ARMY OPERATIONS. 



123 



him ; the friend heard not the last groans of a 

 friend ; all natural ties were dissolved ; only 

 one feeling, one thirst, panted in every bosom 

 revenge. Here it was that the son of Major 

 Peyton, but fifteen years of age, called to his 

 father for help. A ball had shattered both his 

 legs. ' "When we have beaten the enemy then. 

 I will help you,' answered Peyton ; ' I have 

 here other sons to lead to glory. Forward ! ' 

 But the column had advanced only a few paces 

 farther when the major himself fell to the earth 

 a corpse. Prodigies of valor were here per- 

 formed on both sides. History will ask in vain 

 for braver soldiers than those who have fought 

 and fell. But of the demoniac fury of both 

 parties one at a distance can form no idea. 

 Even the wounded, despairing of succor, col- 

 lecting their last energies of life, plunged their 

 knives into the bosoms of foemen who lay near 

 them still breathing. 



' The success of General Hill enabled other 

 generals to once more lead their disorganized 

 troops back to the fight, and the contest was 

 renewed along the whole line, and kept up un- 

 til deep into the night ; for everything depended 

 upon our keeping the enemy at bay, counting, 

 too, upon their exhaustion at last, until fresh 

 troops could arrive to reenforce us. At length, 

 about half past ten in the evening, the divisions 

 of Magruder, Wise, and Holmes, came up and 

 deployed to the front of our army. 



" So soon as these reinforcements could be 

 thrown to the front our regiments were drawn 

 back, and as far as possible reorganized during 

 the night, the -needful officers appointed, and 

 after the distribution of provisions, which had 

 also fortunately arrived, measures were adopt- 

 ed for the gathering up of the wounded and 

 the burial of the dead.'' 



In this conflict Gen. McCall was taken prison- 

 er by the Confederates. 



During the same day an attack was made 

 upon the corps of Gen. Porter by the divisions 

 of Gens. Wise and Holmes near Malvern Hill, 

 but without success. 



On the night of the 30th all the divisions of 

 the Federal army were united at Malvern Hill, 

 a strong position where the whole train, includ- 

 ing the siege guns, were sheltered. The army 

 was thus in communication with its transports 

 and supplies. Five days of incessant marching 

 and fighting had passed, during which many 

 had been sun struck by the heat, and others 

 from exhaustion had quitted the ranks and fell 

 into the procession of sick and wounded. At- 

 tacked by a force far superior to itself, it had 

 succeeded in reaching a position where it was 

 out of danger nd from which, if ree'nforced, it 

 could have advanced. 



Gen. McClellan immediately put his army in 

 a position for defence by arranging his batte- 

 ries along the high grounds so as not to inter- 

 fere with the defence by the infantry of the 

 sort of glacis upon which the enemy would be 

 obliged to advance to the attack. About four 

 P. M. on the 1st of July, the Confederate forces 



advanced to storm the position. But a destruc- 

 tive fire of grape mowed them down until the 

 fragments of their divisions were compelled to 

 seek shelter in the woods. The position being 

 within range of the gunboats they also opened a 

 destructive fire with their hundred pounders 

 upon the enemy. The attack was a failure, the 

 loss of the Confederates being immense while 

 that of the Federal troops was insignificant. 

 On the evening after the battle the exhausted 

 enemy retired to Richmond to appear no more, 

 and the army of the Potomac took up a posi- 

 tion at Harrison's Bar, a spot chosen by the 

 engineers and naval officers as the most favora- 

 ble for defence and for receiving supplies. 



These battles were fought at a time when the 

 military strength of the Confederate States had 

 been brought into the field and concentrated at 

 Richmond. Thus the Confederate army great- 

 ly outnumbered the Federal force, reduced by 

 losses during the campaign and by sickness, on 

 the banks of the Chickahominy. Xo official 

 reports have appeared of the losses on either 

 side. They were not far from fifteen thou- 

 sand men. On the 3d of July the War Depart- 

 ment published a despatch from Gen. McClel- 

 lan dated at Berkeley, Harrison's Bar, stating 

 that he had lost but one gun, which broke 

 down and was abandoned, and that the rear 

 of his train was then within a mile of camp 

 and only one wagon abandoned. 



On the 4th of July Gen. McClellan issued 

 the following address to his army : 



HEADQUARTERS. AEMT or THE POTOMAC, ) 

 CAHPNEAB HARBISON'S LJLXDLXG. Ju'.y 4, lS6i \ 



SOLDIERS OF THE ARIIT OF THE POTOMAC: Your 

 achievements of the past ten days have illustrated the 

 valor ^ind endurance of the American soldier. Attack- 

 ed by superior forces, and without hopes of reenforce- 

 ments, you have succeeded in changing your base of 

 operations by a flank movement, always regarded as 

 the most hazardous of military operations. You have 

 saved all your guns except a few lost iu battle, taking 

 in return guns and colors from the enemy. 



Upon your march you have been assailed, day after 

 day, with desperate fury, by men of the same race and 

 nation, skilfully massed and led. Under every disad- 

 vaatage of number, and necessarily of position also, 

 you have in every conflict beaten back your foes with 

 enormous slaughter. 



Your conduct ranks you among the celebrated 

 armies of history. None will now question what each 

 of you may always, with pride, say : " I belonged to 

 the Army of the Potomac." You have reached this new 

 base complete in organization and unimpaired in spirit. 

 The enemy may at any time attack you we are pre- 

 pared to meet them. I have personally established 

 your lines. Let them come, and we will convert their 

 repulse into a final defeat. 



Your government is strengthening yon with the re- 

 sources of a great people. On this, our nation'_s birth- 

 day, we declare to our foes, who are rebels against the 

 best interests of mankind, that this army shall enter 

 the capital of the so-called Confederacy ; that our na- 

 tional Constitution shall prevail, and that the Union, 

 which can alone insure internal peace and external 

 security to each State, must and shall be preserved, 

 cost what it may iu time, treasure, and blood. 



GEO. E. McCLELLAX, 

 Major-General Commanding. 



On the 5th President Davis issued the fol- 

 lowing address to the Confederate army : 



