SOUTH CAROLINIANS IN VIRGINIA—BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG—ELTHAM'S LANDING—SEVEN PINES AND FAIR OAKS—NINE-MILE ROAD—GAINES' MILL—SAVAGE STATION—FRAYSER'S FARM—MALVERN HILL.

In Virginia, Gen. George B. McClellan had been placed in command of the great army which he had fully organized, and his headquarters had been established at Fort Monroe early in April, preparatory to his advance upon Richmond by way of the James river and the peninsula. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston commanded the Confederate army for the defense of Richmond, with headquarters at Yorktown, April 17th. Holding Yorktown and the line which ran across the peninsula to the Warwick, until the 4th of May, Johnston retired from Williamsburg. His army, about 53,000 strong, was opposed by McClellan's splendidly equipped and organized army, estimated by General Johnston at 133,000. It was Johnston's intention to fall back slowly on the defenses of Richmond, and then, being joined by the division of Huger from Norfolk, and other reinforcements which he expected the Confederate government would order to his army, to give McClellan battle in front of those defenses on more equal terms.

Johnston's army at that time was composed of the divisions of Magruder (commanded by D. R. Jones), Longstreet, D. H. Hill and G. W. Smith. Magruder and Smith had passed beyond Williamsburg on the march to Richmond, and Hill, encumbered with the trains and baggage, was also moving beyond that point, on the afternoon of the 4th, when Longstreet's rear guard was attacked, in front of Williamsburg, by the Federal advance. This attack was met and checked by two brigades under Brigadier-General McLaws (Semmes' and Kershaw's), with Manly's battery. In this brief history, the writer is confined, by the plan of the work, to the part taken in each action by the troops of South Carolina. The grateful task of speaking of troops from other States is resigned with the understanding that ample justice will be done them by writers who have been selected to record the history of their courage, skill and devotion as soldiers of the Confederacy.

In this affair of the afternoon of the 4th of May, Kershaw's brigade, the Second, Third, Seventh and Eighth South Carolina, bore a part, and though but little blood was spilled, the gallant conduct of the brigade received the notice and commendation of General McLaws, who, in reporting the action, said: "I call attention to the promptness with which General Kershaw placed his men in the various positions assigned him, and the readiness with which he seized on the advantage offered by the ground as he advanced to the front.... His command obeyed his orders with an alacrity and skill creditable to the gallant and obedient soldiers composing it." The result of the combat was, that McLaws checked the Federal advance, captured several prisoners, one piece of artillery, three caissons, and disabled a battery, and lost not exceeding 15 men killed, wounded and missing. A part of Stuart's cavalry was also engaged, and that officer complimented the conduct of the Hampton legion cavalry in high terms, for "a brilliant dash upon the enemy's cavalry in front of Fort Magruder.... Disinterested officers, spectators, speak in the most glowing terms of that portion of my brigade."

It was evident to General Johnston that the safety of his trains required that a more decided opposition be offered to the Federal advance, and Longstreet's division was put in position to meet it on the following morning. The battle which followed, accordingly, on the 5th, fulfilled the general's expectations, and was a bloody engagement, continuing at intervals from early morning until near dark, the two divisions (Longstreet's under Anderson and D. H. Hill's) repelling the assaults of thirty-three regiments of infantry, six batteries of artillery, and three regiments of cavalry.

The battle in front of Williamsburg was fought in terrible weather, the whole country flooded by the rains, the roads almost impassable for artillery, and the troops "wading in mud and slush," as General Hill expressed it. On the morning of the 5th, Longstreet held the forts and line in front of Williamsburg. Anderson's South Carolina brigade, commanded by Col. Micah Jenkins, was stationed in Fort Magruder, and in the redoubts and breastworks to the right and left of the fort. This brigade was composed of the Palmetto sharpshooters, Lieut.-Col. Joseph Walker; Fourth battalion, Maj. C. S. Mattison; Fifth, Col. John R. Giles, and Sixth, Col. John Bratton, Lieut.-Col. J. M. Steedman.

The position at Fort Magruder was the center of Longstreet's line and was the point at which the battle opened at 6 o'clock in the morning. Major Mattison, commanding the pickets in front of Fort Magruder, was sharply engaged, and being reinforced by a battalion of the sharpshooters, had quite a picket battle before retiring to the fort. The attack on Fort Magruder and on the redoubts and breastworks to the right and left of it, was at once opened with artillery and infantry, and the superiority of the Federal artillery and small-arms put Jenkins' command at great disadvantage. But the artillery in the fort and the redoubts was so well directed, the gallant gunners stood so heroically to their guns, and were so firmly supported by the Carolina infantry, that the Federal columns could not assault the line, and were driven back and compelled by noon to change the point of attack further to the Confederate left. Meanwhile, Longstreet was assailing the Federal left, and gaining ground with the remainder of his division, supported by reinforcements from Hill's, called back from their march beyond Williamsburg. In the afternoon, General Hill brought his whole division on the field, and reinforcing the center, commanded by Anderson, and leading the left in person, a final advance was made which ended the fighting by sunset, the Confederates occupying the field, the Federals being repulsed from right to left.

In the defense of the center and left, Anderson's brigade, under Jenkins, bore a conspicuous part. In Fort Magruder, the Richmond howitzers and the Fayette artillery lost so many men by the fire of the enemy, that details were made by Colonel Jenkins from the infantry to relieve the men at the guns. By concentrating the artillery fire on particular batteries in succession, and by volley firing at the gunners, Jenkins compelled his assailants to shift their positions, while the regiments of Bratton, Giles, Walker and Mattison poured their well-directed fire into the threatening columns of Federal infantry.

At an important period of the battle on the right, when the Federal left had been driven back and was exposed to the full fire of Fort Magruder, every gun was turned upon it. In the afternoon, and just before D. H. Hill's attack on his right, the Federal commander had gained a position almost turning the Confederate left. At this critical juncture, the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth South Carolina regiments, with the Fourteenth Alabama, Major Royston, splendidly supported by Dearing's and Stribling's batteries, and three guns under Lieutenant Fortier, met the movement with firmness, and, aided by the fire from Fort Magruder, checked and repulsed the Federal right, and held the Confederate left intact.

General McClellan claimed a great victory at Williamsburg, basing his claim upon the occupation of the town the next day, the capture of 300 prisoners and 1,000 wounded, and five guns. But the fact is, that the battle was fought by General Johnston with two divisions of his army, for no other purpose than to secure his trains and make good his retreat upon Richmond, and this he accomplished. The divisions that fought the battle slept on the field, and left their positions without molestation on the morning of the 6th. Johnston marched only 12 miles on the 6th, and was not pursued. Four hundred wounded were left at Williamsburg because he had no ambulances, and the wagons were out of reach on the march toward Richmond. Four hundred prisoners, several stand of colors, and cannon were taken, and the Confederate loss, 1,560 killed and wounded, was only two-thirds that of the Federals.[A] With these facts before us, Williamsburg cannot be considered a victory for General McClellan.

Regarding the morale of the Confederate army at this period, a distinguished commander of one of its divisions wrote: "Our revolutionary sires did not suffer more at Valley Forge than did our army at Yorktown, and in the retreat from it. Notwithstanding the rain, cold, mud, hunger, watching and fatigue, I never heard a murmur, nor witnessed a single act of insubordination. The want of discipline manifested itself only in straggling, which is the curse of our army."

The security of General Johnston's march toward Richmond was seriously threatened on the second day after the battle at Williamsburg, May 7th. The menace came from the direction of Eltham's landing, at the head of the York, where General McClellan was disembarking several of the divisions of his army. Franklin's division had landed, and was in line of battle well in front and covering the disembarkation of the other divisions. In this position, Franklin's advance was within 3 miles of Johnston's line of march, and his trains and artillery were in danger. Gen. G. W. Smith's division, under Whiting, was halted at Barhamsville (West Point) until the rest of the army had passed, and had been kept fully apprised of the Federal position between Barhamsville and the river. To keep the enemy back until the army had passed this point, General Smith ordered Whiting's division to move out toward the river and attack and drive back the Federal line. The attack was made by Hood's Texas brigade and two commands of Hampton's brigade, with S. D. Lee's artillery. The troops engaged on the Federal side composed the division of Franklin.

It was a spirited affair, the Hampton legion infantry, commanded by Lieut.-Col. J. B. Griffin and Maj. James Conner, and the Nineteenth Georgia, Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson, vying with Hood's gallant Texans in the steady advance. The Federals were driven back to the river line and held their position firmly, and the guns of the fleet being opened on the Confederates, Hood and Hampton withdrew their supports and resumed the march that night toward New Kent Court House. Hood lost 8 killed and 28 wounded, and Hampton, 12 wounded. Forty-six prisoners were taken. The reported loss of General Franklin was, killed 48, wounded 110, captured 28; total 186.

After the affair, General Franklin reported it a success for his division, and concluded by congratulating himself that he had maintained his position. Hampton, in his report, complimented the officers and men of the legion, and of the Nineteenth Georgia, and mentioned particularly Lieutenant-Colonel Griffin, commanding his infantry battalion, Major Conner, in command of skirmishers, and Maj. Stephen D. Lee, commanding his artillery. In this affair the Confederates had five regiments and a battery actually engaged, and a brigade in support (but not engaged) on each flank. The return of casualties by the Federal record shows losses in six regiments, and a battery. The affair occurred for the most part in the woods east and west of the road leading from Barhamsville to Eltham's landing, and within range of the guns of the vessels in York river.

Arriving before the defenses of Richmond, General Johnston encamped his army north and east of the city, with grand guards well out on the roads leading from Richmond to the crossing of the Chickahominy, and in the direction of the landings on the James. His cavalry, under Stuart, was immediately in observation of the troops of Franklin at Eltham, and of General McClellan's main advance from Williamsburg. The Federal army moved up the peninsula by the roads leading to White House, on the Pamunkey, and thence, on the north side of the Chickahominy, as far as Mechanicsville. All the bridges, including the York river railroad bridge crossing the Chickahominy, had been destroyed, and Johnston's army was south of that stream. By the 20th of May, McClellan had seized the crossings of the Chickahominy from Bottom's bridge up to Meadow bridge, the latter point being immediately north of Richmond, and within 5 miles of the defenses of the city. His left, at Bottom's bridge, was about 12 miles in a direct line from the city's limits. The general direction of the Chickahominy is from northwest to southeast, between these points. By the 26th of May, the Third and Fourth corps of the Federal army, under Generals Heintzelman and Keyes, had crossed at Bottom's bridge, and by the 30th, the latter corps had intrenched itself on the Richmond side of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks station, with its right refused toward the Chickahominy swamp. The other corps of the Federal army were north of the Chickahominy, opposite bridges which had been constructed for their convenience in crossing. Heintzelman's corps was in the vicinity of Bottom's bridge. There had been incessant rains, and the whole country was flooded with water and the roads almost impassable for artillery.

On the 30th of May, General Johnston determined to attack Keyes on the 31st at Seven Pines, and crush his corps before it could be reinforced from the north of the Chickahominy or to any extent by Heintzelman from Bottom's bridge. To understand his plan of attack, it will be necessary to explain the situation more minutely. Seven Pines and Fair Oaks are about a mile apart, and distant from Richmond about 7½ and 7 miles. Fair Oaks is on the railroad, and Seven Pines on the Williamsburg road. Two roads which figure in this account, and the railroad, run east from Richmond practically parallel for 5 miles, the Nine-mile road to the north, below it the railroad, and further south the Williamsburg road. At Old Tavern, 5 miles from Richmond, the Nine-mile road turns southeast, crosses the railroad at Fair Oaks, and joins the Williamsburg road at Seven Pines. About 2 miles from Richmond, on the Williamsburg road, the Charles City road turns off to the southeast. White Oak swamp lies between Seven Pines and the Charles City road. To strike the corps at Seven Pines, the direct road would be the Williamsburg road, with the Charles City road running to the Federal left. To strike him at Fair Oaks, the direct road would be the railroad, with the Nine-mile road coming to the same point (Fair Oaks) from Old Tavern, and affording good points from which to turn the Federal right.

Johnston's plan of attack was admirably considered. D. H. Hill's division was to attack at Seven Pines by the Williamsburg road; Brig.-Gen. Benjamin Huger's division was to attack the left flank by the Charles City road; Longstreet's division was to attack at Fair Oaks by the Nine-mile road, and W. H. C. Whiting's division was to support the whole by guarding the Confederate left and watching against reinforcements coming from the north side of the Chickahominy. The plan was perfect, but it was not executed, except in one particular; the attack assigned to D. H. Hill was a splendid achievement, and won the main success of the day, May 31st. In securing that success, the brigade of R. H. Anderson bore a most conspicuous part, and to describe its operations is now the writer's duty.

The battle, which had been ordered to begin at an early hour in the morning, was not opened until Hill led his splendid division to the attack at 1 p. m. The four brigades of the division, Rodes and Rains on the south of the road, and Garland and G. B. Anderson on the north side, with Bondurant's and Carter's batteries, had beaten Casey's Federal divisions with its supports, driven them back on the Federal second line, at Seven Pines, captured eight guns, and was now attacking the Federal line intrenched right and left across the Williamsburg road, at Seven Pines, running toward Fair Oaks. Pressing his attack on this position in front, and on the Federal left, Hill sent back for another brigade to co-operate in the attack, by moving along the railroad on his left and striking at the Federal right and rear. "In a few moments," says General Hill, "the magnificent brigade of R. H. Anderson came to my support," and being ordered by Hill immediately on his extreme left, it began its effective operations. General Hill ordered Colonel Jenkins, with the Palmetto sharpshooters and the Sixth South Carolina, Colonel Bratton, to march through the woods beyond his extreme left to the railroad, move down it toward the Federal right flank at Seven Pines, and strike at the rear of that position, while the rest of Anderson's brigade attacked on the immediate left of Hill, between Casey's captured line and the railroad, Anderson directing his own and Jenkins' movements. The sequel will show how remarkably well these battlefield orders were carried out. Jenkins, with his own and Bratton's regiment, and the Twenty-seventh Georgia, from one of Hill's left brigades, formed line of attack in the woods, facing northeast, and gallantly moved against a portion of General Couch's division posted there. General Anderson, with the Fourth and Fifth South Carolina, under Major Mattison and Colonel Giles, on the right of Jenkins and on the immediate left of Hill's attacking troops, formed his line in the same wood facing with Jenkins' line, but some distance from it, and, supported by artillery fire from Hill's line, attacked in his front a portion of General Naglee's troops. Both attacks were successful and Couch's and Naglee's troops were beaten. Reaching the railroad, Jenkins halted and dressed his line, the Twenty-seventh Georgia being now recalled. Meeting General Anderson at the railroad, Colonel Jenkins was directed by him to move on. The sharpshooters and the Sixth marched ahead, fighting, and penetrated the Federal line, cutting off a part of those troops from Seven Pines. Changing front forward on his right, Colonel Jenkins, with his two regiments, now facing southwest, attacked the right of the position at Seven Pines on Hill's extreme left. "At this point," he reports, "the enemy, heavily reinforced, made a desperate stand and the fighting was within 75 yards." Pushing on, the Federals slowly gave ground, and the two regiments kept in close support and perfect order. Fighting forward and to his right, Jenkins reached the Williamsburg road, the Federal forces in his front falling back and taking position in the woods south of it, while the two South Carolina regiments formed in line in the road, facing south. The little brigade was now in a most critical position, in advance of Hill's line, with the foe in front, and troops coming up the Williamsburg road to attack his left.

Colonel Jenkins determined, as he says in his report, "to break the enemy in front before I could be reached by this new advance [coming up the Williamsburg road on his left], and then by a change of front to meet them." This was handsomely done, and sending two companies of the Sharpshooters, Kilpatrick's and Martin's, under Maj. William Anderson, to attack and check the Federal advance, the two regiments were formed across the road, facing south, while Jenkins' adjutant, Captain Seabrook, hurried back for reinforcements. General Anderson, who had led the Fourth and Fifth forward on Hill's left in the general attack, sent the Fifth to Jenkins, under Lieut.-Col. A. Jackson, the gallant Colonel Giles having been killed; and the Twenty-seventh Georgia was also sent forward to him by General Hill. Before his reinforcements reached him, the Federal advance was so near that their commands and cheers could be heard, and the two regiments had been advanced to within 100 yards of them. The Twenty-seventh Georgia was the first to come up, and being placed on the right, the Sharpshooters in the center and the Sixth (Lieutenant-Colonel Steedman commanding, Colonel Bratton being wounded) on the left, Jenkins boldly advanced to meet his foe. "The two commands neared each other, to 30 or 40 yards," says Colonel Jenkins, describing this struggle. "Losing heavily, I pressed on, and the enemy sullenly and slowly gave way, leaving the ground carpeted with dead and dying." By this time the Fifth South Carolina volunteers came up at the double-quick. The Twenty-seventh Georgia (which had been repulsed) rallied and came forward on the right. Jackson came up on the right of the Georgians, "sweeping before him the rallied fragments who had collected and resumed fire from the woods to the right, and thus, at 7:40 p. m., we closed our busy day." A day of splendid achievement!

In his fighting and maneuvering, Colonel Jenkins had advanced on the arc of a circle for more than 2 miles, fighting first northeast, then east, then southeast, then due south, and lastly east. "We passed," he said, "through two abatis of fallen timber, over four camps, and over artillery twice, driving the enemy from three pieces. We never fought twice in the same place, nor five minutes in one place, and, steadily on the advance, were under fire from 3 p. m. to 7:40 p. m." Gen. G. W. Smith, in his exhaustive and able book on the battles of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, makes the following comment on this remarkable achievement: "It is believed that the annals of war show few, if any, instances of more persistent, skillful and effective 'battlefield fighting,' than was done by the South Carolina regiments, under Colonel Jenkins, on the afternoon of May 31st." The losses were heavy, as might be expected, but unhappily there is no official report of them. Colonel Bratton, after the war, reported to General Smith that the Sixth lost 269 killed and wounded, out of 521 taken into the action. The loss of the Sharpshooters must have been fully as large. Speaking generally of his losses, Colonel Jenkins says: "In my two color companies, out of 80 men who entered, 40 were killed and wounded, and out of 11 in the color guard, 10 were shot down. My colors, pierced by nine balls, passed through four hands without touching the ground." Capt. J. Q. Carpenter, commanding the color company, lost 16 out of 28, "and ever in their front, the fatal ball pierced his heart, when he turned to his company and said, 'Boys, I am killed, but you press on.'"

While the battle of Seven Pines was in progress, General McClellan at 2 p. m. had ordered General Sumner's corps to cross the Chickahominy and go to the assistance of the Federal forces now being driven by Hill's division and R. H. Anderson's brigade. In the first advance of Jenkins, it will be recalled that he cut through General Couch's forces, dividing them and leaving a part in rear of his left flank. This force was composed of four regiments and a battery of artillery, which retreated beyond (north of) Fair Oaks, and with the brigade of Abercrombie, stationed at Fair Oaks, took up a defensive line at the Adams house, facing Fair Oaks. This line was commanded by General Couch in person. In this position, Couch was on the left flank and rear of Hill's battle and in place to be reinforced by Sumner, who came to his support in time to save him from destruction by the attack of that portion of General Johnston's army, under General Johnston's immediate direction, whose headquarters were at Old Tavern, about 2 miles from Fair Oaks. Anxious for the safety of the Confederate left, and fearing that it might be attacked by forces from the north of the Chickahominy, General Johnston had ordered the brigades of Whiting, Hood, Pettigrew, Hatton and Hampton, under Whiting, at about 4 p. m., to march by Fair Oaks to attack the Federal right and rear. The head of these troops (Whiting's brigade), reaching Fair Oaks, were fired upon by Couch's battery at the Adams house, and by his advanced pickets. A halt was made to take the battery, and to drive the Federal infantry out of reach of the road, when followed the battle of Fair Oaks, the effort of which was to keep Sumner and Couch from the field at Seven Pines, and leave Hill's division and Anderson's brigade masters of the battle in that quarter. But this was the main effect of the Confederate attack at Fair Oaks, for the battery was not taken, and Couch, reinforced by at least a strong division from Sumner's advance, with artillery, held his position against the assaults of Whiting, Pettigrew, Hatton and Hampton. The latter commanded the only South Carolinians who were in the engagement at Fair Oaks, the infantry of his legion.

There is no report from General Hampton, but the reports of Generals Johnston and G. W. Smith define his position in the affair on the left of the Confederate attack. General Smith says, that as the musketry fire of Whiting, Pettigrew and Hampton rapidly increased, opening the attack on Couch, he rode into the woods where the troops were engaged, and learned from Col. S. D. Lee, of the artillery, that "General Hampton had driven the enemy some distance through the woods, but that they were being rapidly reinforced [by Sumner], held a strong position, and extended beyond Hampton's left. The firing indicated that Whiting and Pettigrew were being fully occupied by the enemy in their immediate front." Hatton coming up, he was put in immediately between Hampton and Pettigrew, and Gen. G. W. Smith ordered the line forward to carry the Federal position. The woods were dense, the undergrowth thick, and the smoke so great that officers leading their troops could not see "more than a limited number of their men at any one time." General Smith continues: "Various attempts were made to charge the enemy, but without that concert of action necessary to success.... On no part of the line where I was, did the enemy at any time leave their cover or advance one single foot. Our troops held their position close to the enemy's line until it was too dark to distinguish friend from foe." The attack had been in progress for nearly two hours when darkness put an end to it. The gallant Hatton was killed, and that noble and accomplished soldier, Pettigrew, had fallen, badly wounded, so near the Federal line that he was made prisoner. Brig.-Gen. Wade Hampton was seriously wounded, but kept his horse, had the ball extracted by Surg. E. S. Gaillard on the field, and refused to leave his troops. In this affair, Whiting's brigade (commanded by Col. E. M. Law) lost in killed, wounded and missing, 356; Pettigrew's, 341; Hampton's, 329; and Hatton's, 244; total, 1,270. The Hampton legion infantry, General Smith reported, suffered a greater loss by far in proportion to its numbers than any other regiment of the division, being 21 killed and 120 wounded out of 350. These numbers were furnished by Surg. John T. Darby, acting chief surgeon of Whiting's division.

Near the close of the action, General Johnston was unhorsed and seriously wounded by a fragment of shell, and the command of the Confederate army devolved upon Maj.-Gen. G. W. Smith, next in rank, who was succeeded by Gen. R. E. Lee on the following day.

On June 18th a reconnoissance was made on the Nine-mile road by Gen. J. B. Kershaw, with two regiments of his South Carolina brigade, the Second, Col. J. D. Kennedy, and the Third, Col. J. D. Nance. With the Second on the left and the Third on the right of the road, the front covered by four companies deployed as skirmishers, under Captain Cuthbert, and two companies under Maj. W. D. Rutherford, Kershaw advanced. The skirmishers were soon engaged, and those of the Federal force were driven back on the supports. The two regiments advanced to within 70 yards of the Federal line, developed his position, forces, etc., and then Kershaw withdrew to camp. In this affair, Kershaw lost 1 killed and 11 wounded, among the latter Capt. G. B. Cuthbert, of the Second, and Capt. F. N. Walker, of the Third. Private W. H. Thompson, Company E, was killed, and "the gallant Sergt. H. D. Hanahan," of the Second, lost a leg.

The situation of the Federal army at this time (toward the close of June) determined General Lee to take the aggressive. The center and left of General McClellan were south of the Chickahominy, strongly intrenched and covered by the cutting of trees in the dense forests. The extreme left rested on White Oak swamp, and the right of the center on the Chickahominy at New bridge. The Federal right, under Fitz John Porter, was well and strongly posted behind Beaver Dam creek, north of the Chickahominy, with a grand guard at Mechanicsville in front, and outposts still beyond, guarding the crossing. General Lee's determination was to attack this right and separated wing with three of his divisions, calling Jackson's corps to co-operate. Jackson's march, from his victorious campaign in the valley, was so directed that he was expected to be at Ashland, 15 miles north of Richmond, on the 24th of June. From Ashland a march of 15 miles, toward Cold Harbor, would place his corps on the right flank and rear of the Federal position at Beaver Dam, while A. P. Hill, D. H. Hill and Longstreet, with their divisions, crossing the river at Mechanicsville, should carry that place and the strong position at Beaver Dam.

The morning of the 26th (Thursday) was fixed by Lee for this concerted movement against McClellan's right wing. But Jackson did not reach Ashland until the night of the 25th, his march having been delayed by obstructions put in his way by the Federal outposts, many bridges being burned over streams crossing his march. It was after sunrise on the 26th before Jackson left Ashland. He marched past the right flank of the Federal position, at Beaver Dam, and went into camp 3 miles in the rear of that flank, at Hundley's corner, in the evening. In consequence, the bloody battle fought on the 26th, along Beaver Dam, by the gallant division of A. P. Hill and Ripley's brigade of D. H. Hill's division, was fought without Jackson's assistance. The Federal position behind Beaver Dam was heroically assailed; but it was too strong to be carried by Hill and Ripley, who suffered heavy losses. With Ripley was Capt. A. Burnet Rhett's South Carolina battery, who built a bridge, crossed the creek and, pushing up close to the enemy, were in action until 10 o'clock at night, losing 11 wounded. They were particularly complimented by A. P. Hill. With A. P. Hill were the South Carolina batteries of Capts. W. K. Bachman and D. G. McIntosh, the latter of which (Pee Dee artillery) probably fired the first gun at Mechanicsville, and fired 160 rounds from each gun before night stopped the fight. The brigade of General Gregg did not become actively engaged on the 26th.

The position of Jackson, on the right and rear, and the divisions of D. H. Hill and Longstreet in front, all fresh and ready for attack in the early morning of the 27th, made the position of General Porter behind Beaver Dam untenable, and he promptly retreated and took up a strong position 3 miles further down the river.

On Friday morning (27th), A. P. Hill was ordered forward toward Gaines' mill, the South Carolinians in advance. Gregg formed a line of battle with the First volunteers, Col. D. H. Hamilton, and the Twelfth, Col. Dixon Barnes, with skirmishers thrown out under Captains Cordero and Miller; and the Thirteenth, Col. O. E. Edwards, and First Rifles, Col. J. Foster Marshall, and Crenshaw's battery in support. They moved forward across the creek, and through the discarded accouterments and burning stores of the enemy, until coming out in an open, Cordero's company was fired upon by artillery in front and Lieutenant Heise was wounded. This apparently hostile force, according to the report of General Gregg, proved to be Stonewall Jackson's command, with which communication was at once opened. After a conference between Hill and Jackson, Gregg marched on, and presently was stopped by General Lee, who gave him further instructions. Longstreet, soon afterward, informed Gregg that he was moving on a parallel road to the right. The skirmishers became briskly engaged at Gaines' mill, but Gregg soon ordered them forward at double-quick, and they gallantly drove the Federal skirmishers before them. The brigade followed and bridged Powhite creek. Hill reported of the crossing of the Powhite: "His whole brigade being over, he made the handsomest charge in line I have seen during the war." Gregg continued his advance, part of the time at double-quick and with continual skirmish firing, descended the hollow beyond Cold Harbor, driving out the enemy, and formed in line of battle on the hillside beyond. He found the enemy above him and desired to attack, but being refused, lay in position until 4 p. m., the artillery firing going on overhead.

General Lee thus describes Porter's position, at which the battle of Gaines' Mill, or Cold Harbor, was fought on the afternoon and evening of the 27th of June:

He occupied a range of hills resting in the vicinity of the McGehee house and his left near that of Dr. Gaines, on a wooded bluff, which rose abruptly from a deep ravine. The ravine was filled with sharpshooters, to whom its banks gave great protection. A second line of infantry was stationed on the side of the hill behind a breastwork of trees above the first; a third occupied the crest, strengthened with rifle trenches and crowned with artillery. The approach to this position was over an open plain, about a quarter of a mile wide, commanded by this triple line of fire and swept by the heavy batteries south of the Chickahominy. In front of his center and right the ground was generally open, bounded on the side of our approach by a wood, with dense and tangled undergrowth and traversed by a sluggish stream which converted the soil into a deep morass.

Old Cold Harbor was in front of the Federal right, and Gaines' mill in front of his right center, the length of his line being about 2 miles and running in a curve from the "wooded bluff" on his left to a swamp on his right. The attack on this position was made by two roads running parallel with the Chickahominy, one going to the Federal left, and the other by Gaines' mill, opposite his right center. Longstreet attacked on the former, and A. P. Hill on the latter, D. H. Hill and Jackson attacking from the direction of the Federal front and right. At 4 p. m. A. P. Hill ordered his whole division forward, and the desperate struggle began, in which every inch of ground was to be won by a great sacrifice of life, and to be disputed with heroic firmness. Gregg, who was first engaged, fought his way through the tangled wood and the boggy morass to the foot of the main position, when, confronted by a determined and unfaltering resistance, and his lines torn by artillery from the crest in front and by a battery on his right flank, he could make no further progress. Marshall was ordered to take the battery on the right, and advanced gallantly, Perrin's, Joseph Norton's, Miller's and Miles Norton's companies in front, under Lieutenant-Colonel Ledbetter. The battery was withdrawn, but its support in the woods, composed of a strong body of troops, among them the New York Zouaves, held the ground in a fierce combat. The Zouaves attacking on the left flank, Lieutenant Higgins promptly assembled 30 riflemen, and held them in check. The attack being pressed anew, the regiment, having lost 81 killed and 234 wounded out of 537, and being unsupported, was forced to retire to its former position. But Marshall's gallant charge and contest had driven off the battery, and Gregg ordered the First, Twelfth and Thirteenth forward again. The struggle for the crest was renewed with heroic zeal and courage, and met with splendid firmness, driving Gregg back a second time. A third advance was ordered, and now the Fourteenth, Col. Samuel McGowan, being by Gregg's request relieved from outpost duty, was conducted by his aide, Capt. Harry Hammond, to his right flank. Passing through Crenshaw's guns, McGowan's men moved right forward, supported by the other shattered regiments of Gregg's brigade. "Tired as they were," says Gregg, "by two days and nights of outpost duty, and by a rapid march under a burning sun, they advanced with a cheer and at a double-quick. Leading his regiment to the right of the Thirteenth and across the hollow, Colonel McGowan arrived just in time to repulse the advance of the enemy and prevent them from establishing a battery on the brow of the hill." With varying success, backward and forward, Gregg struggled to gain and pierce the Federal line, but not until the final and united charge of Lee's whole line was made at 7 o'clock, and when Hood had gained the "wooded bluff" and turned the Federal left, did the Confederate commands mount the whole line of defense and drive its heroic defenders from the field.

Gregg lost 829 (estimated) killed and wounded. The severest losses in the brigade fell on the Rifles, the Fourteenth and the Twelfth. The Rifles lost 319, the Fourteenth, 291, and the Twelfth, 155. At one time every one of the color-guards of the First volunteers was shot down around Colonel Hamilton, who took the colors. The color-bearer, Sergeant Taylor, fell with the colors in his grasp, as he was planting them forward of the line, and Corporal Hayne, seeing Colonel Hamilton take the flag, seized it, and gallantly going forward, fell mortally wounded. Private Spillman, of Company K, then took the flag and carried it to the final charge in triumph to victory. He was promoted color-bearer on the field for gallant conduct. Among the lamented dead of the First was the gallant and accomplished Lieut.-Col. A. M. Smith, who left a sick bed to take his place in his country's service. In the Twelfth, Colonel Barnes was wounded, but did not leave the field. Lieut. J. W. Delaney, commanding Company B, was killed in the first assault; Captain Vallandingham lost a leg, and Captains Miller, McMeekin and Bookter were wounded. In the Thirteenth, which was mainly in support, the loss was not so heavy, 8 killed and 40 wounded. In the Fourteenth, Colonel McGowan and Maj. W. J. Carter were wounded, as were also Captains Brown, Taggart and Edward Croft, and Lieutenants Brunson, O. W. Allen, Stevens, McCarley, Dorrah and Carter; and the gallant Lieut. O. C. Plunkett, Company H, was killed on the field. The First Rifles (known as Orr's Rifles) suffered terribly. Its gallant adjutant, J. B. Sloan, Captains Hawthorne and Hennegan, Lieutenants Brown and McFall, and Sergeant-Major McGee died heroically leading in Marshall's charge. In Gregg's battle, a section of Capt. D. G. Mcintosh's battery was called into action late in the afternoon, too late to take an active part in the battle, as the enemy's artillery in front had been silenced, or had retired. He lost 1 man killed and 2 wounded, and 5 horses killed.

The other South Carolina troops at the battle of Gaines' Mill were with Hood and Longstreet. The brigades of Hood and Law composed Whiting's gallant division, which had marched from Ashland as the advance of Jackson's corps. They went into battle in the late afternoon, after A. P. Hill had been fighting for two hours.[B] With Hood was the Hampton legion infantry, under Lieut.-Col. M. W. Gary, and with Longstreet was R. H. Anderson's South Carolina brigade. These troops had the honor of taking part in Longstreet's and Whiting's final charge along the front and flank of the Federal left, and were among the first to gain the coveted crest and pierce and turn his flank, capture his artillery and decide the day.

Hood moved to the final assault with Hampton's legion on his left. On the left of the legion was Law's splendid brigade. Immediately on Hood's right was Pickett's brigade, and in support of Pickett the brigades of Wilcox, Pryor and Featherston. Thus, in the decisive charge, ordered by General Lee all along the battle line, they were hurled against and around the "wooded bluff" on the Federal left. In this grand assault, R. H. Anderson's brigade was divided, part of it supporting Pickett and part Wilcox. The writer regrets that neither General Anderson nor any one of his regimental commanders has a report of the battle on file. The same is true of the Hampton legion, Colonel Gary.

General Hood reports that he ordered the legion "to gain the crest of the hill in the woods and hold it, which they did." General Longstreet, reporting the action of his brigade, refers specially to the gallantry of General Anderson and Colonel Jenkins, these officers commanding the separated parts of the brigade of Anderson. In the official returns, the loss of Anderson at Gaines' Mill and Glendale (Frayser's Farm) is given in total at 787. The losses of the Fourth, Fifth and Palmetto sharpshooters at Gaines' Mill are reported as 173. The losses of the Second Rifles and Sixth South Carolina at this battle are not given separately from Glendale. Hood reports the legion's loss at only 20. Anderson's and Gary's losses at Gaines' Mill could not have been more than 350, which was less than a half of Gregg's loss. Anderson and Gary were only engaged in the last attack, and Gregg was fighting from the opening of the battle to its close, with a short rest in the afternoon.

Referring to the gallant conduct of officers as well as soldiers, General Longstreet remarks in his report upon the battle of Gaines' Mill, that "there was more individual gallantry displayed on this field than any I have seen." General Whiting, in closing his report, pays the same tribute to a number of soldiers, and especially remarks upon the conduct of Maj. John Haskell, of D. R. Jones' staff, who had volunteered to carry information of the Federal movements to General Lee, as they were observed from the south side of the Chickahominy, and acted on General Longstreet's staff, as a volunteer aide. General Whiting says:

Though not on my staff, I should not do right were I not to mention here the chivalrous daring of young Major Haskell, of South Carolina. His personal bearing in a most deadly fire, his example and directions contributed not a little to the enthusiasm of the charge of the Third brigade. I regret to say that the brave young officer received a terrible wound from a shell (losing his right arm), but walked from the field as heroically as he had gone into the fire.

The South Carolina batteries were more fortunate in their losses than the infantry commands. Rhett, whose horse was shot under him, lost 2 wounded at Gaines' Mill; Bachman's battery (German Artillery) and McIntosh's, only a few men each. The nature upon the ground was not favorable to the Confederate artillery, and the batteries engaged under great disadvantage.

Under cover of night, following the 27th, General Porter made good his retreat by the bridges he had built across the Chickahominy, passing in rear of McClellan's fortified line on the south side, and destroying his bridges behind him. His defense was beyond criticism. Reinforced from the south side by Slocum's division, he saved the army of McClellan by inflicting a heavy blow on the victorious columns of Lee, and by his able retreat at night. The timely arrival of two brigades, coming up just as Porter's line was carried, covered his retreat and successfully checked the disordered pursuit of the victorious Confederates.

General McClellan does not estimate his loss in this battle separately from those which immediately followed, but acknowledges the loss of twenty-two pieces of artillery. Over 5,000 prisoners were taken by the Confederates, and thousands of arms gathered from the fields and the short line of Porter's retreat to the river.

McClellan's rear guard, Sumner's corps, and Smith's division of Franklin's corps, made a stand on the 29th at Savage Station, covering the crossing of White Oak swamp against Magruder's corps. The South Carolina troops with Magruder were the brigade of General Kershaw and Capt. James F. Hart's Washington artillery. Hart's battery was with D. R. Jones' division. The Second, Col. John D. Kennedy; Third, Col. James D. Nance; Seventh, Col. D. Wyatt Aiken, and the Eighth, Col. John W. Henagan, with Kemper's battery, composed Kershaw's brigade of McLaws' division.

Early in the morning of the 29th (Sunday), Kershaw was ordered to advance on the Nine-mile road and develop the Federal position. Kennedy, covered by a line of skirmishers under Maj. F. Gaillard, made the advance and found the enemy beyond Fair Oaks, at Allen's farm. The skirmishing became general and the enemy opened an artillery fire. Having been repeatedly cautioned to avoid a collision with General Jackson's forces, Kershaw restrained the fire of his men, and sent a battle-flag to be waved on the railroad. He was then ordered back till Magruder's other troops should take position.

At 3 p. m. Kershaw advanced along the railroad toward Savage Station. The enemy had retreated, and when found again were in position on the Williamsburg road, occupying the rifle-pits and intrenchments made, doubtless, in McClellan's advance prior to the battle of Seven Pines. The Second and Third were thrown forward toward the left and formed to charge the position, while Kemper's battery opened a rapid fire that drove back the enemy without the aid of the infantry,[C] and Kershaw moved on to fight his battle at Savage's farm.

His line ran from the railroad to near the Williamsburg road. The battle began in earnest at 5:30 p. m. by the opening of Sumner's artillery on Kershaw's skirmishers under Gaillard and Rutherford, and lasted into the night. Kemper took position in the Williamsburg road, the Eighth on his right, in support, and the Second, Third, and Seventh on his left. Kershaw ordered his left regiments to charge, and they dashed into the wood, driving through to the open beyond. In this charge a heavy loss was inflicted upon the opposing force, which was thrown into much disorder, and many prisoners taken. But Kershaw could not maintain his position. Kemper and the Eighth were attacked and his right flank turned. To meet this emergency, he ordered his line back to the original position from which he had charged the wood, and at the critical moment Semmes' brigade attacked the force that had turned his right. Semmes, supported by Kemper's fire and the Eighth, drove back the flanking column, and Kershaw repelled the assault on his front. Night had come and Kershaw's battle was over. Major-General McLaws says: "The South Carolina brigade carried into action 1,496 men and lost in killed 47, wounded 234, missing 9; total 290." Semmes had only two regiments engaged and lost 64, and the loss in other commands of Magruder's force was only 36 in killed and wounded, which shows that Magruder's battle to beat McClellan's rear was fought by the brigades of Kershaw and Semmes, and only two regiments of the latter at that. The brunt fell on the gallant command of Kershaw and his splendid battery. Hart's battery, which operated with Jones' division on Kershaw's left, lost 5 men wounded, 2 mortally. Hart engaged the enemy from D. R. Jones' right, "compelling the retreat out of view of the enemy's infantry."

Jones put his division in admirable position on Kershaw's left for attack, but he reports: "Scarcely had this disposition been made when I received orders from General Magruder to fall back to the railroad bridge with my whole command to support the right of his line." This unfortunate order was inspired by Magruder's overrating the movement which turned Kershaw's right, and which Semmes checked, at little cost. But for Jones' withdrawal at the moment he was about to attack, Savage Station might have been a harder blow to General McClellan. McLaws compliments his brigade commanders in high terms. Of Kershaw he says: "I beg leave to call attention to the gallantry, cool, yet daring courage and skill in the management of his gallant command exhibited by Brigadier-General Kershaw." Kershaw praises the gallantry, self-possession and efficiency of his regimental commanders, and the conduct of the men and officers. Lieut.-Col. B. C. Garlington, of the Third, was killed, sword in hand, at the head of his regiment. Lieut.-Col. A. D. Goodwyn, of the Second, and Lieut.-Col. Elbert Bland, of the Seventh, were severely wounded and honorably mentioned by Kershaw. Gaillard was distinguished in command of the skirmishers. Kemper added to the laurels he won at Vienna, Bull Run and Manassas. Captain Holmes and Lieutenants Doby and W. M. Dwight, of the staff, were active and gallant in dispatching the orders of their chief. The Second lost Captain Bartlett, "one of the most gallant and conscientious officers belonging to it;" and Lieutenant Perry, Company H, was severely wounded. The Third, besides its gallant lieutenant-colonel, lost Capt. S. M. Lanford and Lieut. J. T. Ray. Colonel Nance mentioned especially Capt. D. M. H. Langston and Maj. W. D. Rutherford. The Seventh did not suffer as severely as the Third, losing 82 killed and wounded. The Eighth, which was mainly in support of Kemper's battery, lost but 2 killed and 8 wounded.

It appears from General Sumner's report, that three corps, his own, Franklin's and Heintzelman's, were under his command and put in line of battle at Savage Station. Heintzelman (15,000) was ordered to hold the Williamsburg road, but before the attack by Kershaw, General Heintzelman left the field, and crossed White Oak swamp. Sumner speaks of the assault by Kershaw and Semmes as being met by Burns' brigade, "supported and reinforced by two lines in reserve, and finally by the Sixty-ninth New York (Irish) regiment." He also speaks of Brooks' brigade "holding a wood on the left," "doing excellent service," and though wounded, "keeping his command until the close of the battle." He says the action was "continued with great obstinacy until some time after dark, when we drove the enemy from the field." It is evident that Kershaw attacked Generals Burns and Brooks, the Sixty-ninth New York, and "two lines in reserve." The reader may determine whether Kershaw and Semmes were "driven from the field" of Savage Station.

Sumner, having successfully guarded the passage of White Oak swamp by his unequal battle with Kershaw's and Semmes' brigades and Kemper's battery, followed Heintzelman's retreat at night, and crossing White Oak marched to Glendale, near the junction of the Charles City and Long Bridge roads. The passage across White Oak was skillfully broken up and the roads approaching it obstructed. Franklin, with two divisions and a brigade, stood on the south side, with batteries well posted, to dispute the crossing. This he did throughout the whole of the 30th, keeping Jackson's corps on the north side and effectually preventing his taking any part in the battle of that day. While Jackson was thundering at Franklin with his artillery, and Franklin was preventing his passage of White Oak, McClellan was posting the divisions of Hooker, McCall, Sedgwick, Kearny and Slocum in line of battle across the Long Bridge road, confronting the expected advance of Lee down the Charles City and Darbytown roads.

The troops of Lee that had won the bloody battle of the 27th, north of the Chickahominy, did not cross that river in pursuit of McClellan until the morning of the 29th, at which time General Lee became assured that his able antagonist was retreating upon the James. His orders, as in the case of the first assault on the 26th, were faultless. Jackson was to cross at Grapevine bridge and press the rear of the retreat; Magruder was to attack the flank on the Williamsburg road; Huger to move down the Charles City road, and Longstreet and A. P. Hill down the Darbytown to the Long Bridge road; and Holmes to cross from the south side of the James and march down the New Market road. A glance at a good map will show that this plan was perfect in its conception. But McClellan was fully equal to this great emergency, and put White Oak swamp on his right, guarded by Franklin, and his five divisions in his center to meet the advance upon him down the Charles City and Darbytown roads, and selected a veritable Gibraltar for his left, crowned by artillery and defended by a fleet of gunboats and Porter's and Keyes' corps.

In carrying out Lee's plan, everything miscarried but the movements of Longstreet and A. P. Hill. We have seen how Kershaw and Semmes and Kemper alone carried out Magruder's flank attack on the Williamsburg road. On the 30th he was ordered to the Darbytown road and reached it in time to come into effective battle on Longstreet's right, but Holmes, moving on Malvern hill, saw that he had not force sufficient to attack, sent for aid, and Magruder was sent to him. Neither of these divisions was engaged on the 30th. Huger reported his march obstructed by trees thrown across the road, had an affair with outposts in his front, and was so badly balked in his march that he did not reach the field of battle on the 30th. Jackson, whom Franklin stopped at White Oak, served no other purpose on the 30th than to keep Franklin's division and his artillery too busily engaged to join the five divisions at Frayser's farm. All this reflects the highest credit upon the military genius of McClellan, who directed the details of his masterly retreat.

Longstreet, in advance, came up with the Federal battle line, as above described, on the morning of the 30th. A. P. Hill was closed up on his march. Finding the enemy drawn up across his road, in front of the point where the Charles City road falls into it (Long Bridge road), he put his division in line of battle, with A. P. Hill in reserve, and waited anxiously to hear from Huger on his left, and Magruder and Holmes on his right. He felt sure that Jackson, crossing White Oak, would be in time to fall on the Federal right and rear. General Lee and the President were both at his headquarters when a Federal battery opened in his immediate front. A shell from this battery exploded so near the group as to wound one of the couriers and kill several horses. At this moment (4 p. m.) artillery fire was heard back on the Charles City road, and Longstreet, taking it for the signal of Huger that he was near at hand, ordered one of his batteries to reply, and the battle of Frayser's Farm was opened. The artillery on the Charles City road was Huger's affair with one of Franklin's outposts. R. H. Anderson, the senior brigadier, was assigned by Longstreet to the immediate direction of his front, and Colonel Jenkins commanded the South Carolina brigade, the first engaged in battle. He was ordered to silence the battery in front with his sharpshooters, but he preferred to capture it, and led his brigade forward, charged, drove back McCall's division, and seized Randol's battery. Longstreet's whole division now engaged, the troops in his front being those of McCall's and Kearny's divisions. The battle was forward for a time and McCall and Kearny gave ground, but Slocum reinforced Kearny against the Confederate left, and Sedgwick and Hooker against the right, so that Longstreet's right was pushed back and his left checked and pressed. He was compelled to assume the defensive, and ordered up A. P. Hill to his immediate support. Gregg's South Carolina brigade was thrown into the battle on the extreme left. Hill restored the battle to its first aggressive stage, and McCall's division was forced to retire, and that general fell into Longstreet's hands. Longstreet and Hill, with their twelve brigades, drove one of the Federal divisions from the field, and successfully resisted the attacks of the other four, gaining ground forward and holding in the end of the struggle all that they gained. Gregg, on the left, and Jenkins, in the center, bore their full share of the great contest, the latter capturing the battery of Randol, which, being retaken, was again captured by Hill's advance.

The battle lasted well into the night, the Federal divisions leaving the field under the cover of darkness, followed by Franklin from White Oak, to take their places in McClellan's last line on the James river. There is no report from either R. H. Anderson, Gregg or Jenkins. Longstreet specially mentions Anderson, Jenkins and Captain Kilpatrick of the Palmetto sharpshooters in his report, for distinguished conduct. A. P. Hill reports that Gregg was sent by General Longstreet's request to support the brigades of Pryor and Featherston, and pushed their battle forward. Featherston being wounded and for a time in the enemy's hands, his brigade was driven back and scattered, "when," says Hill, "Colonel McGowan, with the Fourteenth South Carolina, retrieved our ground." Special mention is made by General Hill in his report of Colonels McGowan, Edwards and Hamilton, and Lieutenant-Colonel Simpson, of the Fourteenth. Gregg lost 12 killed and 105 wounded, the heaviest loss falling on the Fourteenth. Jenkins lost over 450, 234 of these from the Sharpshooters, the remainder being nearly equally divided among the other regiments. Longstreet and Hill took fourteen pieces of artillery, thousands of arms, several stand of colors and hundreds of prisoners. The battle that General Lee had planned to be fought by all the divisions of his army was actually fought by two.

The Federal commanders greatly exaggerate the Confederate strength in the battle. Before Gaines' Mill, A. P. Hill had 14,000 troops. He could not have had more than 10,000 in his division at Frayser's Farm. Nor could Longstreet's division have been larger. Kershaw carried only 1,496 into the battle of Savage Station, and his was one of Longstreet's best brigades. In McClellan's five divisions there were fifteen brigades, which, at 1,500 each, would make his force at Frayser's Farm greater than Longstreet's and Hill's by at least 2,500. It must be remembered, too, that A. P. Hill was not put into the fight until very late, when Longstreet had been engaged alone with the five divisions. It was a stubborn battle, and well contested on both sides, but the advantage was clearly with the Confederates.

In the battle of Malvern Hill, which followed the day after Frayser's Farm, but one of Lee's South Carolina brigades was seriously engaged, that of Kershaw. McClellan rapidly and skillfully concentrated his army on the night of the 30th of June and the morning of July 1st. He thus describes his position and concentration: "The left and center of our lines rested on Malvern hill, while the right curved backward through a wooded country toward a point below Haxall's, on James river. Malvern hill is an elevated plateau about a mile and a half by three-fourths of a mile in area, well cleared of timber, with several converging roads running over it." In front of this position there was a good range for artillery, and on its left (west) the plateau falls off abruptly into a ravine. Expecting attack from the front and left of his position, McClellan made those points strongest and massed his artillery there, sixty pieces of artillery and ten siege guns being "so disposed on the high ground that a concentrated fire could be brought to bear on any point in his front or left." Commodore Rodgers placed his flotilla to command both flanks. The general line faced north and was nearly at right angles to the line of McClellan's retreat from Frayser's farm and distant about 3½ miles from that battlefield.

Before this unassailable position General Lee brought up his whole army. He resolved to attack with Magruder, Holmes and Huger, holding A. P. Hill and Longstreet in reserve. To Magruder was assigned the attack on Porter's position—the strongest on Malvern hill—supported by Holmes, whose small division was in line on Magruder's right, facing east. The attack was planned by Lee to be general along his whole line; Holmes, then Magruder, then Huger, then Jackson. In spite of McClellan's artillery, if this attack could have been made by noon, and made by the whole line in a grand charge for the batteries, the Federal army, already so terribly shaken, would have been unable to resist it, and Lee's antagonist would have been literally driven to his gunboats. Instead of all this, no attack was made until late in the evening. Holmes did not attack at all, deeming it "perfect madness;" Magruder and Huger, from the difficulty of communication with their commands, and the wooded character of the country, put in their brigades one after another, to charge across the open and up Malvern hill against nearly one hundred guns, supported by the Federal army, in full view, with the field and the woods swept by the gunboat batteries. Jackson sent D. H. Hill and Whiting forward, in order, and supported them with brigades from his own and Ewell's division, and they met a bloody repulse; but they did not make the attack until after Magruder's and Huger's brigades had been successively repulsed, some of them from the very crown of the hill.

It was 6 o'clock before Kershaw was ordered forward. His description of his advance will indicate what doubtless happened to other gallant brigades. Being in McLaws' line, on the farm adjoining Crew's farm, he was ordered by one of Magruder's staff to "advance and attack the enemy's battery." Having no other instructions, in total ignorance of the country, or the position of the foe, Kershaw marched half a mile forward in a wood, nearing the sound of battle and moving really immediately against Porter's front, his artillery sweeping the open and the woods through which Kershaw was marching. Reaching at last the open, passing "three lines of troops" who had preceded him in the attack, he moved up a ravine to the slopes of Malvern hill. The artillery and infantry fire in front and flank was thinning his ranks, when his friends in rear (Twenty-sixth Georgia) by mistake opened fire upon him. At this crisis he ordered the whole brigade to retire and reform further to the right. While reforming on the Second South Carolina, General Ewell called him to support immediately a brigade he was about to lead against "the enemy's battery," and was so urgent, that without waiting for the rest of his brigade, he led the Second in support of Ewell's gallant and useless charge, and with this affair, night having fully come, Kershaw's brigade had done the part assigned to it at Malvern hill. The long march to this point, after the battle of Savage Station, with its losses, had reduced the strength of the brigade. Kershaw took into the advance on Malvern hill 956 men and lost 164. The attack on Malvern hill failed of its purpose, but one thing it did accomplish; the repeated assaults were so gallant and determined, and pressed so near the enemy's guns, and inflicted so great a loss upon him, and so many brigades rested at night so close up to his defense, that he lost confidence in his ability to continue his successful defense on Malvern hill, and gave up the position during the night, leaving his dead unburied, his wounded in Confederate hands, and property and stores of great value on the field. His retreat was to a strong camp at Harrison's landing, immediately under the protection of Commodore Rodgers' flotilla.

With Malvern Hill, Lee's battles with McClellan in front of Richmond practically ended. McClellan reported his total losses, from June 26th to July 1st, inclusive, at 15,249. Lee, for the same time, reported his total loss at 18,351. In McClellan's report he acknowledges the capture of 5,958 of his army, under the head of missing; but clearly he is wide of the mark according to the actual count in Richmond. As General Lee reported: "More than 10,000 prisoners, including officers of rank, 52 pieces of artillery, and upward of 35,000 stand of small-arms were captured. The stores and supplies of every description which fell into our hands were great in amount and value, but small in comparison with those destroyed by the enemy."

[A] The loss of Jenkins' brigade was 10 killed and 75 wounded (including Lieut. W. J. Campbell, mortally).