The Project Gutenberg eBook ofRichmond National Battlefield Park, Virginia

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofRichmond National Battlefield Park, VirginiaThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Richmond National Battlefield Park, VirginiaAuthor: Joseph P. CullenRelease date: December 27, 2019 [eBook #61027]Most recently updated: October 17, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RICHMOND NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD PARK, VIRGINIA ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Richmond National Battlefield Park, VirginiaAuthor: Joseph P. CullenRelease date: December 27, 2019 [eBook #61027]Most recently updated: October 17, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Title: Richmond National Battlefield Park, Virginia

Author: Joseph P. Cullen

Release date: December 27, 2019 [eBook #61027]Most recently updated: October 17, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RICHMOND NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD PARK, VIRGINIA ***

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR · March 3, 1849

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORStewart L. Udall,Secretary

NATIONAL PARK SERVICEConrad L. Wirth,Director

HISTORICAL HANDBOOK NUMBER THIRTY-THREE

This publication is one of a series of handbooks describing the historical and archeological areas in the National Park System administered by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior. It is printed by the Government Printing Office and may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D.C. Price 25 cents.

RICHMONDNational Battlefield ParkVirginia{Sniper}by Joseph P. CullenNATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES NO. 33Washington, D.C., 1961

{Sniper}

by Joseph P. Cullen

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES NO. 33Washington, D.C., 1961

The National Park System, of which Richmond National Battlefield Park is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and inspiration of its people.

Richmond, 1858.From a contemporary sketch.

The American Civil Warwas unique in many respects. One of the great turning points in American history, it was a national tragedy of international significance. Simultaneously, it was the last of the old wars and the first of the new. Although it began in a blaze of glamor, romance, and chivalry, it ended in the ashes of misery, destruction, and death. It was, as Walt Whitman said, “a strange, sad war.”

Richmond National Battlefield Park preserves the scenes of some of the great battles that took place in the vicinity of the Confederate Capital. When we visit these now quiet, peaceful woods and fields, we feel an association with our past that is impossible to achieve with the written or spoken word. Here we are not reminded of the Blue or the Gray as such, only of the heroic struggle of men—men with two different beliefs and philosophies, welded together by the blood of battle, to give us our America of today.

In session at Montgomery, Ala., in May 1861, the Confederate Congress voted to remove the Capital of the Confederate States to Richmond, Va. This decision, in effect, made Richmond a beleaguered city for 4 years. Essentially, the move was dictated by political and military considerations. The prestige of Virginia, richest and most populous State in the South, was considered necessary for the success of the Confederacy. For political reasons it was believed that the Capital should be near the border States and the heavy fighting expected there.

Second only to New Orleans, Richmond was the largest city in the Confederacy, having a population of about 38,000. It was also the center of iron manufacturing in the South. The Tredegar IronWorks, main source of cannon supply for the Southern armies, influenced the choice of Richmond as the Confederate Capital and demanded its defense. During the course of the war, Tredegar made over 1,100 cannon, in addition to mines, torpedoes, propeller shafts, and other war machinery. It expanded to include rolling mills, forges, sawmills, and machine shops. The Richmond Laboratory made over 72 million cartridges, along with grenades, gun carriages, field artillery, and canteens, while the Richmond Armory had a capacity for manufacturing 5,000 small arms a month.

Tredegar Iron Works.Courtesy, Library of Congress.

Thus Richmond became the political, military, and manufacturing center of the South, and the symbol of secession to the North.

Situated near the head of the navigable waters of the James River, and within 110 miles of the National Capital at Washington, Richmond was the key to the military planning of both sides. For 4 years the city remained the primary military objective of the Union armies in the east. As one southern newspaper stated: “To lose Richmond is to lose Virginia, and to lose Virginia is to lose the key to the Southern Confederacy.”

In July 1861 the untrained Union Army of the Potomac suffered disaster at Manassas (Bull Run) in the first attempt to drive into Virginia and capture Richmond. President Abraham Lincoln then appointed Gen. George B. McClellan the new commander of thedemoralized army. McClellan reported: “I found no army to command * * * just a mere collection of regiments cowering on the banks of the Potomac.”

To this chaotic situation he brought order and discipline. During the long winter months, the raw recruits were marshalled and drilled into an efficient fighting machine of over 100,000 men—the largest army ever commanded by one man in the history of the western hemisphere. By the spring of 1862 this army was ready for the supreme test—the goal was Richmond.

Instead of marching overland, McClellan decided to take advantage of Union control of the inland waters and transport his army, with its vast supplies and materiel, down the Potomac River and across Chesapeake Bay to the tip of the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. Then with his supply ships steaming up the York, he planned to march northwestward up the peninsula, join another force under Gen. Irvin McDowell marching overland from Washington, and together, converge on Richmond.

McClellan’s plan of attack.Painting by Sidney King.

To accomplish this, McClellan undertook the largest amphibious operation ever attempted in the western world. Over 400 steam vessels, brigs, schooners, sloops, ferry boats, and barges assembled on the Potomac River. In March 1862 these vessels ferried the Army of the Potomac, with its 3,600 wagons, 700 ambulances, 300 pieces of artillery, 2,500 head of cattle, and over 25,000 horses and mules, to the southeast coast of Virginia. As Q. M. Gen. Rufus Ingalls reported: “Operations so extensive and important as the rapid and successful embarkation of such an army, with all its vast equipment, its transfer to the peninsula, and its supply while there, had scarcely any parallel in history.”

After landing at Fortress Monroe the Federal troops pushed aside the thinly held Confederate defenses at Yorktown and Williamsburg and proceeded up the peninsula according to plan. But progress was slow. Every day 500 tons of forage and subsistence were required to keep the army in the field. Early in May it rained and kept raining, day after dreary day. Federal soldiers had a saying: “Virginia used to be in the Union—now it’s in the mud.” Dirt roads turned into bottomless muck—creeks and gullies became swift flowing streams—fields were swamps. Roads and bridges had to be built and rebuilt, and still the thousands of wagons, horses, and mules continually stuck in the mud.

Sumner’s troops crossing Grapevine Bridge to reinforce Coach at Seven Pines.From a contemporary sketch.

Realizing that an effective overland pursuit of the retreating Confederate forces under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was out of the question because of the weather and the condition of the roads, McClellan on May 6 sent Gen. William B. Franklin’s division up the York River by transport to West Point, terminus of the Richmond and York River Railroad, in an attempt to cut off the Confederate wagon train. Johnston anticipated the move, however, and on May 7 ordered Gen. W. H. C. Whiting’s troops to attack Franklin in the battle of West Point, or Eltham’s Landing.

The attack was repulsed, but, even so, the wagon train managed to continue safely to Richmond. McClellan, however, had cleared the way to his next objective—the landing at White House on the Pamunkey River, a tributary of the York. Here the railroad crossed the Pamunkey on its way to West Point. This would be the Union base of supply for the contemplated attack on Richmond. This battle also cleared the way for the right wing of the Union army, which would have to stay north and east of Richmond in order to hook up with McDowell’s anticipated overland march from Washington.

General Johnston, falling back steadily in front of McClellan’s slow advance, was the target of severe criticism from Richmond newspapers for not making a determined stand. But he wrote to Gen. Robert E. Lee: “We are engaged in a species of warfare at which we can never win. It is plain that Gen. McClellan will adhere to the system adopted by him last summer, and depend for success upon artillery and engineering. We can compete with him in neither.”

After the fall of Norfolk on May 10 to the Union forces under Gen. John Wool, the crew of theVirginia(Merrimack) scuttled their ship. River pilots had advised that the iron-clad vessel could not navigate the treacherous channel up the James River to Richmond. Loss of theVirginiaopened the river to Federal gunboats, and McClellan immediately telegraphed the War Department: “I would now most earnestly urge that our gunboats and the iron-clad boats be sent as far as possible up the James river without delay. Instructions have been given so that the Navy will receive prompt support wherever and whenever required.”

Five Union gunboats, including the famousMonitor, started up the James under Comdr. John Rogers in theGalena. By May 15 they reached Drewry’s Bluff, just 7 miles below Richmond. Here, at a sharp bend, the Confederates had effectively obstructed the river and erected powerful batteries on a 90-foot bluff.

Battle of Drewry’s Bluff.Diorama, Richmond National Battlefield Park Visitor Center.

At 7 that morning the Federal gunboats opened fire on Fort Darling. The battle raged for 4 hours while the fate of Richmond hung in the balance, and near panic spread through the city. However, the accurate fire of the heavy guns on the bluff, combined with effective sharpshooting along the riverbanks, finally proved too much for the gunboats, and the Federal fleet retreated down the river. One Confederate officer observed: “* * * had Commander Rogers been supported by a few brigades, landed at City Point or above on the south side, Richmond would have been evacuated.”

Although the Secretary of the Navy requested “a cooperating land force” to help the gunboats pass Fort Darling and take Richmond, McClellan, despite his earlier promise of cooperation, wired the War Department: “Am not yet ready to cooperate with them.” He neglected to say when he would be ready. Richmond was never again seriously threatened by water.

Slowed by the heavy rains and the bad condition of the roads, where “teams cannot haul over half a load, and often empty wagons are stalled,” McClellan finally established his base of supply at White House on May 15. Five days later his advance crossed the Chickahominy River at Bottoms Bridge. By the 24th the five Federal corps were established on a front partly encircling Richmond on the north and east, and less than 6 miles away. Three corps lined thenorth bank of the Chickahominy, while the two corps under Generals E. D. Keyes and Samuel P. Heintzelman were south of the river, astride the York River Railroad and the roads down the peninsula.

Gen. George B. McClellan.Courtesy, Library of Congress.

With his army thus split by the Chickahominy, McClellan realized his position was precarious, but his orders were explicit: “General McDowell has been ordered to march upon Richmond by the shortest route. He is ordered * * * so to operate as to place his left wing in communication with your right wing, and you are instructed to cooperate, by extending your right wing to the north of Richmond * * *.”

Then, because of Gen. Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson’s brilliant operations in the Shenandoah Valley threatening Washington, Lincoln telegraphed McClellan on May 24: “I have been compelled to suspend McDowell’s movements to join you.” McDowell wrote disgustedly: “If the enemy can succeed so readily in disconcerting all our plans by alarming us first at one point then at another, he will paralyze a large force with a very small one.” That is exactly what Jackson succeeded in doing. This fear for the safety of Washington—the skeleton that haunted Lincoln’s closet—was the dominating factor in the military planning in the east throughout the war.

Lincoln’s order only suspended McDowell’s instructions to join McClellan; it did not revoke them. McClellan was still obliged to keep his right wing across the swollen Chickahominy.

Learning of McDowell’s withdrawal, Johnston decided to attack the two Federal corps south of the river, drive them back and destroy the Richmond and York River Railroad to White House. Early in the morning on May 31, after a violent rainstorm that threatened to wash all the Federal bridges into the river, Johnston fell upon Keyes and Heintzelman with 23 of his 27 brigades at Seven Pines.

The initial attack was sudden and vicious. Confederate Gen. James Longstreet threw Gen. D. H. Hill’s troops against Gen. Silas Casey’s division of Keyes’ corps, stationed about three-quarters of a mile west of Seven Pines. Longstreet overwhelmed the Federal division, forcing Casey to retreat a mile east of Seven Pines. Keyes then put Gen. D. N. Couch’s division on a line from Seven Pines to Fair Oaks, with Gen. Philip Kearney’s division on his left flank. Not until 4 that afternoon, however, did Confederate Gen. G. W. Smith send Whiting’s division against Couch’s right flank at Fair Oaks. The delay was fatal. Although Couch was forced back slowly, he drew up a new line of battle facing south towards Fair Oaks, with his back to the Chickahominy River. Here he held until Gen. Edwin V. Sumner, by heroic effort, succeeded in getting Gen. John Sedgwick’s division and part of Gen. I. B. Richardson’s across the tottering Grapevine Bridge to support him. Led by Sumner himself, Sedgwick’s troops repulsed Smith’s attack and drove the Confederates back with heavy losses.

The battle plan had been sound, but the attack was badly bungled. Directed by vague, verbal orders instead of explicit, written ones, whole brigades got lost, took the wrong roads, and generally got in each other’s way. Nine of the 23 attacking brigades never actually got into the fight at all. Towards nightfall Johnston was severely wounded in the chest and borne from the field. The command then fell to G. W. Smith. Fighting ceased with darkness.

Early next morning, June 1, Smith renewed the attack. His plan called for Whiting on the left flank to hold defensively, while Longstreet on the right swung counterclockwise in a pivot movement to hit Richardson’s division, which was facing south with its right near Fair Oaks. The Federal troops repulsed the assault, however, and when Heintzelman sent Gen. Joseph Hooker’s division on the Federal left on the offensive, the Confederates withdrew and the battle was over before noon.

That afternoon President Jefferson Davis appointed his chief military advisor, Gen. Robert E. Lee, as commander of the Southern forces. Lee promptly named his new command the Army of Northern Virginia—a name destined for fame in the annals of the Civil War.

McClellan’s troops repairing Grapevine Bridge.Courtesy, Library of Congress.

Although the battle itself was indecisive, the casualties were heavy on both sides. The Confederates lost 6,184 in killed, wounded, and missing; the Federals, 5,031. Undoubtedly the most important result of the fight was the wounding of Johnston and the resultant appointment of Lee as field commander.

Lee immediately began to reorganize the demoralized Southern forces, and put them to work digging the elaborate system of entrenchments that would eventually encircle Richmond completely. For this the troops derisively named him the “King of Spades.” But Lee was planning more than a static defense. When the time came these fortifications could be held by a relatively small number of troops, while he massed the bulk of his forces for a counteroffensive. He was familiar with and believed in Napoleon’s maxim: “* * * to manoeuver incessantly, without submitting to be driven back on the capital which it is meant to defend * * *.”

On June 12 Lee sent his cavalry commander, Gen. J. E. B. (“Jeb”) Stuart, with 1,200 men, to reconnoiter McClellan’s right flank northof the Chickahominy, and to learn the strength of his line of communication and supply to White House. Stuart obtained the information, but instead of retiring from White House the way he had gone, he rode around the Union army and returned to Richmond on June 15 by way of the James River, losing only one man in the process.

Gen. Robert E. Lee.Courtesy, National Archives.

Lee’s fortifications east of Mechanicsville Turnpike.From a contemporary sketch.

Chickahominy swamps.Courtesy, National Archives.

It was a bold feat, and Stuart assured his chief that there was nothing to prevent his turning the Federal right flank. But the daring ride probably helped McClellan more than Lee. Alerted to the exposed position of his right flank and base of supply, McClellan withdrew his whole army south of the Chickahominy, with the exception of Gen. Fitz-John Porter’s corps, which stretched from Grapevine Bridge to the Meadow Bridge west of Mechanicsville. On June 18 he started the transfer of his enormous accumulation of supplies with the shipment of 800,000 rations from White House to Harrison’s Landing on the James River. After Jackson’s success in the Shenandoah Valley at Cross Keys and Port Republic, it was becoming apparent even to McClellan that McDowell probably never would join him, in which case he wanted his base of operations to be the James rather than the York River.

Meanwhile, pressure from Washington for an offensive movement against Richmond was mounting. But because of the wettest June in anyone’s memory, McClellan was having trouble bringing up his heavy siege guns, corduroying roads, and throwing bridges across the flooded Chickahominy swamps. As one bedraggled soldier wrote: “It would have pleased us much to have seen those ‘On-to-Richmond’ people put over a 5 mile course in the Virginia mud, loaded with a 40-pound knapsack, 60 rounds of cartridges, and haversacks filled with 4 days rations.”

Also, McClellan believed erroneously that the Confederates had twice as many available troops as he had. Consequently, his plan of action, as he wrote his wife, was to “make the first battle mainly an artillery combat. As soon as I gain possession of the ‘Old Tavern’ I will push them in upon Richmond and behind their works; then I will bring up my heavy guns, shell the city, and carry it by assault.”

Lee’s plan of attack.Painting by Sidney King.

McClellan’s plan probably would have succeeded had Lee been willing to stand still for it. But the Confederate commander did not intend to let McClellan fight that type of warfare. As he wrote to Jackson: “Unless McClellan can be driven out of his entrenchments he will move by positions under cover of his heavy guns withinshelling distance of Richmond.” It was almost as if Lee had read McClellan’s letter to his wife.

Lee’s plan to drive McClellan away from Richmond was bold and daring, and strategically brilliant. He would bring Jackson’s forces down from the valley quickly and secretly to turn McClellan’s right flank at Mechanicsville. At the same time Gen. A. P. Hill’s division would cross the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge, turn east and clear the Federal forces from Mechanicsville, thereby opening the Mechanicsville Turnpike bridge for D. H. Hill and Longstreet’s troops to cross. Then, in echelon, the four divisions would sweep down the north side of the Chickahominy, annihilate Porter’s corps, capture the supply base at White House, then turn and destroy the rest of the Union army. With Jackson’s forces and other reinforcements from farther south, Lee would have about 90,000 men, the largest army he would ever command in the field.

To protect Richmond, he planned to leave about one-third of his army, under Generals John B. Magruder and Benjamin Huger, in the entrenchments around the city to hold back the main part of McClellan’s force, about 70,000 men, from marching into the Confederate Capital. If this force started to withdraw, then Magruder and Huger would attack.

Lee apparently believed that McClellan would try to retreat to his base at White House, or failing that, would retire back down the peninsula. He assured Jefferson Davis that “any advance of the enemy toward Richmond will be prevented by vigorously following his rear and crippling and arresting his progress.” The strategy was just about perfect, but, unfortunately for Lee, the tactics were not.

On the morning of June 25 the Seven Days began with the advance of Hooker’s division along the Williamsburg road at Oak Grove, preparatory to a general advance McClellan planned for the next day. But Hooker ran into strong opposition from Huger’s troops, and when McClellan received intelligence of Jackson’s approach, Hooker was ordered back. McClellan wired Washington: “I incline to think that Jackson will attack my right and rear.” He had delayed too long—the next day Lee wrested the initiative from him.

According to Lee’s plan, Jackson was to march from Ashland on June 25 and encamp that night just west of the Central Railroad. At 3 a.m. on the 26th he was to advance and envelop Porter’s right flank at Beaver Dam Creek. Then, wrote Lee, “A. P. Hill was to cross the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge when Jackson’sadvance beyond that point should be known and move directly upon Mechanicsville.”

Confederate attack at Beaver Dam Creek.From a contemporary sketch.

But from the beginning, unforeseen circumstances upset the operation and timing of this plan. McClellan suspected Jackson’s approach, so the element of surprise was lacking. And when the action of the Union pickets in destroying bridges and felling trees in Jackson’s path, as well as the fatigue of his weary troops, combined to delay him, the all-important time element was lost.

As the day wore on with no word from Jackson, A. P. Hill became impatient and fearful for the success of Lee’s plan. He decided to attack regardless. At 3 that afternoon he crossed the Chickahominy and swept the Union outposts from Mechanicsville, thus clearing the way for D. H. Hill and Longstreet’s troops to cross. Porter withdrew to a prepared position behind Beaver Dam Creek, a mile east of Mechanicsville. This naturally strong position was further fortified by felled trees and the banks of a millrace. Here, atop the high banks of the stream, he placed Gen. George McCall’s division, extending from near the Chickahominy on the south, across Old Church road (now U.S. 360) on the north. Gen. Truman Seymour’s brigade held the left and Gen. John Reynold’s the right, with Gen. George G. Meade’s brigade in reserve. The only approaches to the position were across open fields, commanded by the Federal artillery, and down the steep banks of the stream, covered by the soldiers’ muskets.

Hill recklessly hurled his brigades forward in a hopeless frontal assault. The gray-clad infantry charged bravely down the steep banks and up to the stream before the murderous fire of artillery and musketry from the surrounding slopes forced a bloody withdrawal. Casualties in killed and wounded were: Confederate 1,485; Union, 258.

Despite the successful defense, when Jackson’s forces finally appeared on his right flank later that night, Porter’s position became untenable and McClellan ordered him to withdraw to a previously prepared position behind Boatswain Swamp, near Gaines’ Mill. At the same time he ordered his quartermaster general at White House to reship all the supplies he possibly could to Harrison’s Landing on the James, and send all the beef cattle to the vicinity of Savage Station. Early next morning, June 27, the herd of 2,500 head of cattle started on its drive from White House.

Battle of Gaines’ Mill.FromBattles and Leaders of the Civil War.

McClellan’s change of base.Painting by Sidney King.

The tactical situation was now extremely critical for both Lee and McClellan. Because of the repulse at Beaver Dam, Lee had not yet achieved his first objective, which, according to his battle order, was to “drive the enemy from his position above New Bridge,” about 4 miles east of Mechanicsville. Lee’s whole plan for the defense of Richmond, in the event McClellan should elect to march on the city with his main force south of the Chickahominy, hinged on his ability to cross the river quickly and attack the Federal rear. Lacking control of New Bridge this would be impossible. Although the Union position behind Boatswain Swamp was actually east of New Bridge, the approaches to the bridge could be covered by Porter’s artillery.

The situation was equally serious for McClellan. With Jackson enveloping his right flank and rear, and believing he “had to deal with at least double” his numbers, White House would have to be abandoned. Having made the decision to change his base to the James, he desperately needed time to perfect the arrangements and to get the thousands of wagons and the herd of cattle safely started. His order to Porter was explicit, “hold our position at any cost until night * * *.”

Porter’s corps now occupied a semicircular line of battle along the crest of the partially wooded plateau behind Boatswain Swamp, with both extremes resting on the Chickahominy River. It was another naturally strong position further strengthened by felling trees and digging rifle pits. The approaches to the position were over an open plain and across a sharp ravine. Gen. George Morell’s division held the left and Gen. George Sykes’ right, with McCall’s weary troops in reserve. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke’s cavalry was on Porter’s extreme left, in the lowlands bordering the Chickahominy. During the course of the impending battle of Gaines’ Mill, Porter would be reinforced by Gen. Willard Slocum’s division, giving him a total strength of about 35,000, as opposed to about 60,000 for Lee.

On the Confederate side, Longstreet was on Lee’s right opposite Morell, A. P. Hill in the center, and Jackson and D. H. Hill on the left. Lee was convinced that the greater part of the Federal army was in his front, and he still thought McClellan would try to protect his base and retreat toward White House. On these erroneous assumptions he made his plans.

A. P. Hill would attack the center while Longstreet made a feint on the Union left. Then when Jackson appeared on the Union right, Lee believed Porter would shift part of his troops to meet Jackson’s threat in order to keep him from getting between the Union army and its base at White House. As soon as Porter did this, Longstreet would turn the feint into a full assault, and together with Hill drive the Union forces into Jackson and D. H. Hill, waiting on Lee’s left.

About 2:30 p.m. Hill attacked the center of the Federal line, but under a devastating fire of artillery and musketry, “where men fell like leaves in an autumn wind,” his troops were hurled back with heavy losses. Longstreet, realizing a feint now would not help Hill, ordered a full-scale attack, but he too suffered a bloody repulse. Jackson, sensing that “Porter didn’t drive worth two cents,” as he quaintly put it, threw D. H. Hill against Sykes on Porter’s right.

By now A. P. Hill’s division was badly cut up, and on Lee’s request Jackson sent Whiting’s division, consisting of Gen. E. M. Law’s and John B. Hood’s brigades, over to support him. Porter then threw in Slocum’s division of Franklin’s corps, to protect threatened points along the line. The vicious battle waged furiously for 4 hours. “The noise of the musketry,” said one veteran, “was not rattling, as ordinarily, but one intense metallic din.”

Finally, just as darkness covered the bloody field, Hood’s Texas brigade, along with Gen. George Pickett’s brigade on Longstreet’s left, penetrated the right of Morell’s line in a courageous bayonet charge that broke the morale of the Federal troops. They went streaming back across the plateau to the safety of the ChickahominyRiver. In a last desperate attempt to stem the tide, General Cooke (“Jeb” Stuart’s father-in-law) sent his cavalry in a wild charge against the pressing Confederates. But the retreating Union infantry and artillery obstructed the cavalry and broke its attack. The only result was the loss of several more artillery pieces in the confusion.

With darkness closing in and the Confederate troops disorganized after the breakthrough, Lee did not attempt to pursue the Federals farther. Porter withdrew the remnants of his corps across the river and rejoined the main Union army. Total casualties in this crucial battle, the most costly and vicious of the Seven Days, were: Union, 6,837; Confederate, 8,751.

In a sense, both sides had achieved their immediate objectives. Porter had held until night, so McClellan could get his army safely started for Harrison’s Landing. Lee had cleared the north side of the Chickahominy of all Federal forces, broken their supply line to White House, controlled strategic New Bridge, and had turned back McClellan’s advance on Richmond.

Battle of Savage Station.FromBattles and Leaders of the Civil War.

McClellan was now engaged in the most difficult move an army can be called upon to make in the face of an aggressive enemy—a flanking movement to effect a change of base. There was no thoughtgiven to any offensive movement. President Lincoln telegraphed: “Save your army at all events.” This was now McClellan’s only objective.

That McClellan had not tried to fall back on White House surprised Lee, as he had believed he was facing the main part of the Federal army at Gaines’ Mill. The next day, June 28, he spent burying the dead, reorganizing for another offensive movement, and attempting to divine McClellan’s plans. Lee reported to Jefferson Davis that “the bridges over the Chickahominy in rear of the enemy were destroyed, and their reconstruction impracticable in the presence of his whole army and powerful batteries. We were therefore compelled to wait until his purpose should be developed.” By nightfall, however, he realized that McClellan was headed for the James River, and made his plans accordingly.

Early next morning, June 29, Longstreet and A. P. Hill were to cross the Chickahominy at New Bridge and take the Darbytown road to where it met the Long Bridge road. Huger and Magruder, already on the south side of the river in front of Richmond, were ordered in pursuit of the Federal forces—Huger by Charles City road and Magruder by the Williamsburg road. In the meantime, Jackson would cross Grapevine Bridge and sweep down the south side of the river to get in McClellan’s rear.

Again, Lee’s strategy was brilliant. The Charles City road met the Long Bridge road at a place called Glendale or Frayser’s Farm. Lee planned to have all his divisions converge there at about the time the middle of McClellan’s long column should be passing. The impact of the expected blow would undoubtedly split the Union army, and with Jackson’s corps in the rear of one half, the other half could be cut off and annihilated. Once again, however, the staff work and tactics were pitiful.

McClellan’s rearguard was posted about Savage Station on the Richmond and York River Railroad, facing west. Richardson’s division, of Sumner’s corps, was in an open field north of the railroad tracks in back of the station. Sedgwick’s division held the center in another open field south of the tracks, with its left resting on the Williamsburg road. Gen. William F. (“Baldy”) Smith’s division, of Franklin’s corps, took position in the woods south of the Williamsburg road.

Magruder reached the vicinity of Savage Station about noon, June 29, but did not attack as he realized his four brigades were badly outnumbered. He halted and waited for Jackson, who was supposed to turn the Federal right flank along the Chickahominy and get in their rear. But Jackson “was delayed by the necessity of reconstructing Grapevine Bridge.” Magruder then mistakenly reported McClellan advancing and sent for two brigades from Huger to supporthim. Lee cancelled the order when he realized that what Magruder had hit was only the rearguard covering the Federal army’s passage across White Oak swamp. What Lee did not realize, however, was that Jackson was not in position and would not reach Savage Station until 3 the following morning. Finally, about 5 that afternoon, Magruder attacked with his four brigades and two regiments, but it was too late with too little. The Federals withdrew hastily but safely. In their haste they were forced to leave 2,500 sick and wounded men in the field hospital at Savage Station and to abandon or destroy a vast amount of supplies and equipment.

Battle of Savage Station.From a contemporary sketch.

Battle of Glendale.FromBattles and Leaders of the Civil War.

Lee now ordered Magruder to follow Longstreet and A. P. Hill down the Darbytown road. The next day, June 30, Longstreet and Hill came upon the Union troops of McCall and Kearney across the Long Bridge road about a mile west of the Charles City road intersection at Glendale. Hooker held the left or south flank, with Slocum on the right guarding the Charles City road approach. Sedgwick was in the rear in reserve. Longstreet and Hill halted and waited for Huger, coming down the Charles City road, and Jackson, supposedly coming on the Federal rear from White Oak Swamp.

Meanwhile, Gen. T. H. Holmes, who had come from the south side of the James River with part of his division and Gen. Henry A. Wise’s brigade, had been sent by Lee down the River, or New Market road in an attempt to get between McClellan and the James River. McClellan anticipated the move, however, and Warren of Sykes’ division stopped Holmes south of Malvern Hill. Lee thenordered Magruder on the Darbytown road to reinforce him, but Magruder’s forces did not get there in time to help.

Huger was delayed by obstructions, mostly felled trees, with which the Federals had blocked his path. Instead of going around the obstructions, Huger continually halted to clear the road. Thus it resolved itself into a question of whether Huger could clear the trees as fast as the Union soldiers cut them down. In this so-called “battle of the axes” Huger lost, and did not get to Glendale in time to participate in the engagement.

About 4 that afternoon, however, Longstreet heard artillery firing from Huger’s direction which “was supposed to indicate his approach,” and expecting Jackson’s appearance momentarily, he opened with one of his batteries and thus brought on the battle. Jackson never did show up, being held north of White Oak Swamp by the artillery of Richardson and Smith, and did not get to Glendale until the next day. The fight was particularly vicious with many pockets of hand-to-hand combat, but, without the expected support of Huger and Jackson, Longstreet could not break the Union lines in time to inflict any serious damage or to interrupt the withdrawal. Lee stated in his report: “Could the other commands have cooperated in the action the result would have proved most disastrous to the enemy.” Gone was Lee’s last chance to cut McClellan’s army in two.

McClellan had already selected another naturally strong position, this time on Malvern Hill, for the last stand before reaching the James River. On the morning of July 1, Morell and Sykes’ divisions of Porter’s corps were drawn up on the crest of the hill west of the Quaker road. East of the road Couch’s division of Keyes’ corps held the front, with Kearney and Hooker of Heintzelman’s corps flanked to the right and rear. Sumner’s troops were in the rear in reserve. The position was flanked on either side by creeks in deep ravines less than a mile apart, and across this narrow front, Porter placed his batteries with the guns almost hub to hub. In front, the ground was open, sloping down to woods, marshes, and swamps, through which the Confederate forces had to form for attack within range of the Federal artillery.

Lee had Jackson on his left facing Kearney, Hooker, and Couch’s right. D. H. Hill was in the center opposite Couch’s left and Morell’s right. Lee then ordered Magruder to the right of Hill, but Magruder was delayed by taking the wrong road; so instead two brigades of Huger’s were placed on Hill’s right. Longstreet and A. P. Hill, their ranks decimated from the actions at Gaines’ Mill and Glendale, were held in reserve. The terrain rendered it almost impossible for effective use of Confederate artillery, and the few batteries that did get into position were quickly cut to pieces by the massed Union guns.

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