Battles of Mechanicsville and Gaines's Mill

GENERAL LEE put General McClellan on the defensive when, on the 26th of June (1862), he sent "Stonewall Jackson," with a considerable force from Hanover Court-House, to turn the right wing of the National army and fall upon their base of supplies at the "White House." Jackson had been quietly withdrawn from the Shenandoah Valley, and at the proper time made the aggressive movement with much celerity. At the same time a heavier force, under General Longstreet and others, crossed the Chickahominy near Mechanicsville, and attacked McClellan's right wing commanded by General Fitz John Porter. Near Ellison's Mill, not far from Mechanicsville, a terrific battle was fought that day, in which the Confederates were defeated with a loss of between three and four thousand men. The Nationals, advantageously posted, lost about four hundred. This event is known in history as the battle of Mechanicsville.

By this victory, Richmond was placed at the mercy of the National troops; but McClellan, considering his army and stores in peril, immediately prepared to transfer both to the James River. This movement was so secretly and skillfully made, that Lee was not certified of the fact until twenty-four hours after it was actually begun on the morning of the 27th of June. McClellan ordered his stores at the White House to be destroyed if they could not be taken away; and the duty of protecting them in their removal was assigned to the corps of Fitz John Porter. That corps was also charged with the duty of carrying away the siege guns and covering the army in its march for the James River. These troops were accordingly arranged on the rising ground near Gaines's Mill, on the arc of a circle between Cool Arbor and the Chickahominy, where they were attacked in the afternoon (June 27) by a heavy Confederate force led by Generals Longstreet and Hill. The battle that ensued was very severe. Hard pressed, Porter sent to McClellan, who was on the opposite side of the river, for help; but the latter, believing Magruder's twenty-five thousand men at Richmond to be sixty thousand, sent only Slocum's division of Franklin's corps. Finding that the battle still raged with great fury, and doubtful of the issue, the commander-in-chief then sent the brigades of Richardson and Meagher across the river. They arrived just in time to save Porter's corps from destruction. His shattered column was falling back in disorder, closely pressed, when the shouts of the fresh troops checked the pursuers and so inspirited the fugitives that they rallied and drove the Confederates back to the field they had won. So ended the battle of Gaines's Mill, with a loss to the Nationals of eight thousand men, and to the Confederates, of about five thousand. Porter also lost twenty-two siege guns. During the night succeeding the battle his corps withdrew to the right side of the Chickahominy, destroying the bridges behind them.

Before the dawn of the 28th the National army moved toward Turkey Bend of the James River. General Keyes led the way through White Oak Swamp, followed by Porter's shattered corps. Then came a train of five thousand wagons laden with ammunition, stores and baggage, and a drove of twenty-five hundred head of beef cattle. This movement was so skill-fully masked that General Lee, who suspected McClellan was about to give battle on the northern side of the Chickahhominy, in defence of his stores at the "White House," or was preparing to retreat down the Peninsula, was completely deceived; and it was late in the night of the 28th (June, 1862) when the astounding fact was announced to him that the Army of the Potomac were far on their way toward a new position on the James River. He had then just been informed that a large portion of the stores at the "White House" had been removed, and that the remainder, with the mansion itself, were in flames. To overtake and destroy the retiring army was now Lee's first duty, and he prosecuted the effort with so much vigor, that the Nationals had a desperate struggle to escape.

The divisions of Sedgwick, Richardson, Heintzelman and Smith, of Franklin's corps, were at Savage's Station, under the general command of Sumner. These formed McClellan's rear-guard. There they were assailed by a Confederate force under Magruder, whom Lee had sent for the purpose, and who first attacked Sedgwick at about nine o'clock on the 29th. Then a battle of great severity was fought, and it ended only at evening, after darkness had come on. Magruder was repulsed by the brigade of General Burns, supported by those of Brooke and Hancock. The Nationals fell back to White Oak Swamp covered by French's brigade, leaving twenty-five hundred of them wounded at Savage's Station, who became prisoners to the Confederates. By five o'clock the next morning the entire army had passed the Swamp, and destroyed the bridge behind them that spanned a creek which they had crossed in the passage.