MAJ.
GEN.
MCCLELLAN
now lay before Richmond with one of the largest,
and, I have no doubt, the most thoroughly equipped, of the armies of this
age. On the eastern side of the city, his force lay south of the
Chickahominy river, gradually sloping back to it as you moved up stream,
until about the Nine Mile road, the real body of his line was on the left
or north bank of the river, and only a picket in the open meadow south of
it. Thence his line continued to stretch to, and even beyond, the village
of Mechanicsville, at which point it could not have been more than six
miles from the Confederate capital. What McClellan's force was I cannot
pretend to say, but I suppose it must have exceeded a hundred thousand
men. They were powerfully intrenched on front and flank.
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who had commanded the Confederate
army in Virginia since the battle of Manasses, was wounded in the battle
of Seven Pines, on the 1st of June. The command of our army was then
conferred on Gen. Robert E. Lee. Lee's forces consisted of the old Army of
the Potomac, with large additions from the eastern portion of Virginia,
and from perhaps every State on this side the Mississippi. I recall the
divisions of Huger, Magruder, Longstreet, D. H. Hill, McLaws, and A.. P.
Hill, and I know that Holmes and D.R. Jones had command of divisions during
the brief campaign here, but whether they had permanent commands to that
extent, I cannot tell. But this is only by the way.
A. P. Hill's division, as I have said, was known as the
Light division, and consisted of the following brigades, which it is
important to fix in our memories: J.R. Anderson's, (principally from
Georgia,) Branch's, (North Carolina,) Field's, (Virginia,) Archer's,
(Tennessee and Alabama,) Pender's, (North Carolina,) and Gregg s, (South
Carolina.) Seven field-batteries were attached. The whole strength of the
command was not far from thirty thousand, on paper. About fourteen
thousand were engaged in the battles around Richmond.
On the evening of the 25th of June, (Wednesday,) Gregg's
brigade received orders to prepare for the march. Soon after dark we were
put in motion, marching nearly parallel with, and up the Chickahominy, in
the general direction of Me low Bridge. The Fourteenth regiment was left
on picket on the Chickahominy. After a march of several hours through
almost inextricable by-roads, we were halted near the bridge just mentioned,
but entirely out of view of the enemy. Here we lay during the remainder of
the night, and until about three o'clock the next day. It is well known
that the plan of operations was for Gen. Jackson with his command, coming
from the valley, to strike the enemy in the rear, (or rather on the right
flank, as it would become to us,) while A. P. Hill's division should cross
the Chickahominy and push down the right flank, or, as I would call it,
the flank front, could I coin a term. The line of McClellan extended to
Meadow Bridge, although there were no works west of the village of
Mechanicsville, and few troops. Branch's brigade was to cross the
Chickahominy seven miles above the bridge.
At three P. M. on the 26th, Hill crossed Meadow Bridge,
Field's brigade leading, and driving the feeble force that resisted.
Gregg's brigade followed Field's, then Pender's. We filed to the right,
crossing the Central railroad, and pursuing the enemy, who fell back to
Mechanicswille. The battle was opened by the enemy's concentrating a heavy
fire of artillery on Field's brigade, which, however,was soon thrown into
line of battle and drove them from Mechanicsville.
Our brigade was here saluted with its first shell. Some
stray ones, it is true, had passed into the neighborhood of our camp at
Smith's farm, during the occasional artillery duels there, but these were
the first that fell actually among us. We were marching by the flank, in
full view of the enemy's batteries, Field's line moving up to the attack
in front, when the fire opened upon us. It seemed to us that the shell
ricochetted and slipped through us in a truly miraculous manner! The
brigade, being intended for reserve, was moved behind the hills, and
remained there during the remainder of the evening and all night. The fire
was very heavy, both of artillery and small arms, but particularly of
the former. There were, however, very few casualties in the brigade, not
more than ten or twelve, probably.
At dawn, on Friday, 27th, our brigade was put in the advance
and ordered to drive the enemy from their defences on Beaver Dam creek, at
Ellyson's Mills, the attack of the evening before having failed to
dislodge them. The brigade was formed thus: the First regiment on the
right, the Twelfth on the left, these two constituting the first line--the
Rifle regiment and the Thirteenth regiment following them, respectively,
as support. The enemy abandoned the position, though one of great natural
strength, and highly improved by earth-works, without even a respectable
skirmish, and we passed on over the dead and wounded bodies of our
comrades who had fallen in the unsuccessful assault of the previous
evening. Soon after the passage of the creek we entered the deserted camps
of the enemy, where we found, besides great heaps of blazing commissary
and quartermaster stores, piles of knapsacks, arms and accoutrements, &c.,
which, however, our ardor prevented us from pillaging as freely as we
learned subsequently to do.
Longstreet's division had now crossed the Chickahominy and
were moving down the river, about parallel with us.
While in the midst of the camps just mentioned we were fired
upon by artillery, and two of the skirmishers in our front wounded. In a
few moments the fire ceased, and we learned that Jackson was crossing
before us. I remember that word was passed along the line that the hero of
the valley was just across the open field from us, and that immediately we
sent up that shout of enthusiasm with which his presence was almost
invariably greeted. It appeared that the enemy had learned his approach on
their flank and retired, in consequence of which he had pressed on to our
very front. There he had signalled us, but receiving no reply, and being
unable to distinguish our colors or uniform, had fired upon us for the
enemy.
Pursuing our march, for perhaps two miles, we came to
Gaines' Mill, on Powhite creek. Jackson's army had gone to our left. Here
two companies from the First regiment and one from the Twelfth were sent
forward as skirmishers against the enemy opposing our advance. The First
and Twelfth regiments were formed in line, and the skirmishers ordered to
charge against the enemy. They did so, under a sharp fire, at a
double-quick, and the two regiments moved over the crest of the hill and
opened upon the Federal line which occupied the opposite elevation across
the creek. The latter fled almost at once, inflicting a trifling loss upon
us.
The bridge, previously destroyed by them, was repaired, and
the brigade crossed, partly on it, partly on the dam above the mill. We
refreshed ourselves with liquors and provisions left by the enemy in and
around the mill. I have heard that an officer on Gen. Hill's staff
subsequently captured twenty-five prisoners in the mill, which we were so
careless as not to search !
After a brief rest, we moved forward and drove a strong
skirmish from a pine-thicket just beyond the mill, at the double-quick. A
brigade commander in our division afterwards said that it was the most
beautiful advance he had ever seen. I remember a rather amusing incident
that occurred here. We shot down several of the enemy as they retreated
across the open field; but one of them, after lying a moment, rose and
attempted to follow his flying comrades. By this time the uninjured ones
had passed out of sight; so this unfortunate was left to the fire of our
whole line. The excitement became intense. A perfect shower of balls was
hurled after him, striking up the dust before, behind, and all around him.
But still he staggered on, striving but the more vigorously as the danger
increased. Cries of "Kill him !" "Shoot him !" "Down with the fellow !"
and others of rougher cast, resounded from every side; but shoot as we
would, he succeeded in reaching a clump of pines, where we found him
soon after, exhausted by fatigue and loss of blood.
It was now after two o'clock P. M. The brigade was in the two
lines before described. Advancing some two or three hundred yards, we
discovered the table-ground to descend to a deep, wet ravine, on the
opposite side of which, upon an eminence, was drawn up a line of Federal
infantry. We could see an officer riding up and down it, apparently giving
directions or encouragement to his men. A battery soon opened upon us,
whose fire we received lying down. Their practice was pretty good, but I
know of only one man who was killed in the brigade. Crenshaw's battery
replied to them, and with considerable effect, I judge, for their line of
infantry had disappeared when we rose to resume the advance. Having
reached and crossed the ravine, and driven off the slight force resisting
the passage, we were ordered to lie down and rest. We were told that we
were to charge a battery on the opposite hill, or rather, to capture it,
for we were to succeed, of course. A growth of young pines concealed us
from the enemy, who, however, kept up a slow, constant fire upon us. Here
we lay for perhaps an hour, most of us sleeping soundly after the many
hours of heat and fatigue. During this interval we heard Longstreet's
guns, or the enemy's opposed to him, booming far back, almost behind us.
Jackson was moving on our left, so as to strike the flank of the line we
confronted. The Federal batteries and ours kept up a regular interchange
of shots.
At length, about four o'clock, the advance was ordered; The
First and Twelfth regiments pushed forward, through the pines and brambles,
up the hill. The fire from both artillery and infantry, in front, and from
the right oblique, proving too severe, Gen. Gregg ordered Col. Marshall,
of the Rifles, to the right, to charge a battery there. The latter,
forming his regiment in three lines--a skirmish line and its reserve, and
a line of battle of six companies--advanced to the perilous undertaking.
For several hundred yards this gallant charge was pushed. Although moving
across an open field, with a murderous fire pouring into them from front
and flank, they pressed on, driving back the line confronting them, and
forcing the obnoxious battery to seek safety in flight. On reaching the
wood on the opposite side of the field just mentioned, the regiment opened
upon the enemy, fully repaying them for the injury they had caused them.
It became a hand-to-hand fight, even bayonets and clubbed guns being used,
it is said. A heavy force of New York Zouaves now precipitated itself upon
the left wing and flank of the Rifles. Even these were checked by the
coolness and resolution of the men. Yet no support coming up, Col.
Marshall was forced to withdraw his regiment to the cover of the woods in
his rear and on the right of his original position. In this engagement the
Rifle regiment, out of five hundred and thirty-seven men carried into
action, lost eighty-one killed and two hundred and thirty-four wounded !
Meantime the First and Twelfth were hard pressed. Owing to
the tangled nature of the ground, the Twelfth overlapped the left wing of
the First, which created a good deal of confusion. Just as they were
clearing the thicket the enemy's line rose on the eminence above them.
Some one, imagining that the Rifles had pushed around that far, cried out
that these were friends. The firing almost ceased, on our part, on the
instant. Suddenly a volley from the whole Federal line burst upon us. It
seemed to sweep the earth. In the First regiment the entire colorguard was
shot down, and Col. Hamilton himself bore the colors for a time. Both
regiments endeavored to advance, the Twelfth pushing out into the open
space. But still the raking fire of the enemy drove them back in
considerable disorder. So hotly pressed was the First, that Gen. Gregg
ordered it to file out by the Thirteenth, which was directed to hold back
the now exultant enemy. The Thirteenth did so, effectually.
At this juncture, the Fourteenth regiment, which, it will be
remembered, was left beyond the Chickahominy, on picket, arrived. Hurrying
across the valley, repairing a bridge near Friend's house, burned by the
enemy, and advancing under a continuous fire of hostile artillery, Col.
McGowan had brought forward his men to the battle. The guns of Crenshaw's
battery ceased firing, to let them pass through; and then, though wearied
with two days and three nights of outpost duty, and a rapid march of
several miles under a June sun, they rushed forward, with a shout and at
the double-quick, and drove back the confident enemy. Nor was this
regiment satisfied with repulsing an advance. In conjunction with a North
Carolina and a Georgia regiment (whose names I have never heard) they
pressed on, with the view of capturing a battery some distance beyond; but
the distance proving so great, and the fire of a long line of the enemy
concentrated upon them so destructive, they were withdrawn to the brow of
the hill, which they held during the remainder of the day.
Col. Edwards, of the Thirteenth, held the position assigned
him; but after a time, deciding to advance higher up the hill, he sent
forward a company, as skirmishers, to clear the woods on his right, while
he carried the regiment forward. Several companies of the right wing,
under Major Farrow, (acting Lieut. Col.,) not hearing the order, on
account of the terrific roar of artillery and small arms, became separated
from the rest, and were at length ordered back to join upon the First,
which, with the Rifles, was now made a reserve. The left of the Thirteenth
took and held the desired position, in spite of the continued fire of the
enemy.
Gen. Hill himself directed Col. Hamilton, of the First
regiment, to move his command (now consisting of the First, the Rifles and
a battalion of the Thirteenth, under Major Farrow) to the right, and out
of the first line, where they were posted in a body of woods, as support
to Anderson's and Field's brigades. Two companies of the First, not
receiving the order, remained upon the scene of the original contest.
The terror of the struggle, during this time and until dark,
is inconceivable to those who have never witnessed a great battle. From
far back on our right, where Longstreet stormed batteries and
breastworks, along a line nearly at right-angles with that occupied by our
brigade, to the extreme left, where D. H. Hill swept alike infantry and
artillery, the air was filled with the incessant roll of musketry and the
thunder of cannon. I was sent back some distance during the heat of the
engagement, and had thus an opportunity of seeing and hearing rarely
enjoyed by a participant in a battle. Ira every direction I could see
columns hurrying into action along the dusty roads, and lines moving under
fire, with waving banners and wild cheers, while far and wide roared the
artillery of both armies, and small arms rattled in furious volleys. The
great Lee seemed to be ubiquitous, here sending in a fresh brigade, here
despatching couriers to various quarters of the field, here rallying and
reassuring a disordered regiment, constantly in motion, but always
sublimely brave and calm.
Night put a period to the conflict: but on its stillness,
usually only interrupted by the brief sound of wheels or the cries of the
wounded, there would occasionally break a fierce volley of musketry, and
the wild, irregular yell of Confederate soldiers. Then all was still
again.
We slept upon the field of battle.
During the night the enemy retreated to the south bank of
the Chickahominy.
In this engagement, which we are accustomed to call the
battle of Cold Harbor or Gaines' Mill--Gen. Lee terms it, in his report,
the battle of the Chickahominy--the loss of the brigade was as follows:
| Killed.
| Wounded.
| Total.
| First regiment | 20 | 125 | 145
| | Twelfth regiment | 17 | 121 | 188
| | Thirteenth regiment | 4 | 44 | 48
| | Fourteenth regiment | 18 | 190 | 208
| | Orr's regiment, Rifles | 81 | 234 | 315
| | Aggregate | 140 | 714 | 854
| |
We carried not more than 2,500 men into action.
The following officers were killed and wounded in the
brigade: In the First regiment, Lieut. Col. A. M. Smith, Capt. C. Boag,
Lieut. Grimke Rhett, Lieut. Robert B. Rhett, Lieut. -- Ashley,
killed--Lieut. H. C. Heise, Lieut. B. M. Blease, Lieut. Josiah Cox,
Lieut. J. G. Barnwell, Lieut. E. D. Brailsford, wounded; in the Twelfth
regiment, Lieut. J. W. Delany, killed--Capt. E. F. Bookter, Capt. Miller,
Capt. McMeekin, Capt. Vorlandigham, wounded; of the Thirteenth, no record,
but I remember Capt. Hunt; in the Fourteenth, Lieut. Plunkett,
killed--Major Carter, Capt. Brown, Capt. Taggart, Capt. Edward Croft,
Lieut. Brunsun, Lieut. W. J. Ready, Lieut. O. W. Alien, Lieut. Stephens,
Lieut. McCarty, Lieut. Durrah, Lieut. Carter, wounded; in Orr's regiment
Rifles, Lieut. Lattimer, Lieut. Norris, killed--Major J. W. Livingstone,
Capt. G. M. Miller, Capt. F. E. Harrison, Capt. G. W. Cox, Lieut. W. C.
Davis, Lieut. McCay, wounded.
L
IEUT.
C
OL.
A
UGUSTUS M. S
MITH,
of the First South Carolina volunteers, was wounded in this engagement,
and died on the following Sunday. Without disparagement of any others who
fell that day, (for many of them were of my dearest friends,) it is
probable that he was the severest loss to the brigade. He was of excellent
descent, of considerable wealth, and of a degree of education and
refinement corresponding to his circumstances. He was a native of
Abbeville District, where he planted until the beginning of this war.
Although his education and his pursuits were entirely civil, he evinced
from the first a great fondness and aptitude for military things. He was
an excellent drill officer, a thorough disciplinarian, a gallant leader.
Although ill at our departure from camp, he persisted in going with us,
and at last received his death-stroke at the front. He was universally
lamented, as an officer, a patriot and a gentleman.
During Saturday (28th) we rested on the hard-earned field,
and performed the last offices for our dead comrades. On Sunday, (29th,)
in consequence of the retreat of McClellan, we took up the line of march
across the Chickahominy, towards the James. The weather was intensely hot
and close. This was the day of the battle of Savage Station, which was
pressed upon the retreating Federals. We knew nothing of it, however, as
we pursued the road towards Richmond, until within a few miles of the
city, when we turned down the Charles City County road, and afterwards
into the Quaker road. That night we bivouacked perhaps fifteen miles from
Richmond. The next morning (Monday, 30th) we resumed the march at a late
hour, and continued it three or four miles, when we reached Frazier's
farm, which gave name to the battle that followed.
Here we found Longstreet's division, which had preceded us
all along the way, in line of battle. The engagement opened with a heavy
shelling from the enemy's batteries, intended to delay us from
intercepting their retreat along the Quaker road. President Davis, who had
come down to witness the battle, narrowly escaped being killed by one of
these shell. The fire was directed up the road by which our column marched,
but had little effect beyond the frightening of nervous men, on account of
the close, level nature of the country. Longstreet's division was soon put
forward, and engaged a large body of the enemy. Our division was then sent
in to reinforce Longstreet. Gregg's brigade was sent to the especial
relief of Prior's and Featherstone's brigades, now very hard pressed. It
was near sunset.
The Fourteenth regiment led. After filing out on the left of
the road, and making a reconnoissance by skirmishers, they found Gen.
Featherstone lying wounded in the woods, and in the very hands of the
enemy's skirmishers. The regiment was immediately moved forward through
the matted woods, driving the skirmish line just mentioned before it. When
an opening was reached, they began the fire in full force upon the
opposing lines. On the left of the Fourteenth was the Thirteenth, which
only enjoyed the unpleasant position of receiving, as a second line, a
liberal share of the balls directed against the first. They had little
opportunity to fire themselves. The remaining regiments of the brigade
were carried still to the left, where they were subjected to a similar
process. The enemy not venturing to charge Longstreet, our brigade, with
the exception of the Fourteenth, had but to lie down and take what came.
The Fourteenth regiment was long and furiously engaged.
Without knowing what was going on, except that a fire came upon them from
the front, they kept up an incessant fusillade till after dark, yielding
no inch of ground. Some of the men fired seventy times ! The enemy were
finally forced to give way before such obstinate endurance.
The battle of Frazier's Farm was one of the most complicated
affairs I have ever witnessed. This was owing principally, no doubt, to
the dense, tangled nature of the woods in which we fought. We had only two
divisions engaged with the bulk of McClellan's army. It was impossible to
charge to any great distance with order, in such a place, and could we
have done so, we must have outflanked ourselves by leaving the long wings
of the enemy behind us. Again, when a body of troops were sent in they
could not, frequently, distinguish whether a line of our own was in front
of them or not, and if the front line gave way we could only know it, in
many cases, by the increased and approaching volleys of the enemy. Again,
the fight was continued too long after dark; until nine o'clock the firing
was considerable. Our offensive position gave us the moral advantage, but,
as a rule, both parties are so confused and demoralized by a night-fight,
that it is not worth the trouble and risk.
Yet Frazier's Farm was no unimportant battle. Our troops
captured several pieces of artillery and forced the enemy from several
positions with great slaughter. Our own loss---that of Longstreet's and
A. P. Hill's' divisions, I mean--was also quite heavy. That of our brigade
was very slight, unaccountably so, for the fire we were subjected to.
| Killed.
| Wounded.
| Total.
| First regiment | -- | 8 | 8
| | Orr's Rifles | -- | 9 | 9
| | Twelfth regiment | -- | 7 | 7
| | Thirteenth regiment | 1 | 16 | 17
| | Fourteenth regiment | 11 | 65 | 76
| | Aggregate | 12 | 105 | 117
| |
Some time after night the brigade was withdrawn and
bivouacked in the woods until morning.
On Tuesday, July 1st, the battle of Malvern Hill was fought.
On that morning Gen. Jackson, after crossing White Oak swamp and passing
over the battle-field of Frazier's Farm, pushed after the enemy down the
Willis Church road. He was not long in finding them. McClellan, hunted
down, had come to bay on a high ridge running across the road in front of
Malvern Hill. He had drawn up his army about the crest of the ridge, so
that his batteries completely commanded the open declivity in front. His
infantry acted, in the main, as support for the artillery. The charging of
these batteries and the supporting lines of infantry, across the cleared
space of from a quarter to a half mile, constituted the famous battle of
Malvern Hill.
I should like to describe that glorious and bloody fight,
where so much precious life was lost and so much honor won; but even the
traditions of it, which, as a non-participant, were my chief source of
information, have faded from my memory. Suffice it to say, our troops
almost demonstrated the possibility of what was impossible to any other
soldiers in the world.
The fighting of the day was done by the divisions of D. H.
Hill, Huger and Magruder. A. P. Hill's division could scarcely be said to
have been engaged. I believe there were no casualties at all in Gregg's
brigade, for I have found none mentioned in any of the regimental reports.
It is strange, too, that there should have been none, for we lay under a
general shelling for two hours. At night we were withdrawn.
This was the last battle of the campaign around Richmond--a
campaign which not only gave the Confederate confidence at home and
prestige abroad, but yielded the substantial fruits of a liberated
capital, over ten thousand prisoners, fifty-two pieces of artillery,
thirty-five thousand stand of small arms, and commissary, quartermaster,
and ordnance stores of immense value.
Gregg's brigade suffered in these battles to the extent of
almost a thousand men, which was little less than half the force engaged
in the campaign.
Three colonels of the brigade were mentioned by the division
commander as conspicuous for gallantry--Col. Hamilton, Col. McGowan, Col.
Barnes.