From Manassas to Appomattox - James Longstreet

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of the hill. On either flank the plateau was somewhat guarded by ravines and tangled marsh lands, while the front approach was over ascending slopes, so broken as to make advancing artillery combat slow and hazardous.

      Early on the 1st, the columns under Huger, Jackson, and Magruder met at the Charles City cross-roads, but the enemy had given up that position and marched away, leaving to them the abandoned forest land. The disappointment of the Confederate commander in the failure of combination ordered for the 30th was noted by those who were near him, while the composure with which it was borne indicated the grander elements of his character, and drew those who knew his plans and purposes closer to him.

      Jackson was ordered to follow on the direct line of the enemy’s retreat; Huger and Magruder marched to co-operate on his right; Longstreet’s and A. P. Hill’s divisions were held in reserve. General Lee rode near Jackson’s column to view the army on that front. Feeling unwell and much fatigued, he called me to temporary service near him. As he rode to the left, he ordered me, with the columns of Huger and Magruder, to make reconnoissance of the enemy’s new position in that quarter, and to report of the feasibility of aggressive battle.

      I found some difference between General Lee’s maps and General Magruder’s guides, but my authority was only for a reconnoissance, and posting the divisions. An elevated point was found off the enemy’s left front, as high as the plateau upon which his army stood, from which a fair view was had of his position and down along his front and the open as far as Jackson’s field, the latter just filing in by his batteries on much lower but open ground.

      Profound silence rested upon the field. Jackson’s batteries, yet a little beyond the point of range, marched to their places as quietly as if taking positions for review. Porter’s field seemed as little concerned at the developments along his flank and front, indicating that there was to be no waste of ammunition on that July day. His guns could not be counted, but blocking them off by batteries there seemed to be eighty on his front, besides the siege battery in rear. His guns were all trailed to Jackson’s front, thus presenting a flank towards the high point upon which I stood. From the crest at this little ridge the ground dropped off sharply some eighteen inches or two feet to a lower terrace, forming a natural parapet and terre-plein for forty or sixty guns, massed. The spacious open along Jackson’s front appeared to offer a field for play of a hundred or more guns, and although his lower ground was not inviting of combat even by a hundred guns, it was yet judged that advancing combat by eighty or a hundred guns, in combination with the forty-gun battery of position, might justify assault, and the tremendous game at issue called for adventure.

      I thought it probable that Porter’s batteries, under the cross-fire of the Confederates thus posted on his left and front, could be thrown into disorder, and thus make way for combined assaults of the infantry. I so reported, and General Lee ordered disposition accordingly, sending the pioneer corps out to cut a road for the right batteries of position.

      I suggested position to Magruder for his division, but he insisted that the Quaker road was not correctly located on General Lee’s maps, so I left that part of the order to be looked after by General Lee’s recognized staff. General Chilton, chief of staff, was then sent by General Lee to assist General Magruder in posting the troops, and I was ordered back to locate the batteries.

      But eight guns came in proper time and were posted. These General Magruder proposed to supplement by thirty of his own under Colonel S. D. Lee, to be reinforced by the others as they came up. With this understanding I returned to head-quarters, made my report, and was permitted to go back to my command proper.

      The most convenient point for observing the effect of the artillery fire was occupied by General Armistead’s brigade. That officer was designated by General Lee to give notice, if the combat was successful, by advancing his brigade, under the shouts of infantry charge, as the signal for general assault.

      The eight guns for the right battery were all that got into position on time, and Jackson failed to open fire by advancing all of the batteries along his front, so that the practice from those quarters was not forcibly executed. When the eight guns finally opened, Porter shifted his aim from his proper front, which Jackson failed to combat, and put in the fire of forty guns against the eight-gun battery of our right. The gunboat batteries also came into that practice, but it was found that they damaged friends almost as much as the enemy, and were ordered to discontinue. Jackson’s cross-fire, feeble at best and at long range, was finally drawn off by other batteries far on the enemy’s right, so that the eight guns were soon piled a heterogeneous mass of caissons, guns, limbers, and horses. Some other batteries got into action at the same point, eight or ten at a time, but suffered like disaster.

      So the plan for battle and order of the day were given over by the Confederate commander, who sent for me to ride with him over to his left in search of a route by which the enemy’s right might be turned. This seemed feasible under the hasty reconnoissance, and he ordered the reserves on that move. As we started on the march the noise of battle reached us and the march was arrested. Under the impression that his officers realized the failure and abandonment of his original plan, General Lee failed to issue orders specifically recalling the appointed battle.

      It seems that just as the troops marched to the left under the last order, information was received by some of the officers at the front that the enemy was getting away from us.

      To ascertain as to this matter, and anxious to atone for lost opportunities of the day before, part of the troops near our right moved forward, and soon encountered the enemy’s infantry, as well as the formidable artillery. This impact burst into the noise of battle, and was taken as the signal for assault under the original order of the day. From the right to the left, as far as and including D. H. Hill’s division, the Confederates attacked in splendid style, making repeated brave charges, but they were as firmly met by the enemy, and their dead and wounded were mingled on the same lines. The Confederate ranks thinning rapidly, Magruder called on me for reinforcements, and Jackson was sent to reinforce D. H. Hill’s left, but night closed in upon us before the reinforcements could get into action.

      As the order for battle had been given about noon, and had been abandoned some hours before the opening, upon receiving Magruder’s call, I supposed the conflict had been brought on by the enemy to force our right back and better clear the route of his retreat. I ordered A. P. Hill direct to Magruder, and my own division for support on our extreme right. The result of the battle was a repulse of the Confederates along the entire line and the sacrifice of several thousand brave officers and men, though some of our troops held ground nearer the enemy than at the onset of the battle. During the night the enemy resumed his march for the river, leaving his dead, some of his wounded, and exhibiting other marks of the precipitate character of his retreat.

      Stuart’s cavalry had been recalled from north of the Chickahominy on the 30th to join us on the south side, and reached Jackson’s left Tuesday night after the battle.

      The morning of the 2d opened heavy and oppressive. The storm front of bursting cannon and bristling bayonets was changed to a wide sweep of heavy clouds that covered the dead that had grappled and fallen together on Malvern Hill. The enemy was gone, and reached his lodgement at Harrison’s Landing on James River, the old seat of that family which has given our country two Presidents. Jackson stood on the direct route of the enemy’s retreat, and was ordered to follow it; Magruder’s and Huger’s commands to follow Jackson. General Lee rode with them. D. H. Hill’s division was left to care for the wounded and dead of Malvern Hill. To obviate pressure upon a single track, the reserve divisions were ordered by Nance’s Store, but the heavy clouds soon began to let down a pelting rain that became more severe and delayed all movements.

      The reports of Jackson and Stuart of the operations of the 3d are conflicting. The former claimed that he was near the landing on the morning of the 3d, and advanced his line of skirmishers. The latter reported that he found during the night of the 2d a fine position on Erlington Heights, from which the enemy could be shelled out of his new position by artillery; that he occupied and held that position by a squadron and howitzer until driven from it by the enemy at two o’clock in the afternoon of the 3d; that he

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