The works in front of Williamsburg were strong, extending across that narrowest part of the Peninsula from estuaries of the York and James Rivers. There the Confederate leader left a strong rear-guard to check the pursuers, while the main body (a greater portion of which had not been below Williamsburg), then under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, who had come

JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.

down from Richmond, should retreat up the Peninsula. Johnston's intention was to concentrate all his troops near Richmond, and then give battle. The pursuing force, after their advance under General Stoneman had been checked in front of the Confederate works, pushed boldly up to attack them under such leaders as Hooker, Kearney, and Hancock, who were conspicuous on that occasion. Hooker began the assault early on the morning of the 6th [May, 1862], and bore the brunt of battle almost nine consecutive hours, when Kearney came to his assistance, and Hancock turned the left of the Confederates. The latter, overpowered, retreated, and such was their haste, that they left nearly eight hundred of their wounded behind.' McClellan came upon the battle-field toward the close of the engagement, and the next morning he sent tidings of the victory to the government from the ancient capital of Virginia. Johnston was then pressing on toward the Chickahominy, with fearful anticipation of disaster if again struck in his retreat by the Nationals; but the pursuit there ended, and McClellan's army, during the succeeding ten or fifteen days, made its way leisurely to the Chickahominy, behind which Johnston was then safely encamped. In the mean time Franklin's expedition, too long held at Yorktown by the Commander-in-Chief to win the advantages of a flank movement, had secured a strong footing near the head of the York River, and there, on the bank of the Pamunkey River, General McClellan established his base of supplies for the Army of the Potomac.

On the 20th of May [1862], McClellan's army was on the borders of the Chickahominy River, and a portion of it, under General Casey, occupied the heights on the Richmond side of the stream, on the New Kent road. In the mean time important events had occurred in the rear of the Army of the Poto

1 So vigorous was the assault of Hooker, that Johnston sent back a greater part of his force to the assistance of his rear-guard. The final retreat was made under the lead of General Longstreet, one of the best of the Confederate generals.

On the evening after the battle, McClellan telegraphed to the Secretary of War that the Confederates were before him in force probably greater than his own, and strongly intrenched, and assured the Secretary that he should "run the risk of holding them in check there." At that time Johnston's 30,000 men were fleeing as rapidly as possible toward the Chickahominy before McClellan's victorious 100,000 men. Experts on both sides declared that had the pursuit been continued, in the morning after the battle at Williamsburg, the National army might have crushed that of the Confederates, or followed them directly into Richmond.

mac.

General Wool,' in command at Fortress Monroe, had long desired to attempt the capture of Norfolk. Permission was at length given him by the President and Secretary of War. With a few regiments he landed [May 10, 1862] in the rear of the Confederate works below Norfolk, and marched triumphantly toward the city. The Confederate forces there, under General Huger, destroyed the Merrimack, and fled toward Petersburg and Richmond. Norfolk was surrendered to Wool by the civil authorities. The Confederate vessels of war in the James River fled up toward Richmond, and were followed by National gun-boats, under Commodore Rogers, to Drewry's Bluff, eight miles below the capital of the Confederates, where they were checked [May 15] by a strong fort.

Important events had also been occurring in the Shenandoah Valley and the adjacent region. At about the time of the siege of Yorktown, General Fremont was at Franklin, among the mountains of Western Virginia. General Banks was at Strasburg, in the Shenandoah Valley, and General McDowell was at Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock, for the double purpose of covering Washington and co-operating with McClellan. Jackson had been joined by the skillful Ewell, in the vicinity of Harrisonburg. Other troops were near, and he was watching Banks closely. At McDowell [May 8], west of Staunton, he struck one of Fremont's brigades, under General Milroy, a severe blow, while Ewell pressed Banks back to Strasburg. Jackson and Ewell soon afterward captured and dispersed [May 23] a National force under Colonel Kenly, at Front Royal, and sent Banks flying down the Shenandoah Valley from Strasburg, hotly pursued to Winchester. There Ewell attacked him [May 25], and after a severe contest he continued his

flight to the banks of the Potomac, near Williamsport. The National capital was now in peril, and McDowell was ordered to send a large force over the Blue Ridge, to intercept the Confederates, if they should retreat, while Fremont should march on Strasburg from the west, for the same purpose. Jackson perceived his peril, and his whole force fled up the valley in time to elude the troops on their flank. Fremont pursued them up the main valley, and Shields, with a considerable force, marched rapidly up the parallel Luray Valley. At a place called Cross Keys, near Harrisonburg, Fremont overtook Ewell, when a severe but undecisive battle ensued [June 7]. Jackson was then at Port Republic, a few miles distant, sorely pressed by Generals Carroll and Tyler. He called Ewell to his aid. The latter moved off in the night. Fremont followed; but Ewell

1 Page 413, and note 5, page 579.

T. J. JACKSON.

2 Wool's command was not under the direction of McClellan. It remained an independent one so long as that veteran was at the head of that department.

3

* Page 614.

managed to cross the Shenandoah and burn the bridge behind him before Fremont could reach that stream. Meanwhile Jackson's assailants had been repulsed, and on the 9th of June the whole National army on the Shenandoah retraced their steps. So ended the second great race of the National and Confederate troops in the Shenandoah Valley.

When Rogers went up to Drewry's Bluff,' the James and York Rivers were both opened as highways for supplies for the Army of the Potomac. McClellan determined to continue his base at the head of York, until he should form a junction with McDowell. That event was postponed by others in the Shenandoah Valley, just recorded, and the two great armies stood face to face near Richmond toward the close of May, with little expectation of aid from their respective comrades in that Valley. Their first collision was on the 23d, near Mechanicsville, when the Confederates were driven, and the army and loyal people were thrilled by a general order issued by McClellan the next day, which indicated an immediate advance upon Richmond. Every thing was in readiness for the movement, and the Confederates were trembling in anticipation of it. McClellan hesitated, and the golden moments of opportu nity were spent in flank movements, which resulted in severe struggles, that were fruitless of good to the National army.3

The skillful and vigilant Johnston, soon perceiving the perilous position of the National forces, divided by the fickle Chickahominy, and the timidity of their chief, marched boldly out from his strong intrenchments before Richmond to attack them. On the afternoon of the 31st [May, 1862], a heavy force of the Confederates fell furiously upon the most advanced National troops, under General Casey, and a sanguinary battle ensued. Casey fought his foe most gallantly, until one-third of his division was disabled, and he was

1 Page 617.

The appearance of Rogers's flotilla before Drewry's Bluff simultaneously with McClellan's advance toward the Chickahominy produced the greatest consternation in Richmond, especially among the conspirators. Davis, their chief, almost despaired, and the general expectation that the National forces would speedily march into Richmond, caused the chief leaders to make preparations for flight. The "archives of the government," so called, were sent to Columbia, South Carolina, and to Lynchburg. The railway tracks over the bridges at Richmond were covered with planks, so as to facilitate the passage of artillery, and every man who was active in the rebellion trembled with fear. The Legislature of Virginia, then in session, disgusted with the cowardice and perfidy of Davis and his chief associates in crime, passed resolutions calling upon them to act with manliness and honor, and to stay and protect at all hazards the people they had betrayed. This action, it is believed, was inspired by the manly Johnston, then at the head of the army, whose virtues were a standing rebuke to the cold selfishness of the chief conspirator.

3 The troops engaged were regular cavalry under General Emory; Benson's horse-battery; Morrell's division, composed of the brigades of Martindale, Butterfield, and McQuade, and Berdan's sharp-shooters; three batteries under Captain Griffin, and a "provisional brigade," under Colonel G. K. Warren, in support. Their first encounter was near Hanover Court House [May 27], when a charge by Butterfield's brigade dispersed the Confederates. At the same time General Martindale was contending with fresh troops that came up from Richmond, and attacked him while moving between Peake's Station and Hanover Court House. Porter sent assistance to Martindale, when the Confederates, outnumbered, fell back, with a loss of 200 men dead on the field, and 700 made prisoners. The National loss was 350.

The Chickahominy River is a narrow stream, and liable to a sudden and great increase of volume and overflow of its banks by rains. For this reason it might, in a few hours, become an impassable barrier between bodies of troops where bridges did not exist. In this instance the Confederates had destroyed the bridges.

driven back by an overwhelming force. Troops sent to his aid by Keyes could not withstand the pressure, and all were driven back to Fair Oaks Station, on the Richmond and York River Railway, where the struggle continued. Heintzelman and Kearney pressed forward with re-enforcements, but fresh Confederates were there to meet them, and it seemed at one time as if the whole of the National forces on the Richmond side of the Chickahominy were doomed to destruction. At that critical moment the veteran General Sumner appeared, with the divisions of Sedgwick and Richardson, and checked the Confederate advance by a storm of canister-shot from twenty-four guns. But they soon pressed forward again and fought gallantly, notwithstanding Johnston, their chief, who was directing the battle, was severely wounded and borne away. Finally, at eight o'clock in the evening, a bayonet charge by five regiments broke the Confederate line into dire confusion. The contest was renewed in the morning [June 1], and after a struggle for several hours, in which Hooker's command also was engaged, the Confederates withdrew, and retired to Richmond that night. So ended the battle of Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines.

2

For nearly a month after this the Army of the Potomac lay along the Chickahominy, a few miles from Richmond, in a very unhealthful situation, quietly besieging the Confederate capital. Robert E. Lee' succeeded Johnston, and he was joined by Jackson and Ewell, with a force so considerable that he prepared to strike McClellan a deadly blow. Fifteen hundred of his cavalry, under J. E. B. Stewart, made a complete circuit of the Army of the Potomac at the middle of June, threatening its supplies at the White House,3 near the head of York River, and gaining valuable information. Meantime the public expectation was kept on the alert by frequent assurances that the decisive battle would be fought "to-morrow." For that purpose re-enforcements were called for, and sent; yet the cautious commander hesitated until Lee made a movement which compelled him to take a defensive position, and prepare to abandon the siege and retreat to the James River. That movement was made on the 26th of June. Jackson, with a considerable force, marched from Hanover Court House to turn McClellan's right, and fall upon his communications with his supplies at the White House; and at the same time a heavier force, under Generals Longstreet and D. H. and A. P. Hill, crossed the Chickahominy near Mechanicsville, and assailed the National right wing, commanded by General Fitz John Porter. A terrific battle ensued near Ellison's

1 Page 564. ' Page 585. The White House was the name of an estate on the Pamunkey River, that belonged to the Custis family by inheritance from Mrs. Washington, whose first husband owned it. Her greatgrand-daughter was the wife of Robert E. Lee, and this property was in the possession of the latter's eldest son when the Civil War broke out. The name was derived from the color of the mansion on the estate at the time Washington was married to Mrs. Custis. It was white, and thus distinguished from others. That mansion was demolished between thirty and forty years ago, and near its site was another, of modest form and dimensions, which was called the "White House." This was held sacred, for some time, by the Union troops, in consequence of a false impression given by the family that it was the original "White House." When McClellan changed his base to the James River, and his stores were fired, the modern "White House" was consumed.

Mill, which resulted in the defeat of the Confederates, who suffered a fearful loss.1

Notwithstanding this victory, McClellan decided that the time had come for him to fly toward the James River, if he would save his army. He was

left to choose between a concentration of his whole force on the left bank of the Chick

ahominy, and give general battle to Lee's army; to concentrate it on the right bank, and march directly on Richmond, or to transfer his right wing to that side of the stream, and with his supplies retreat to the James River. He chose the latter course, and made preparations accordingly.' He ordered the stores at the White

House to be destroyed if they could not be removed, and held Porter's corps in a strong position near Gaines's Mills, a short distance from Ellison's Mill, to give protection as far as possible to the supplies, and to the remainder of the troops in the removal of the siege-guns, their pas sage of the river, and their march toward the James. There, between Cool Arbor and the Chickahominy, in line of battle on the arc of a circle, Porter stood when attacked by the Hills and Longstreet, on the afternoon of the 7th of June. Very severe was the battle that ensued. Porter, hard pressed, sent to McClellan, then on the opposite side of the Chickahominy, for aid, but the commander, believing Magruder's 25,000 men at Richmond to be 60,000 in number, could spare only Slocum's division of Franklin's corps. Later, the brigades of Richardson and Meagher were sent, and these arrived just in time to save Porter from annihilation, for his shattered and disheartened army was

1 It was between 3,000 and 4,000 men. The National loss was about 400. The latter were well posted on an eminence; the former were much exposed in approaching' over lower and open ground.

" According to official and other statements by the Confederates, Richmond was at that time entirely at the mercy of the Army of the Potomac, it being defended by only 25,000 men under Magruder, who in his report declared that if McClellan had massed his force and moved on Richmond while Lee was beyond the Chickahominy, he might easily have captured it. "His failure to do so," said Magruder in his report, "is the best evidence that our wise commander fully understood the character of his opponent."

The place of an ancient tavern and summer resort for the inhabitants of Richmond two generations before. • Page 619.