626 
ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
troduced were due, was also an officer likely to turn all the advantages 
of ground to the fullest account. He was now in command of a large 
reserve of artillery, which he posted on the high ground at the western 
end of the plateau. His batteries were arranged behind and above the 
infantry, and the fire of 60 pieces, the majority of which were 20-prs. 
and 32-pr. howitzers, was concentrated so as to bring a converging 
fire to bear on any point in front, while, wherever the defence required 
special support, a battery quickly made its appearance. The difficulty 
of getting these guns across a swamp, which lay at the foot of the hill, 
and up its sides had been immense, but had been overcome by the toil 
of a strong force of gunners, many of whom volunteered their services 
from other batteries. 
General Lee, although his men were considerably fatigued after all 
the fighting they had recently been through, determined to attack the 
Federals. The ground at the foot of the hill, save in its immediate 
vicinity, was thickly wooded, and communication was difficult, circum¬ 
stances which prevented the Confederates from bringing up a sufficient 
number of guns to oppose successfully the powerful batteries which 
their opponents had placed in position. 1 
At about 1 o'clock p.m., on the 1st July, Whiting's and D. H. Hill's 
advance appeared in the plain beyond the belt of woods at the foot of 
the hill, and were immediately fired on by the Federal artillery. Some 
broken ground in their front might afford them cover, but ere they 
could reach it they must pass across an open field and ford a stream 
under the terrible fire of the guns above, and they lost heavily ere they 
gained the shelter. Having reached it they were halted for a time in 
comparative security while General Hill examined the position of his 
opponents. Meanwhile the artillery which was to support the attack 
began to make its appearance, but as they came under the concentrated 
fire of the batteries on the hill they were so roughly handled that they 
had to retire out of action almost as fast as they reached their ground. 
All this time small bodies of the Confederate infantry made repeated 
efforts to leave the trees and get within musketry range of the terrible 
guns. But as each party gathered way four batteries poured a con¬ 
verging fire on it, and invariably it melted away and disappeared. 
General Lee had arranged that a combined effort was to be made by 
all portions of his force as soon as they were all in their proper positions 
for the assault. Hill's division, therefore, tarried under cover for the 
sign to move. 
Not so, however. Huger and Magruder, who were on his right. 
As soon as the latter could get a battery into position he opened fire, 
and impatiently sent a regiment to charge up the hill. The battery 
was speedily crushed by the storm of shells its appearance had provoked, 
and unsupported by artillery the regiment rushing forward was struck 
full in front as by the blast of a tempest, and rolled headlong back. 
Three times were the gallant infantry thus sent forward to face the 
storm, and three times did they meet with a like fate. Magruder 
claimed that in his final effort he got perilously near to the guns, but 
his story is not to be accepted without reserve, and it is asserted by his 
1 “ The Peninsula.” McClellan’s Campaign of 1862, by Alexander S. Webb. 
