BATTLES OF THE CHICKAHOMINY, JUNE 26 TO JULY 2, 1862
General Lee in command--Sketch--Reinforced--Preparing for
campaign--General Lee's staff--Longstreet second in command--His
division--Artillery reorganized--Washington Artillery of New
Orleans--Colonel E. P. Alexander commanding artillery--General W. W.
Mackall reports--Sketch--Civilian prisoners at Fort Warren--General
Miles and President Davis--The battles around Richmond--McClellan's
defeat--Stonewall Jackson not on time--Ochiltree and Eastern
fighting--Lord Edward St. Maur a visitor--McClellan on James River in
position--Later we take again positions by Richmond.
When General Lee took command it was my first sight of him. He had been
employed in the northwest Virginia mountains, on the South Atlantic
Coast, and at Richmond, generally as adviser to the President. His
appearance had, it seems, changed. Up to a short time before Seven
Pines he had worn for beard only a well-kept moustache, soon turned
from black to grizzled. When he took us in hand his full gray beard
was growing, cropped close, and always well tended. An unusually
handsome man, he has been painted with brush and pen a hundred times,
but yet there is always something to say of that noble, unostentatious
figure, the perfect poise of head and shoulders and limbs, the strength
that lay hidden and the activity that his fifty-five years could not
repress. Withal graceful and easy, he was approachable by all; gave
attention to all in the simplest manner. His eyes--sad eyes! the
saddest it seems to me of all men's--beaming the highest intelligence
and with unvarying kindliness, yet with command so firmly set that
all knew him for the unquestioned chief. He loved horses and had good
ones, and rode carefully and safely, but I never liked his seat. The
General was always well dressed in gray sack-coat of Confederate cloth,
matching trousers tucked into well-fitting riding-boots--the simplest
emblems of his rank appearing, and a good, large black felt army hat
completed the attire of our commander. He rarely wore his sword, but
his binoculars were always at hand. Fond of the company of ladies, he
had a good memory for pretty girls. His white teeth and winning smile
were irresistible. While in Savannah and calling on my father, one of
my sisters sang for him. Afterwards, in Virginia, almost as soon as he
saw me he asked after his "little singing-bird."
The touch of the leader's hand was soon apparent in the reorganization
of the army and its increased strength. The Administration reposing
a perfect confidence in Lee, gave him all he asked for in men and
material that could be furnished. It is proper to add that so moderate
was the man and so fully understanding the situation and difficulties
of supply, that he rarely asked for what could not be given him. His
staff was small and efficient. I suppose that at this date there
are some hundreds of men in the South who call themselves members
of Lee's staff, and so they were if teamsters, sentry men, detailed
quartermasters (commissary men), couriers and orderlies, and all the
rest of the following of general headquarters of a great army are to
be so considered. But by staff we usually confine ourselves to those
responsible officers immediately about a general, and Lee had selected
carefully. Four majors (afterwards lieutenant-colonels and colonels)
did his principal work. Walter Taylor, from the Virginia Military
Institute, was adjutant-general, and better could not be found for this
important post.
Charles Venable, a scholar and mathematician, and with some study
of strategy, together with Charles Marshall, a distinguished lawyer
by inheritance from his ancestor, the Chief Justice, and his own
attainments, did much of the correspondence under dictation. Talcot
was the engineer officer, and Long, of the old Army, a close friend
of the General, was ranked as military secretary and did various
duties. At a later date Brig.-Gen. R. H. Chilton, A. A. G., was
assigned to confidential duties with the General, and was sometimes
called chief of staff. But Lee really had no such chief about him. The
officer practically nearest its duties was his extremely efficient
adjutant-general, W. H. Taylor.
Maj. H. E. Young was also attached later--an excellent officer. There
were possible one or two young lieutenants for personal aids, but this
was Lee's staff, although perhaps I have made some omissions. Of course
it does not include the important administrative officers like Cole,
chief commissary; Corley, chief quartermaster; Doctor Guild, medical
director, and his chiefs of ordnance and other organizations.
Longstreet was second in command and it soon became apparent that
he was to be quite close to Lee. His camps and bivouacs were near
by the General's, and thus my acquaintance with him and his staff
became quite free and I was often honored by the kind interest of the
Commander-in-Chief.
In the new organization Longstreet had a powerful division of six
brigades, and A. P. Hill (major-general) one of six, also a fine body
which Hill happily christened as the Light Division. The artillery was
much improved, and loose batteries were gathered and organized into
well-found battalions, generally of four batteries of six guns each,
and a battalion assigned to each division. The celebrated Washington
Artillery of New Orleans was given to us, and glad we were to have such
gunners. E. P. Alexander commanded in reserve a fine battalion of six
batteries and was to do much good service with it.
A word about this splendid fellow. He was from Georgia and a dear
friend of mine. Leaving West Point with very high honors, he was
immediately commissioned into the Engineers, and sent to the Pacific,
whence he came South to fight. His was the happiest and most hopeful
nature. He was sure of winning in everything he took up, and never did
he open his guns on the enemy but that he knew he should maul him into
smithereens. An accomplished engineer, he was often called on both by
Lee and Longstreet for technical work and special reconnoitering. His
future in peace, after Appomattox, was varied and distinguished, and
he still is with us, eager, enthusiastic, most interesting, and of
undiminished abilities.
The Washington Artillery was an ancient and wealthy organization of New
Orleans, numbering five well-equipped, well-manned batteries. There
were many men of wealth and family serving as gunners. Four batteries
under Colonel Walton came to Virginia, the fifth was sent West. Walton
was large and imposing in appearance, looking, as indeed did the whole
battalion, rather French. This arose from their uniform, which from
"kepi" to gaiters was handsomely French, and made them very fine beside
our homespun infantry fellows. It was a most efficient organization,
serving with Longstreet throughout the war; it always did good service
and constantly distinguished itself most conspicuously.
Our own staff will not be touched on just yet, preferring to wait for
the creation of the two army corps in October, when we were put in more
permanent shape for the remainder of the war. At present there had been
but few additions to it, since Longstreet's command was limited to a
single brigade, and the staff work consequently was sometimes hard on
us.
I think it was in this month, September, that I rode to one of the
lower landings of the James to meet General Mackall, my brother-in-law.
He had been a prisoner of war at Fort Warren near Boston, and was to
land, exchanged with some others from the Federal steamer. He was
quite well and I sent him on to Richmond, where Doctor Sorrel saw to
his comfort. Mackall married my father's eldest daughter. He was an
army man out of West Point, and an able, accomplished soldier. He
should have achieved much in the Confederate war, but circumstances
were against him. When it broke out he was lieutenant-colonel in the
Adjutant-General's Department, considered a very enviable billet.
Stationed on the Pacific, his intimates were J. E. Johnston, J. F.
Gilmer, Halleck, and others of that type.
The Marylander had a tedious time in Richmond waiting for active
service suitable to his abilities. At last he was sent to report to A.
S. Johnston at Bowling Green, Kentucky. After Shiloh, at Beauregard's
earnest request, he was made brigadier-general and ordered to hold
Island No. 10, a fortified position in the Mississippi, immediately
to fall by reason of other combinations. In less than a week after
assuming command the inevitable happened. The island was surrendered
and the garrison made prisoners of war. Mackall was sent to Fort
Warren, from which he was exchanged in 1863. He then took duty with
Bragg's army as chief of staff; and after Bragg with J. E. Johnston,
one of his dearest friends, until the General was supplanted by Hood.
Mackall was afterwards given a command at Mobile, from which, however,
he soon had to withdraw his force by reason of the successes of the
Federal fleet. And there, I think, his active service ended. He was
of a high order of mind and of the finest and nicest elevation of
character; there was something supercritical, however, that would stand
in his way without reason.
When General Mackall was exchanged out of Fort Warren he told me of
two other prisoners, civilians, Andrew Low and Charles Green. The
latter had married my cousin, and both were Englishmen of the regular
holdfast, energetic type. They constituted the most important business
house in Savannah, were making quantities of money, but had quarrelled
and were about separating on the worst terms, when Seward's detectives,
suspicious of their movements (they had both married in Savannah and
were truly Southern and Confederate), clapped them in Fort Warren.
There by the irony of fate they were the sole occupants of the same
casemate, these quondam friends, now bitter, non-speaking enemies. The
situation was difficult and rather enjoyed by some gentlemen outside
who knew of the partners' troubles.
Treatment of prisoners of war at Fort Warren (Boston Harbor) appears
to have been proper and unobjectionable. The governor, Colonel
Dimmock, was a gentleman and knew what was due to his own reputation,
as well as what his prisoners had a right to expect. There were
marked contrasts elsewhere, as at Fort Johnston, but in all the four
years there was yet to be found a prison commandant surpassing the
brutalities of Miles. His chief distinction then appears to have been
in manacling the helpless President of the Confederate States, who was
advanced in years, feeble in health, with no friends near, and that in
the strongest fortress in the United States, with a large garrison and
a guard literally standing over the prisoner night and day, and not a
Confederate organized force in existence.
Lee was an aggressive general, a fighter. To succeed, he knew battles
were to be won, and battles cost blood, and blood he did not mind
in his general's work. Although always considerate and sparing of
his soldiers, he would pour out their blood when necessary or when
strategically advisable. His army had become much strengthened, troops
filled its ranks from Georgia, South and North Carolina, being drawn
from the coast, where they were doing nothing. His divisions had among
them Longstreet's, A. P. Hill's, Magruder's, D. H. Hill's, McLane's,
D. R. Jones's, Huger's, and Whiting's--a splendid force, nearly eighty
thousand men, including Jackson's. The latter was in the Valley,
soon to be with us. Lawton had just taken his immense brigade of six
thousand men from Savannah to reinforce him, and the Georgians were
having some lively marching and fighting in "Stonewall" Jackson's way.
It was evident that the General was soon to make his great attack
to crush McClellan, whose dispositions were so faulty as to offer a
tempting mark. His army greatly outnumbered ours. He had thrown it
across the Chickahominy and its two wings were again exposed. There
were quiet but intense preparations for the important movement.
It was of great extent and covered nearly seven days. Jackson was to
move secretly and swiftly from the Valley and join Lee in the attack on
the Federal right. He was late, and when Lee crossed at Mechanicsville,
June 26, A. P. Hill was thrown at the defenses on Beaver Dam, and was
nearly sacrificed. His losses were pitiable, as were D. H. Hill's in
the same attack. Had Jackson been in position the enemy would have
melted before us. He had promised to be there on the morning of the
26th. On the 27th, Longstreet, A. P. Hill, Whiting, and others stormed
the heights at Gaines's Mill, suffering heavy loss, but defeating the
enemy badly, taking many prisoners, guns and colors, and driving him
in panic after the retreating McClellan. There was great maneuvering
on the 26th, and a severe combat at Savage's Station. On the 30th the
enemy showed front at Fraser's Farm, and Longstreet, supported by A. P.
Hill, instantly attacked with great fury. The enemy was stubborn and
contested every foot. Jackson was to be with us, and had he been, our
success was undoubted, but for some reason he could not get through
White Oak Swamp, and denied us. Of Huger on the right we also heard
nothing. The combination had failed. The enemy was thus suffered to
escape, but with heavy loss. Our own was far from light.
Malvern Hill followed with its bloody fields and crest. The reckoning
there was awful and apparently for no good. McClellan abandoned the
hill at night and soon found himself safe at Harrison's Landing under
cover of his cruisers and gun-boats. His army was beaten and dispirited
and the siege of Richmond broken up; but "Little Mac" raised a faint
cry of partial victory and did not fail to torment poor Mr. Lincoln for
more men; "heavy reinforcements could alone save the army," etc.
Jackson's firmest friends have been obliged to admit some faults in
their hero. As to these movements--either from miscalculation or
something else, he was fatally late on the 26th. That he was not on
hand at Fraser's Farm was also a serious disaster. Some of Munford's
cavalry had got through White Oak Swamp, bad as it was with a heavy
rain falling, and it would seem that a soldier so great and energetic
as Jackson would have found means to push through to the help of
fighting, hard-pressed comrades. It is possible that he was overdone
with work and fatigue, but his men should have been there as planned.
I saw him on the 28th, and he seemed brisk enough. Longstreet had
sent me after Gaines's Mill to find him and establish connections
and communications. He was cheerful and pleasant. "Explain, Major,
to General Longstreet where I am and how my troops are lying, and
say, with my compliments, I am ready to obey any orders he may send
me." When I set out to find him, Tom Ochiltree, fresh and breezy from
Texas, was with us for a week as a volunteer by Longstreet's consent.
Ochiltree said, that familiar with fighting in Texas, he wanted to
see how we did it in the East. He had also a great desire to see the
celebrated "Stonewall" before returning home. He asked permission
to ride with me. We trotted off together, our route taking us by an
extensive field-infirmary, where the surgeons were at their bloody
work on the wounded. We halted for a few minutes. The scene was
sickening and cured Ochiltree of battle sights. "Sorrel," he said very
seriously, "this gives me enough; I don't want any more. It seems now
I have seen everything--too much, nothing for me to do here. Better
for me to ride back to Richmond and take train for Texas. Sorry not
to see 'Stonewall,' but I travel the other way. Good-by and good luck
to you." And off he went after just about four days' service with the
Confederates in the East.
During these movements there was a young Englishman with us, our
guest. He had brought letters to authorities in Richmond. It was
Lord Edward St. Maur, a scion of the ducal house of Somerset. He was
about twenty-one, just from the University, where he had taken high
honors, and was around now with an Englishman's curiosity. A singularly
handsome young man he was, with pure olive skin and beautiful features.
He was always courteous, always reserved. He came as a neutral for
observation, and in all the freedom of our fighting week and rough
bivouacs nothing stirred him from that attitude. In truth, I don't
think he approved of us. I afterwards heard he was something of a prig
but destined for high political life. The battle of Fraser's Farm broke
out in the afternoon with great suddenness and severity. I had given
St. Maur a mount and we happened to be on the line among the men when
firing began, but notwithstanding the cannonading and heavy musketry
he was quite cool. "This is not my place," he said, "and with your
permission I shall retire," doing so with entire deliberation; he so
placed himself as to see something and we talked it over when we met
at night. When McClellan took cover at Harrison's Landing, St. Maur
was given an officer and flag of truce and soon landed in the home
of his fathers. A very careful, neutral chap. I was sorry for his
end--hunting big game in India soon after, he was mauled and eaten by a
tiger.
When McClellan was safely at Harrison's Landing under cover of heavy
guns (some fifteen-inch spherical shell), there was nothing to keep
our army there. Besides, it left Richmond somewhat exposed from the
direction of Fredericksburg. General Lee, therefore, gave the word
and we were soon again in, or near, our old positions. Everything was
made ship-shape, the wounded mending and returning to duty, damages
repaired, and the waste of that extraordinary movement and series of
battles made good as best could be. McClellan could not now see the
spires of Richmond from his headquarters. Additional reinforcements
were brought from the South in preparation for Lee's next move, for he
was not the man to stay idly behind defenses when there was an enemy
about that he might hopefully strike. Longstreet's division of six
brigades was in fine condition, with filling ranks, and so was A. P.
Hill's Light Division, which lay near us, and thereby hangs a tale
which must be recited, I fear, at some little length.