114 



AEMY OPERATIONS. 



Federal array occupied a position having the 

 form of a V. The base of the V is at Bottom 

 Bidge, where the railroad crosses the Chicka- 

 hominy. The left arm stretches toward Rich- 

 mond, with this railroad and the road from that 

 city to Williamsburg. There stood the left 

 wing, composed of four divisions echeloned, 

 one behind the other, between Fair Oaks and 

 Savage stations, and encamped in the woods on 

 both sides of the road. The other arm of the 

 V, the right, follows the left hank of the river ; 

 that is the right wing. There are these five 

 divisions and the reserve. Should one desire 

 to communicate from one extremity to the 

 other of those two wings, going by Bottom's 

 Bridge, the way is very long, not less than 12 

 or 15 miles. In an air line the distance, on the 

 contrary, is very trifling, but between the two 

 arms of the V flows the Chickahominy. It 

 was to connect both arms, in the space between 

 them, that the construction of 3 or 4 bridges 

 had been undertaken, only one of which was 

 serviceable on the 31st of May. It had been 

 built by Gen. Sumner, nearly halfway between 

 Bottom's Bridge and the most advanced point 

 of the Federal lines. It saved the army that 

 day from a disaster." The other bridges were 

 not ready. They were structures of logs, and 

 time was required to build them. The ap- 

 proaches were always bad, and the tedious 

 labor of corduroying long distances was ne- 

 cessary. 



" It was against the left wing of the army that 

 every effort of the enemy was directed. That 

 wing had its outposts at Fair Oaks station, on 

 the York river railroad, and at a place called 

 Seven Pines, on the Williamsburg road. There 

 the Federals had thrown up a redoubt in a 

 clearing, where a few houses were to be seen, 

 and constructed abatis, to increase the field for 

 sharpshooting of the troops posted there. The 

 rest of the country was completely covered 

 with woods.- The previous day there had been 

 a frightful storm, with torrents of rain, and the 

 roads were frightful. 



" All at once, about one o'clock in the after- 

 noon, the weather being dark and gloomy, a 

 very spirited fusilade is heard. The pickets 

 and sentries are violently driven in ; the woods 

 which surround Fair Oaks and Seven Pines are 

 filled with clouds of the enemy's sharpshooters. 

 The troops rush to arms and fight in despera- 

 tion ; but their adversaries' forces constantly 

 increase, and their losses do not stop them. 

 The redoubt of the Seven Pines is surrounded, 

 and its defenders die bravely. Col. Bailey, 

 of the artillery, among others, there upon his 

 pieces finds a glorious death. In vain Gens. 

 Keyes and Kaglee exhaust themselves in a 

 thousand efforts to keep their soldiers together : 

 they are not listened to. In this moment of 

 confusion they perceive a little French bat- 

 talion, known as the Garde Lafayette, which 

 has remained in good order. They rush to it, 

 place themselves at its head, charge the enemy 

 and retake a battery. The battalion loses a 



fourth of its men in this charge ; but, like true 

 Frenchmen, always and everywhere the same, 

 they cry, " They can call us the Garde Lafour- 

 chette now ? " alluding to an offensive nickname 

 that had been given them. 



" Meanwhile Heintzelman rushes to the res- 

 cue with his two divisions. As at Williams- 

 burg, Kearney arrives in good time to reestab- 

 lish the fight. Berry's brigade, of this division, 

 composed of Michigan regiments snd an Irish 

 battalion, advances firm as a wall into the 

 midst of the disordered mass which wanders 

 over the battle field, and -does more by its ex- 

 ample than the most powerful reinforcements. 

 About a mile of ground has been lost, fifteen 

 pieces of cannon, the camp of the division of 

 the advanced guard, that of Gen. Casey ; but 

 now we hold our own. A sort of line of battle 

 is formed across the woods, perpendicularly to 

 the road and the railroad, and there the repeat- 

 ed assaults of the enemy's masses are resisted. 

 The left cannot be turned, where is the White 

 Oak Swamp, an impassable morass ; but the 

 right may be surrounded. At this very mo- 

 ment, in fact, a strong column of Confederates 

 has been directed against that side. If it suc- 

 ceeds in interposing between Bottom's Bridge 

 and the Federal troops, which hold beyond 

 Savage's Station, the entire left wing is lost. 

 It will have no retreat, and is doomed to yield 

 to numbers ; but precisely at this moment 

 that is to say, at 6 o'clock in the evening new 

 actors appear on the scene. Gen. Sumner, who 

 has succeeded in passing the Chickahominy, 

 with Sedgwick's division, over the bridge con- 

 structed by his troops, and who, like a brave 

 soldier, has marched straight through the 

 woods to the sound of the cannon, arrived sud- 

 denly on the left flank of the column with 

 which the enemy is endeavoring to cut off 

 Tleintzelman and Keyes. 



" He plants in the clearing a battery which 

 he has succeeded in bringing with him. They 

 are not those rifled cannon, the objects of ex- 

 travagant admiration of late, good for cool 

 firing and long range in an open country : these 

 are the true guns for a fight twelve-pound 

 howitzers,* the old pattern, throwing either a 

 round projectile, which ricochets and rolls, or 

 a heavy package of grape. The simple and 

 rapid discharging of these pieces makes terri- 

 ble havoc in the opposing ranks. In vain John- 

 ston sends against this battery his best troops, 

 those of South Carolina the Hampton Legion 

 among others. In vain he rushes on it him- 

 self; nothing can shake the Federals, who, at 

 nightfall, valiantly led by Gen. Sumner in per- 

 son, throw themselves upon the enemy at the 

 point of the bayonet, and drive him furiously, 

 with frightful slaughter and fear, back as far 

 as Fair Oaks Station. 



" Night put an end to the combat. On both 

 sides nothing was known of the result of the 

 battle but what each one had seen with his 



* They were "Napoleon" guns. [En. 



