Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 9.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[368] member of Henrico Southern Guards, Fifteenth Virginia regiment. Was detailed from my company to report, on the morning of first July, 1862, to Major-General Magruder as a guide. Did so report, and was with him on that morning. I know the country in the vicinity of Malvern Hill intimately. Was present when Major-General Magruder interrogated L. T. Gatewood in regard to the locality of the Quaker road. Heard L. T. Gatewood reply, and knowing it to be correct, made no remark.

I further testify that I do now and have always believed the road into which Major-General Magruder was conducted by J. B. Sweeney to be the Quaker road, and that this is the only road regarded as the Quaker road by persons living in that neighborhood.

Personally appeared before me, R. H. Nelson, a Justice of the Peace for Henrico County, C. Watkins, who made oath that the above certificate, to which his name is affixed, is correct and true. Witness my hand and seal, this twenty-third day of July, 1862.

Major: I have the honor to make the following reports of the operations of my brigade, composed of the Third, Fifth, Sixth, Twelfth, and Twenty-sixth Alabama regiments, and Carter's battery, making an aggregate of about one thousand four hundred and sixty men, from the evening of the twenty-sixth to that of the twenty-eighth June, last:

In common with other brigades of Major-General D. H. Hill's, mine took position on the Mechanicsville turnpike, on the morning of the twenty-sixth of June. We lay there until late in the afternoon of the twenty-sixth, when we moved across the Chickahominy, taking position in the field between Mechanicsville and the Chickahominy. Next morning, after being subject to a brisk shelling process from the enemy, without loss, except one horse, we moved forward in the road to the left of the Mechanicsville battery, halted near that battery, and about nine or ten o'clock moved to the road to Bethesda Church. General Ripley's brigade followed mine, being in reserve on that day. Following the preceding brigades of the division, we came under heavy artillery fire at New Cold Harbor, when we were ordered to take shelter for a time. At this point we were subjected to a heavy fire for a half hour or more, but lost only two men--Lieutenant Ramsay and a private of the Fifth Alabama. I sent out both Captain Whiting and Lieutenant Webster, of my staff, from this point, to communicate with the Major-General commanding, but in moving forward in person, communicated with him myself, and under his orders, moved forward, in line of battle, to the support of General Garland, in a contemplated attack upon the enemy's batteries to the left of Old Cold Harbor. Before the attack was made, however, the position of both Garland's brigade and mine was changed, both brigades being wheeled on Garland's left to the rear. We were then ordered forward by Major-General Jackson, to attack the enemy in front of New Cold Harbor, coming into the fight on the left of his troops. In crossing an almost impenetrable swamp, to get into action, great confusion ensued, from the fact that at the same point several brigades were crossing at the same time; and upon emerging from the swamp, and striking the field beyond, three of my regiments, the Fifth, Twelfth, and Twenty-sixth, were found on the left and behind, and the Sixth and Third Alabama on the right of Anderson's brigade,which was in front of us. Before reaching the swamp, I had received an order from or through Brigadier-General Ripley to charge through the swamp at double-quick time. This order was obeyed by my brigade with alacrity, but the three first-named regiments, finding Anderson's brigade at a halt, and in front of them, engaged in a heavy fire of musketry, were halted. The Third and Sixth Alabama went on, however. The Third encountered troops of our own in front of them across the swamp; the Sixth did not, but moved on, at a rapid pace, into the field in front of the enemy's battery, and in the face of their infantry, encountering there an enfilading fire from the battery, and a heavy fire of musketry in front, and finding themselves unsupported, the men were required by Colonel Gordon to lie down; and finally, no support arriving, retired under cover, in perfectly good order, and there awaited, with the Third, further orders. Almost upon the return of the Sixth Alabama, the brigades of General Anderson and Garland, having, in the mean time, with three of my regiments, been brought into some sort of alignment, were ordered to charge. The charge was intended to be general, and had been, I thought, extended throughout the line; but upon traversing the field before spoken of, and attaining the road beyond, very nearly, I found, upon examination of my line, that two of my regiments had not moved with my brigade; and, upon examining the line farther to the right, found that they were not with General Anderson either, and that his right was at least the length of two or three regiments from the lower edge of the field, and liable to be turned, whilst on the right of General Anderson's brigade, the whole line having a moment before paused and hesitated, nearly if not the whole of the left of the division, as far as one in my position could see, broke and retreated in apparent confusion. I thought the whole of the brigade on the left of mine, as well as my three regiments, were involved in it. At that moment, though the whole of General Anderson's brigade seemed to be at a halt, still his right, composed of regiments which joined him after his halt, wavered; and looking around for troops to sustain him, I discovered