On the afternoon of May 31st, at Fair Oaks, the Confederates were driving
the Federal soldiers through the woods in disorder when this battery
(McCarthy's) together with Miller's battery opened up with so continuous
and severe a fire that the Federals were able to make a stand and hold
their own for the rest of the day. The guns grew so hot from constant
firing that it was only with the greatest care that they could be swabbed
and loaded. These earthworks were thrown up for McCarthy's Battery,
Company C, 1st Pennsylvania Artillery, near Savage's Station. The soldiers
nicknamed it the "Redhot Battery."
[Illustration: AIMING THE GUNS AT FAIR OAKS.