederates, and which commanded the Chickahominy for a long distance.

This occurred on the same ground where the skirmish was fought on the 23d, and this battle-ground also is seen in the picture of Ellison's mill and vicinity on page 404. The road from Mechanicsville approaching the Beaver Dam Creek, runs along the foot of the distant eminences, almost parallel with the stream, and there the approaching Confederates presented a flank to the fire of their foes.

420

SIEGE OF RICHMOND ABANDONED

masters of the situation. Expecting a renewal of the fight in the morning, the gallant Reserves rested on their arms that night.'

Notwithstanding the Nationals gained a decided victory at Ellison's Mill, McClellan was satisfied that the time had come for him to fly to the

MECHANICSVILLE

MECHANICSVILLE

BRIDGE

MARTINDALE

ELLISON

SEYMOUR

BEAVERDAM C

CRIF

James River. He ascertained that Jackson had passed the Beaver Dam Creek above, and was gaining his flank. Lee's intention to strike McClellan's communications with his base at the White House was clearly developed, and the latter was left to choose between a concentration of his whole army on the left bank of the Chickahominy, by means of the several bridges that now spanned it, and there give general battle to Lee's army; to concentrate his whole force on the right bank, and march directly on Richmond; or to transfer the right wing to that side of the stream, and with his supplies retreat to the James River. Experts say that a skillful and energetic commander would not have hesitated a moment at such juncture in concentrating his forces and marching on Richmond, whose defenses were manned by only about twenty-five thousand men. Thus he might have severed Lee from this force and his supplies, and turned upon and crushed him. Indeed, Magruder tremblingly expected this movement; and it was a theme of just wonder among many of the Confederate officers that it was not made, for Richmond was then really at the mercy of the Army of the Potomac.2

HICKANOMINY

RIVER

UNION

CONEEDERATE

BATTLE OF MECHANICSVILLE,

McClellan chose the less hazardous course, and commenced a retreat toward the James River, for which, as we have observed, he had prepared several days before. "To that end," he said, "from the evening of the 26th every energy of the army was bent." He had already ordered Colonel Ingalls, the Quartermaster at the White House, to send the stores and munitions of war of every kind to Savage's Station, burn what he could not remove, and forward as many supplies as possible up the James. He also sent his wounded to Savage's Station, and prepared to cross the Chickahominy with the right wing for the flight, a perilous thing to do at that crisis, for Jackson and Ewell had crossed the Beaver Dam Creek above, cut

The National loss was about four hundred. According to a statement made to Mr. Swinton (Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, note, page 145) by General Longstreet, the Confederate loss was between three and four thousand.

2 In his report (August 12, 1862) General Magruder said: "Had McClellan massed his whole force in column, and advanced it against any point of our line of battle, as was done at Austerlitz under similar circumstances by the greatest captain of any age, though the head of his column would have suffered greatly, its momentum would have insured him success, and the occupation of our works about Richmond, and conse quently the city, might have been his reward. His failure to do so is the best evidence that our wise commander fully understood the character of his opponent."-Reports of the Operations of the Army of Northern Virginia, i. 191.

PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER BATTLE.

421

off Stoneman and his cavalry from the Army, and would doubtless fall upon Porter's flank in the morning, while the troops of Longstreet and the Hills would attack his front.

4 June 27, 1962.

In order to save his heavy guns and supply-train, and keep Jackson from interfering with the removal of the public property at the White House, McClellan found it necessary to hold the Fifth Corps back for that purpose, and, as we have observed, the soldiers slept on their arms after the fight at Ellison's Mill. During the night most of the heavy guns and wagons were thrown across the river, and at a little before dawn" the troops were skillfully withdrawn to a strong position near Gaines's Mills, between Cool Arbor and the Chickahominy. There, in line of battle, on the arc of a circle, and covering the approaches to the bridges (Woodbury's and Alexander's) over which the troops were to cross the river and join those on the Richmond side, the Fifth Corps awaited attack. A few of the siege-guns were yet in position there, and those which were passed over the stream were planted so as to cover the approaches to the bridges. Morell's division occupied the left, near a deep ravine traversed by a brook, and Sykes's division of Regulars and Duryea's Zouaves were on the right, extending toward Cool Arbor. McCall's division formed a second line, his left touching Butterfield's right; Seymour's brigade and the horse-batteries of Roberts and Tidball commanded the rear, and cavalry under General Philip St. George Cooke2 were performing vedette and flanking-service near the Chickahominy. On that field, where Grant and Lee fought so desperately two years later, Porter was now preparing to give battle to a foe greatly his superior in numbers. It proved to be, before the conflict ended, thirtyfive thousand against seventy thousand.

3

A. P. HILL.

June 27.

Porter was attacked at two o'clock in the afternoon' by A. P. Hill, who led the advance of Lee's column, and had been waiting for Jackson, who was to form the left of the Confederate line, to come up. Longstreet was held back for the same purpose. The brunt of the attack fell first upon Sykes, who threw the assailants back in great confusion, and with heavy loss. Many of these, so easily repulsed, were reenforcements who had just come up from the sea-board, and had never been under fire before. Longstreet was at once ordered forward to their relief with his veterans. He was directed to make a feint on Porter's left, but was so promptly and stoutly met that he was compelled to make a real attack or

1 A tavern called New Cool Arbor was nearer Dr. Gaines's than Old Cool Arbor, as will be observed by reference to the map.

Five companies of the Fifth Regular Cavalry, two squadrons of the First Regular, and three squadrons of the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry.

3 The divisions of A. P. Hill, Anderson, and Whiting, formed the center.

422

BATTLE AT GAINES'S FARM.

effect nothing. So he resolved to carry the heights by assault. While he was preparing to do so the corps of Jackson and D. H. Hill's division arrived, the former taking position on Longstreet's left, and the latter, after severe and successful fighting, gaining his destined point on the extreme left of the Confederate line. Ewell's division, in the mean time, came into action on Jackson's right, and two of the latter's brigades were sent to assist A. P. Hill.

The Confederate line was now in complete order, and made a general advance. Porter, hard pressed, sent to McClellan for aid, but the Commander-in-Chief, persuaded that the Confederates between himself and Richmond outnumbered his own forces, could spare only Slocum's division of Franklin's corps.' He was not aware that Magruder, who was making a great show and noise on his front, was repeating his successful game of deception practiced in the vicinity of Yorktown, and that he was at the head of only twenty-five thousand men, opposed to McClellan's sixty thousand, well intrenched, and was trembling for the safety of his army and the capital.

Slocum's division crossed Alexander's bridge, and made Porter's force about thirty-five thousand strong. It reached him at half-past three o'clock, when the whole of Lee's army on that side of the river was in the action. So imminent was Porter's peril that the re-enforcements were divided, even to regiments, and hastily sent to weak points. The conflict was terrible, especially on the left, between the houses of Adams and Dr. Gaines. Indeed, the struggle along the whole line was fierce and persistent for hours, and the issue for a long time was extremely doubtful.

At five o'clock Porter again called for aid, and McClellan sent him the brigades of French and Meagher, of Richardson's division. They went forward at a quick pace, but before they could reach the river the Confederates, at about six o'clock, had rallied every available platoon in their ranks for a desperate effort to break or crush the National line. Brigade after brigade was hurled against the Union line, striking it here and there in rapid succession and tremendous force, where it appeared weak, hoping to break it. But for a long time it stood firm, though continually thinned and weakened by carnage. Finally, when Jackson, with the divisions of Longstreet and Whiting, made a furious assault upon the National left, Butterfield's gallant

McClellan made inquiries from time to time of Heintzelman, Keyes, Franklin, and Sumner, about sparing men from their respective corps to send to Porter, and their reports were all discouraging, for Magruder, by great skill in his display of troops, made each believe that his particular position might be assailed at any time by an overwhelming force. See telegraphic correspondence between McClellan and these commanders, June 26 and 27, 1862, in McClellan's Report, pages 128, 129.

Magruder, as we have observed, managed with his inferior force to keep up a flurry of excitement all along the front of the National army during the whole day, threatening first one point and then another, and finally, at the middle of the afternoon, when Porter was most needing re-enforcements, he caused Burns's pickets to be attacked by a strong force. Burns sent word to Hancock to prepare for action. The messenger had just arrived when the latter was assailed with shot and shell from an unsuspected Confederate battery, followed by a furious attack of infantry. Burns on one side and Smith on the other supported Hancock with their Napoleon and Parrott guns, and very soon the latter repulsed his assailants. In this engagement, sometimes called The Second Battle of Fair Oaks, two Georgia regiments were dreadfully shattered, and the colonel of one of them was captured. He proved to be L. Q. C. Lamar, one of the most active men in the incipient stages of the rebellion in the South. See page 59, volume I.

2 Alluding to this crisis, Magruder in his report (Reports of the Army of Northern Virginia, i. 191) says:"I considered the situation of our army as extremely critical and perilous. The larger part of it was on the opposite side of the Chickahominy; the bridges had all been destroyed; but one was rebuilt, and there were but 25.000 men between his (McClellan's) army of 100,000 men and Richmond,"

BATTLE AT GAINES'S FARM.

423

brigade, which had been repelling the heaviest of the attacks for more than an hour unassisted, now, sorely pressed on the front and flank, gave way and fell back toward the woods on the Chickahominy, leaving the batteries of Allen, Weedon, Hart, and Edwards, exposed. These made a desperate defense, but, being without support, fell back with a loss of

several guns. Then the center bent, and, with the right, fell back in the same direction, toward Alexander's bridge. Seeing this, Porter called up all of his reserved and remaining artillery (about eighty guns in all), covered the retreat of his infantry, and for an instant checked the advance of the victors. Just at that moment General St. George Cooke, without orders, attacked their flank with his cavalry, which was repulsed and thrown into great disorder. The horses, terrified by the tremendous roar of nearly two hundred guns, and the rattle of thousands of muskets, rushed back through the Union batteries, giving

DANIEL BUTTERFIELD.

IDBALL

the impression that

it was
a furious
attack of Confede-

rate cavalry. This
made the artil-
lerists recoil, and
Porter's whole
force was pressed
back to the river.
Το this circum-
stance Porter at-
tributed his failure
to hold the field,
and to take off all
of his guns and
wounded.

Porter's troops were now pressing toward the bridge, many of them in

fearful disorder, and for a moment all seemed to be lost, for the Confederates were in crushing force just behind them. But relief for the fugitives was at hand. French and Meagher had just crossed the bridge, covered by the heavy guns in position on the Richmond side of the river, and, gathering up the vast multitude of stragglers, checked the flight. They advanced rapidly to the front, with cheers that thrilled with joy the fainting hearts of the