Latest from the North
the battle before Richmond.
Northern account of the fight.
We are in possession of Northern papers, bringing us New York dates as late as the 5th of June, by which we are enabled to lay before our readers a full detail of the Battle of the
Seven Pines, with some of the most glaring exaggerations that ever yet appeared in print.
Not only is our loss greatly overrated and their's underestimated, but they falsely claim to have captured a great number of Confederate prisoners, and studiously avoid mentioning the large party of Yankee captives who were conducted into
Richmond after the fight.
Before giving the extraordinary narrative which appears in the New York
Herald, we will, by way of making the history more entertaining, introduce as a preface the
Order of Gen. M'Clellan--Crossing the Chickahominy.
On the 25th ultimo,
Gen. McClellan issued the following order:
Headq'rs army of the Potomac,
Camp near Coal Harbor. Va., May 25, 1862.
I. Upon advancing beyond the
Chickahominy the troops will go prepared for battle at a moment's notice, and will be entirely unencumbered, with the exception of ambulances.
All vehicles will be left on the eastern side of the
Chickahominy, and carefully packed.
The men will leave their knapsacks, packed, with the wagons, and will carry three days rations.
The arms will be put in perfect order before the troops march, and a careful inspection made of them, as well as of the cartridge-boxes, which, in all cases, will contain at least forty rounds, twenty additional rounds will be carried by the men in their pockets.
Commanders of batteries will see that their limber and caisson boxes are filled to their utmost capacity.
Commanders of army corps will devotes their personal attention to the fulfillment of these orders, and will personally see that the proper arrangements are made for packing and properly guarding the trains and surplus baggage, taking all the steps-necessary to insure their being brought promptly in front when needed; they will also take steps to prevent the ambulances from interfering with the movements of any troops; they must follow in the rear of all the troops moving by the same road.
Sufficient guards and staff officers will be detailed to carry out those orders.
The ammunition wagons will be in readiness to march to their respective brigades and batteries at a moment's warning, but will not cross the
Chickahominy until they are sent for. All quartermasters and ordnance officers are to remain with their trains.
II.
In the approaching battle the
General commanding trusts that the troops will preserve the discipline which he has been so anxious to enforce, and which they have so generally observed.
He calls upon all the officers and soldiers to obey promptly and intelligently all orders they may receive; let them bear in mind that the army of the Potomac has never yet been checked, and let them preserve in battle perfect coolness and confidence — the sure forerunners of success.
They must keep well together, throw away no shots, but aim carefully and low, and above all things rely upon the bayonet--
Commanders of regiments are reminded of the great responsibility that rests upon them; upon their coolness, judgment, and discretion, the destinies of their regiments and success of the day will depend.
By command of
Major.
General McClellan.
S.
Williams, Ass't
Adj't Gen'l.
The great battle.
The
Herald's account of the ‘"three days desperate struggle"’ is embellished with a roughly engraved map, representing ‘"
McClellan's Great Battle Field,"’ and is introduced as follows:
Another field has been made glorious by the success of our arms, and another day is memorable in our history.
But the field is a bloody one, and the day is a ‘"Day of the
Golden Spurs;"’ for not only did the rank and file pour out life lavishly, but there have been but few battles so fatal to officers.
Three brigadiers on our side, and two--to our knowledge — on the side of the enemy, were hit. Some brigades were left without a Colonel, and no brigade but lost one or more of its
Colonels; no regiment but lost some field officer, and some had not a field officer left.
Line officers, too, fell in great numbers, and this indicates that, however it may have been at
Bull Run, our officers now know their duty and are ready to do it.
The writer then goes on to describe the battle field and the position of the
Federal troops, in the course of which he says:
‘
Though the battle of the
Seven Pines may not be the bloodiest of the war, it is the most important battle yet fought, and it is the one in which the armies of either side have had their hardest fight.
Nor will it be far behind any other fight in respect to loss, as our own will amount to sight hundred killed and three thousand wounded; while the loss of the enemy is fully one thousand killed and four thousand wounded. Nearly all of our men are accounted for, and the number of our missing is consequently very small, while of the enemy's men we have taken from one thousand to fifteen hundred prisoners.
’
[this last sentence contains two falsehoods]
how the fight began.
It was about noon when we first heard the scattered fire of our picked a in front.
For two or three days before there had been skirmishes between the pickets near the road in front, and this was mistaken for another affair of the same kind, and thus some time was lost; for, instead of the dispositions that should have been made, a regiment was simply ordered out — the 103d Pennsylvania--to support the pickets.
This regiment went out quickly, was formed near the road, and almost stumbled upon the enemy advancing in line of battle.
Before the men had even loaded their pieces, the 1 31 received a full and steady volley, from the effects of which it did not recover.--That one fire — delivered almost as a complete surprise, and which our men could not return — cut down, perhaps, one-fifth of the regiment, and demoralized the remainder.
No more service was had from the 103 that day, and, what was worse, the men began to stream to the rear with the old story of ‘--cut to pieces."’ It ought to be a crime punishable with death in our army for any soldier to say that his regiment was ‘"cut to pieces;"’ it is a shibboleth with many in which they boast their own disgrace, though in this case it was somewhat different.
Of course, this stream of men had no good effect upon the spirits of their fellows, and thus the day begun in misfortune.
Formation of the battle.
But that one volley, while it annihilated the regiment, told also quicker than courier could carry the news the mistake that had been made, and that the enemy was upon us.
Casey's force was turned out in a hurry and formed, and
Col. Bailey, of New York,
Casey's
Chief of Artillery, had the enemy's line under his fire before it had gotten through the first wood, and before the line was completely formed.
The Artillery.
Spratt's battery, which was posted in a field to the right of the road and near the edge of the wood, and
Regan's battery, which was also in the same field, between
Spratt's and the house B, got into action immediately, and were supported by the 100th New York in the road to the left; by the 11th Maine and 100th and 4th Pennsylvania on the right, and by the 92d New York in the rear.
Both batteries did splendid execution; but the enemy's line advanced silently and steadily, receiving the fire with apparently perfect coolness, and firing in return with great effect.
The rebels advance in fine order.
As the enemy's line came into fire of our infantry, regiment after regiment gave it to them in fine style; but still, though there was many a gap in their lines, there was no break.
Fire after fire tore through their ranks, but could not break them, and our three regiments engaged at that point fell back, a little shaky, perhaps, but still in order.
On the fence.
Spratt's battery was composed of Napoleon guns.
Four hundred yards in front of the place where it was posted there was a rather difficult rail fence, which the rebel line had to cross.
As they came up to it the four Napoleons played upon them fearfully with grape and canister.
They could
not pass the fence.
Every time that they came up to it the new discharge tore their lines asunder, mowed wide gaps through their formation, and held them there beyond the fence.
They did not pass the fence until
Spratt's grape and canister were gone.
He could not be supplied again, for the wagons were beyond the
Chickahominy.
So the rebels passed the fence, and
Spratt, with his four Napoleons, feel back to the redoubt.
Another battery in danger.
Regan's battery still maintained its fierce fire.
But now the enemy dressed his line in the most perfect manner, and came for that.
Should he have a few more pieces?
Not if fire could prevent it, and the fire of the battery became warmer, while that of the four infantry regiments that supported it was redoubled.
But fire could not prevent it
Gen. Casey saw that, in spite of what fire could do, the battery was gone.
A bayonet charge.
The old hero, conspicuous on his large gray horse and by his white hair, rode into the thickest of the fire, formed the four regiments — the Ninety-Second and One Hundredth New York, the Eleventh Maine, and
the One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania--into line, gave the word, and led the charge in person.
Fire could not save the battery, but the bayonet did. Back went the rebel line, driven fairly out of existence.
Plenty ware behind, however, to take its place, and still the enemy came on. And now a new line appeared on the right flank of
Casey's front, and the
Began's battery and its supports fell back.
Another attack came simultaneously on the left flank, held by the Ninety-Eighth and Ninety-Sixth New York, and they too retired, still in good order.
in the redoubt.
Casey's division was thus fairly driven into his first line of defence, and the enemy advanced against that.
In the redoubt, on the left, was Bates battery of six pieces, which immediately began to put in reasons why it should not be taken.
In support were the Eighty-first and Eighty fifth New York and the Eighty-fifth and One Hundred and First Pennsylvania.
Fitch's battery was posted to the right and in rear of the redoubt.
Behind this line
Casey's other regiments now retired.
The rebels still advance.
There was a silence of a few moments, and the rebel line again began its terrible advance,
Bates's and
Fitch's batteries had already opened, and now also the four rebel batteries did the same, and the rebel infantry and our own infantry.
Never since this war began has there been heard a more terrible fusillade.
At this time the left of the rebel line was formed of
Jenkins's Palmetto Sharpshooters, (South Carolinians,) the Sixth South Carolina regiment and the Sixth North Carolina.
regiment and the Sixth North Carolina.
A fair view of this line was obstructed by the abattis of the fallen timber between us and it, but we know how steadily it came on, for over the obstruction of branches and green leaves we could see the light, faint fringe of smoke curl up from the continual file fire, and far above the smoke their white battle flag fluttered proudly out and showed how fast they came.
The battle flag.
This battle flag is doubtless what has given rise to the many stories of the enemy's exhibition of flags of truces in battle.
It is a small, square, white flag, with sometimes a regimental insignia upon the centre, and at others with a green cross charged with stars.
It is light — as we know; having taken one--and just the thing to carry.
The rebels storm the works — our guns lost.
Well, the enemy reached the redoubt and the refile spite, and stormed both.
In the redoubt was left
Bates's whole battery, and two of spratt's guns, because they could not be taken away; but every gun was spiked.
Out of one lot of one hundred and thirty-eight horses, only twenty-eight were left alive.
Gen. Couch's forces prepared for the fight.
Casey's resistance was now pretty well done with.
His batteries were all
en route rearward, and the majority of his regiments were completely broken.
But we must not overlook what the gallant old soldier had already really done.
General Keyes had apparently not been, from the very first, sanguine of his ability to hold
Casey's position, and had given his whole attention to see that
Couch's line of battle, behind
Casey, should be such as to hold the enemy, and check him there, at least.
Thus
Casey was thus far left alone, save some assistance rendered by the New York Sixty-Second, Fifty-fifty, and a regiment from
Kearney's division; but this assistance was completely ineffective.
It was now half-past 4. The attack began shortly after twelve o'clock, and the battle was in full fury at two.
Thus for three hours and a half
Gen. Casey, with six thousand raw troops, had sustained the whole weight of the rebel onset — an onset made in force at least triple his own, and with the very oldest regiments of the
Southern army.
From
Casey's front to the point of his last resistance is not half a mile, and it had taken the enemy three hours and a half to advance that half mile.
Thus
Casey had stood in the way to some purpose.
He had given the enemy three hours and a half of hard fight; he had lost by casualties nearly every fourth man that he had in the field — a large percentage.
He had lost many of his best officers, including his gallant and capable
Chief of Artillery,
Colonel Bailey, and now at last, he was compelled, with a heavy heart, to relinquish the unequal struggle.
Let those who are disposed to speak of how
Casey gave way, remember exactly what
Casey did.
During the quiet that ensued after the loss of
Casey's last, position,
General Heintzelman arrived upon the field, and assumed the command that had previously been held by
Gen. Keyes.
Couch's Division.
Gen. Couch, upon whose command the enemy was next to fall, had upon the field parts of twelve regiments.
The brigade that contained his oldest troops--
Gen. Devena's — had only the 7th and 10th Massachusetts and the 36th New York on the field, and each of these regiments had three companies out on picket.
Peck's brigade also, and
Abercrombie's, (lately
Graham's,) were both weakened in the same way. But
Gen. Couch--modest, brave, and ready for any emergency --prepared to do his best.
Upon the first intimation of the enemy's advance, his division was quickly turned out and posted.
Couch's position.
Two lines of rifle pits, rather adequate for the purpose, had ben constructed in advance of
Couch's camp, and in open fields to either side of the main road, and in front of the cross road.
In the pits to the left of the road the Fifty-fifty New York and the Sixty-second New York had the first been placed; but when they went ahead, the
Massachusetts Tenth was placed behind the pits, with the Ninety-third and One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania on its left and rear in the wood.
On the right, and a little in rear of the Tenth, was posted battery C, First Pennsylvania artillery,
Captain McCarthy.
In the pits to the right of the road, and the nearest to the road, was the Thirty-sixth New York; to the right of the Thirty-sixth the Seventh Massachusetts; in rear, and to the right of the Seventh, was
Captain Miller's battery of light twelve-pounders.
Farther to the right, in advance, and resting on the Nine-Mile road, was the Twenty-Third Pennsylvania, and behind it the First
Long Island.
The Thirty-first and Sixty-first Pennsylvania, and the First Chasseurs were also on the right, towards Fair Oak Station.
Brady's battery was in the same neighborhood, and
Flood's battery was placed behind the Nine-Mile road, near its junction with the main road.
Such were the positions taken by the respective parts of
Couch's command.
Out to pieces.
At two o'clock the
Williamsburg, road was lined with a stream of men on their way to the rear.
Many were wounded, and they seemed to show their wounds as the explanation of why they went in that direction.
Others were sick, and others again were the fragments of the broken regiments--103d, 104th, and other
Pennsylvania regiments — for it is only simple justice to say that the Pennsylvanians were in the majority in this stream.
Casey's division, however, was composed in a very large degree of
Pennsylvania troops.
Gens Keyes and
Couch both endeavored to arrest this rearward stream — at first by moral session, but subsequently by a guard.
Lieut. Eggleston, the efficient
Provost Marshal of
Couch's division, was posted in the road with his men, and did what could be done in the matter.
This, however, soon passed out of all thoughts.
It was a little more than half-past 4 when the renewed advance of the enemy brought them to
Couch's line.
His line was not drawn exactly parallel to the enemy's advance, but was oblique in such a manner that its right became first engaged.
Once more the woods were alive with fire.
Gallant
Colonel Neile, with the 23d Pennsylvania, was first into it, and his presence kept up the spirit of his men. His fire had been reserved until the enemy were very near to him, and only six rounds had been discharged when his own men and the enemy's were fairly face to face.
Charge of the 23d Pennsylvania Volunteer--the rebels give way.
Then the gallant
Colonel gave his men the word to charge, and went in ahead to show them how to do it. Again the cold steel was offered and again the men of the
South refuse it. They gave way and scattered before the Twenty-third, and the way was clear; but now
Neile had the fire of the enemy upon his right and left, and began to suffer severely as he fell back to his place.-- Many of his men, also, had gone down in the charge, beside those that were hit — for it was over difficult ground — and as they came up again did not find their regiment.
Thus the Twenty-third was weakened, but fell back, fighting, and
Col. Neile, with his colors and less than a hundred men, formed on the First
Long Island, the next regiment to his line.
Still the enemy came on,
And in a few minutes later, our whole right was in hot battle.
There the fight seemed to have formed a nucleus, and supports were poured in. From the left the Ninety-third and One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania and the Sixty-second New York were hurried across, and a brigade of
Kearney's Division.--
Birney's brigade — then on the railroad, was ordered to push ahead and get into action at that point.
The Dangerous position of the Tenth Massachusetts Volunteers.
Mean while another misfortune happened on our left.
From its place near the rifle pits the
Massachusetts Tenth was ordered into a piece of ground nearly surrounded with abattis and with the thick wood on its left, and the two regiments which had supported its left — the 23d and 102d Pennsylvania--were ordered to the right.
Thus the Tenth was left in a bad place and entirely without support.
As the enemy advanced firing, and torn by the fire of
Flood's,
McCarthy's, and
Miller's batteries — for
Miller, from his side of the field, when he could not get a clear shot at the enemy in his front, threw his missiles clear across the field, and with awful effect, too, as the enemy advanced under this
fire, and the Tenth became engaged in front, a body of the enemy made their way through the woods on his flank.
Lieutenant Eggleston was the first to discover this body, and rode desperately over the field to find
Gen Couch, that he might get an order for the Tenth to move, and so save it. But the gallant fellow's exertions were vain.
Gen. Couch was in the thick of the struggle on the right too far away to be reached in time.
Col. Briggs was informed of the approach of this body; but as he know the position that
Peck's regiments had held, he deemed the report incredible, and want into the woods to see. He had not far to go. There they were, not only in the woods, but through it, and ero an, order could be given they delivered their fire full in the rear of the Tenth.
They had to give way, but formed again.
Utter confusion was the result.
The regiment broke; but it proved itself to possess that power which has been denied to volunteers, and claimed as the especial attribute of old and so-called "regular-soldiers, namely, the power of regeneration.
It was rallied, and became once more a complete regiment, with only those out whose bodies lay upon the field.
May, they did it repeatedly.
Four different times they were broken on that day, and four different times the gallant 10th was rallied and went back into the fight.
Let some regular regiment beat that.
They again go forward.
Thus reformed, the 10th went back into the rifle pits to the left of the road.
But the left now rested upon others.
Kearney was in and at it.
Berry's brigade, and a portion of
Jameson's, now held the left, and the 10th was soon called across to take part in the bitter struggle at that point, which was then our right, but which, by the extension of our line, to the arrival of fresh troops on both sides, eventually became the centre.
The enemy reinforced and again advance
After the brilliant fight of the 28d
Pennsylvania, which we have described above, the enemy brought up a large reinforcement of fresh troops, and advanced again in the same good order that had been observed in his line throughout the battle.
Miller's battery — a splendid battery of Napoleons — formed in a field in advance of the Nine-Mile road, and tore the rebel ranks terribly until the rebel artillery got the exact range of it, and hit the pieces every time.
Then it changed its place, and
Brady's battery (farther to the right) kept up a rapid fire.
Soon the 36th New York, the 7th Massachusetts, the 1st,
Long Island, the 1st Chasseurs, the 61st, 31st, 33d, and 102d Pennsylvania, the 62d New York, and the 10th Massachusetts, were all hotly engaged at that point.
Three batteries also played on the advancing line, and still it came on. It seemed as if nothing could stop it.
Sights and Sounds.
The scene at this time was awfully magnificent.
The faint smoke of the musketry fire arose lightly all along the liney just so that the heads of the men could be seen through it; sudden gusts of intense white smoke burst up from the mouth of cannon all around; bullets shredded the air, and whistled swiftly by, or struck into trees, fences, boxes, wagons, or with their peculiar ‘"chuck"’ into men; and far up in the air shells burst into sudden flame like shattered stars, and passed away in little clouds of white vapor, while others filled the air with a shrill scream, and hurried on the burg far in the rear.
Every second of time had its especial tone, and every inch of space was packed with dead.
How it stood on the right.
It seemed that the enemy's advance was checked, for he was fairly stopped in the swampy ground near the Nine-Mile road; but he had gained too much to give it up easily, and he tried again; and again our line gave way. The 1st
Long Island broke; but two of
Jameson's regiments — the 57th and 63d Pennsylvania--would have more than retrieved it.
Col. Campbell, of the 57th, was soon down; but
Col. Hayes, of the 63d by his heroic example and desperate endeavor, kept the men in their places, and inspired all around him with a noble emulation; yet the fire was fearful; the regiments seemed to melt.
At this point it was that the brave
Devens received his wound.
Hardly a man remained mounted, for every horse was shot, and the regiments were thinned — thinned terribly; but a few brave men stood there for their country, and kept their places.
Birney's brigade, of
Kearney's division, when
Birney advanced, had been ordered to advance by the railroad in full time to have reached this point of our hardest fight.
Had he reached it, his fresh troops, poured in after the hard fight already made, must have turned the tide, and the enemy would have been routed then.
But he did not reach it. He halted.
Patterson's brigade, ordered in to
Birney's left, went through the swampy woods and almost impassable thicket, and pushed on still, while
Birney, with a fair, dry road, and the fight not a mile away, halted and sat down.
Our men ordered back — they keep in good order.
It is not certain that our men would not still have held the point, but now they were ordered to fall back, and fell back, rallying and forming as they went, so that they gave ground and kept their order.
The fight in that part of the field on the
Williamsburg road for that day ended a few hundred yards further on. For hour after hour the enemy, with continued accession of fresh troops, had pushed us on, and now, after he had pushed us a mile, we still went fighting him, step by step, and in good order.
His impulse was spent, and he stopped.
He occupied our camps that night with troops that had not been in action.
When the enemy finally forced our position on the Nine-Mile road, the greater part of
Couch's division fell back in the direction of the
Williamsburg road; but the
General himself, with a smaller body, being nearer to Fair Oak station, fell back across the railroad, and was thus cut off from the army.--As soon as this was ascertained he prepared to make the best of it. He examined his position carefully, sent men to beat up all the roads, and especially along the
New Bridge road, to see it
Sumner might not be near.
The force with
Couch was found to consist of four regiments — the First
N. York Chasseurs,
Col. Cochrane; the Sixty second
N. York (Anderson Zouaves), Col Roger; the Seventh Massachusetts,
Col. Russell, and the Thirty-first Pennsylvania,
Col. Williams, and
Brady's battery of four pieces.
His position was in a large, open field, in an angle between the railroad and a road that runs from the
Fair Oak station northward towards
New Bridge.
On the west was a dense wood, from which the enemy might emerge at any moment, and on the south was the railroad and a fringe of wood through which they could cross for a flank attack.
Whether he had any road for retreat, the
General did not yet know, so he formed two lines of battle--one toward the railroad, with a section of
Brady's battery, supported by the Massachusetts Seventh; another towards the woods to the west with the other section of the battery supported by the
Anderson Zouaves, with the Thirty-first Pennsylvania and the First Chasseurs formed close in the edges of the wood, under cover of a rail fence.
Sedgwick's Division coming,
Lieut. Edwards, who had ridden down the
New Bridge road, came back with word that
Sedgwick's division was only two miles away.
Couch knew that he could hold his ground till they came, so he was saved the misfortune of defeat.
They hurried on and came up at half-past 5 o'clock,
General Sumner with them.
No change was made in
Couch's dispositions, save in the comparative strength with which either line was held.
The First Minnesota.
Col. Sully, was formed on the right of the Chasseurs, and Rickett's battery of
Napoleon's to the left of the Thirty-first.
All the rent of the division was formed on the line towards the railroad.
The rebels again advance.
Shortly after six o'clock the enemy advanced through the wood on the west, in what force cannot be said with certainty.
Prisoners report it at eight thousand.
As we caught two brigadiers, the numbers are perhaps not over-stated.
Our batteries open fire with effort.
As soon as the line of the enemy's advance was known,
Rickett's battery opened and threw grape and canister into the wood with great effect.
Brady was not idle, either.
One wounded man of a North Carolina regiment, taken from the field the next day, says that he fell at the first fire, and that his regiment only went a dozen yards beyond the spot where he fell, until it broke.
It could not be rallied.
But the line kept on till it was in the edge of the wood and within ten paces of where the Thirty-first Pennsylvania, the First Chasseurs and the First Minnesota lay on their faces, between the rebels and the battery.
The rebels could not see them, and as they came to the edge of the wood they delivered one volley at the
Anderson Zouaves in the field farther out.
Death of Col, Riker.
That volley killed
Col. Riker, and the Zouaves broke and ran. Yet they only ran twenty yards, when they were rallied and went right up to the edge of the wood and opened their fire.
Up, guards, and at 'Rm.
No sooner had the rebels, by that volley, emptied their guns, than the three regiments that had been lying down arose to their feet and poured a volley in at almost no distance at all. That volley settled that fight.
Through the wood in front of that line the rebels lay dead and wounded in heaps.
Brigadier-General A. C. Davis was found dead there, and
Brigadier-General Pettigrew, wounded and his horse killed, was there taken prisoner.--When the rebel line advanced in the wood,
Gorman's brigade, from the line of battle on the railroad, was thrown forward on the right flank of the rebel line to turn it; but when the musketry broke that line, and the rebels fell into confusion, the brigade pressed forward, and so cut off and drove in a large number of prisoners.
Close of the First day's fight.
So closed the battle for that day, and
Gen. Couch, than whom his country has no better,
braver, or more earnest soldier, slept that night further forward on the road to
Richmond, nearer to the rebel capital than he had done any night before.
At night
Both armies lay upon the field.
Many wounds were dressed at Savage's house, which had been immediately made a hospital, and between that point and the battle field many remarkable experiences were compared.
Perhaps the most notable was the number of officers hit.
Brigadier-General Devens received a bullet in the right leg, but kept the field for two hours after it.
Brig. Gen. We was struck by a ball in the shoulder, but not disabled.
A musket ball passed across
Gen. Couch's breast and only cut his coat.
Colonel Briggs, of the Massachusetts Tenth, was struck in three places, and disabled finally by a rifle ball that passed through both things
Colonels Kiker, of the Sixty-second New York;
Dodge, of the Eighty seventh New York; Valley, of the First New York Artillery; and
Ripley, of the Sixty-first Pennsylvania, were all killed
Colonels McDartey, of the Ninety-third Pennsylvania,
Rowley, of the 102d.
Pennsylvania;
Van Wyck, of the Fifty-sixth New York; and
Hunt, of the Ninety-second New York, were wounded.
Majors Ely, of the Twenty-third Pennsylvania, and
King, of the Eighty-fifth New York, were also severely wounded.
Sunday--the Second day.
Our first anticipation had scarcely settled into the conviction that the enemy intended to give Sunday to care for the dying and dead than we heard the pickets at it. It was in front of
Richardson's division.
Richardson's line ran, as we have intimated, parallel with the railroad, and was on the northern side of it. The enemy was in our camps on the southern side of it, and in a strong position, covered by a swamp.
Force was immediately sent forward to support the pickets, and became engaged in its turn.
The enemy formed his men in line and was disposed to feel us again.
Our men had arisen from sleep in the anticipation of battle, and their minds were ready for it. They were not green troops either, and the day gave promise of hard work.
The Irish and other brigades.
Soon the fire became general, and spread along the lines of the Irish brigade,
French's brigade, and the brigade of the gallant
Howard.
This day also the enemy's fire was well directed and severe.
But it was returned with certainly equal effect, and our men pushed forward, across the railroad and down into the swamp, and now the enemy in his turn gave way. It was very difficult ground, and the men could not at all times keep the line, and were Offen up to their waists In water in the advance through the swamp.
Yet still they kept on. Sometimes, too, there may have been a weakness under the fire, but the gallantry of the officers kept the men up to it.
How Hooker's men did.
From
Richardson's division the fire spread around to the New Jersey brigade, on the front which the enemy had pushed so far the day before.
Nobly did the Jerseymen stand up to it, and push on closer and closer, and the enemy fell back, through the thick swamp, slowly and steadily.
On this front the fire was not so severe as on
Richardson's, but still it told heavily on our brave fellows, though it did not prevent the advance.
Sickles on his First field.
Still farther to the left was the
Excavator Brigade, and
General Sickles with it. Though on, we believe, his first battle field, the
General had not the air or manner of a novice — He was all activity, and thought only of the way to win.
Sickles's men apparently lost their patience, and we suppose the officers did, and
General Sickles especially.
When men advance a cross a battle field, loading and firing as they go, they naturally do not go very fast, and the Sickles brigade voted the gait to be decidedly slow.
So the order was given to fix bayonets and charge, and they did it not mincingly at all, but in terrible earnest, and with a glorious cheer.
Some of the rebels stood it and held their places; some stood long enough to fire their pieces, and then ran; but the mass ran at once, scampered away through the woods like so many squirrels.
That ended the fight for Sunday in that direction, for it would not do to let the men go rashly too far into the woods.
We didn't know what little arrangements of artillery &c., the enemy might have made here in our absence, so with a wise caution the brigade was drawn back to the edge of the wood, and laid away there snugly; and there it spent its Sunday ready for visitors, though none came, if we except several Innocence shell that the enemy threw into the wood over their heads.
On
Richardson's front, also, the fight dropped off very much as it had begun.
It was apparently not the design that we should make any general advance on Sunday, so we merely drove the enemy away as he came up, and then fell into one places again with a true Sunday calm.
The Losses.
It was only nine A. M. when the calm came, but in this short fight much had been done.
Howard a brigade alone lost in this fight, in killed and wounded, five hundred and thirty-six men.
Gen. McClellan had ridden over very on Sunday morning, and when the fight began he immediately rode down the
Williamsburg road; and over the whole scene of action which he directed.
His presence excited the most intense enthusiasm in the troops, both on the field and later in the day, when he rode along the lines and looked kindly on the shattered regiments that had been in Saturday's fight.
To these brave fellows--‘"few and faint, but fearless still,"’--the young
Commander addressed a few words of pleasant encouragement that thrilled every ear, and then rode away.
Monday.
The narrative of operations on Monday possesses no interest.
The
Yankees expected another attack, but failing in this, they pushed on and re-occupied their camp without encountering opposition.
‘"That night,"’ boast fully exclaims the writer, ‘"our pickets were posted within four miles of the rebel capital and near to a line of works that we fancy a or represents, the celebrated last ditch where the rebels are to make a final stand."’
A Bulletin from the "white House."
A correspondent of the
Herald, writing from
White House, June 3, is rather more subdued in his tone.
We copy a portion of the letter:
The events of the past two days have been the most exciting ones of the present war.--We have had three days of the most sanguinary battling, with a list on our side of killed, wounded and missing of not less than four thousand men. The enemy's loss will all sum up less than this, if it does not far exceed it. Our troops have fought with a valor are heroism never surpassed, seldom equaled and against numerical odds.
The enemy recently reinforced
There seems to be no doubt in the minds of the military men engaged in the prevailing battle, that the enemy near
Richmond have recently been largely reinforced by
Beauregard's army from
Corinth, and that they attend to dispute, inch by inch,
McClellan way to the former city.
Our Treatment of the rebel prisoners — all received
A rebel
Major who was wounded and talk prisoner day before yesterday, said, after of our surgeons dressed his wounds.
‘"Gentlemen, I did not expect such kind treatment at your hands, but I tell you in all candor, you never can capture
Richmond, unless you do it over the dead and wounded bodies of fifty thousand men. We have resolved it; w endeavor to perform it."’ This sentiment is shared by all the prisoners we have captured.
Our enemy not to be Despised.
This is
prima facis evidence that we have be common enemy to battle; an enemy who will stoop to any means — yes, even to have ery and barbarity --to carry out their principles.
We have had two days hard fighting and a portion of the third, and our army have only made good their original position.
We have gained no vantage ground.
Richmond must be ours; to capture it
McClellan must be reinforced by fifty thousand more men at least, and this succor must be prompt, willing.
No delay must be permitted, let the War Department see to it.
The weather — the railroad and the wounded soldiers.
To day the weather has been exceedingly bot. The temperature had been eighty-six in the shade.
The railroad trains between this point and the battle field bring in our wounded soldiers.
Thus far about two thousand have arrived here and been placed on board our hospital steamboats and sent to
Fortress Monroe and elsewhere.
The steamers
Commodore,
Knickerbocker,
State of Maize, City, and
Whilden, have each taken their departure from here.
The
Daniel Webster will leave here during the night.
The
South America is waiting to get to the wharf, rushed to receive her cargo of wounded on board.
