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

[376] on the twenty-sixth of June, was twenty-three hundred and sixty-six, including pioneers and the ambulance corps. Of this our loss has been forty-five officers and eight hundred and forty-four non-commissioned officers and privates in killed, wounded, and missing, the latter class numbering but thirty. Seven out of eleven field officers fell, killed and wounded, while leading on their regiments, and of the seven, four are dead. To the memory of these the country will give that meed of consideration which is the reward of brave men, battling in such a cause as ours.

Three Colonels out of four, all brave and accomplished officers,--Colonel M. S. Stokes, of the First North Carolina; Colonel Gaston Meares, of the Third North Carolina, and Colonel Robert A. Smith, of the Forty-fourth Georgia,--all have sealed their devotion with their lives. Their conduct on the field was beyond praise, and in their loss their regiments and the service have suffered severely. Major Skinner, of the First North Carolina, died in a like manner. Lieutenant-Colonel McDowell, of the First North Carolina, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ester, (the former severely, the latter slightly,) were both wounded in the front of the battle. Of the surviving officers, Colonel Gibson and Lieutenant-Colonel Carswell, of the Forty-eighth Georgia, led their regiments in the actions in which it was engaged. Lieutenant-Colonel De Rosset and Captain Thurston, (acting field officers,) of the Third North Carolina, behaved with credit to themselves, and made good, to as full extent as possible, the loss sustained in their gallant Colonel. Captain H. A. Brown, of the First North Carolina, rallied the troops of his regiment, with other officers, after all the field officers had been lost, and led the regiment until relieved by Lieutenant-Colonel Bynum. Captains Beck and Lumpkin, of the Forty-fourth Georgia, marched with the brigade, with the fragment of the regiment, on the twenty-seventh, and served through the subsequent actions. But one hundred and seventy-nine of this regiment were unhurt at the action at Ellison's Mills, of those who entered. I was attended during the engagements by my staff--Captain Leo. D. Walker, A. A. General, and Lieutenant F. G. Ravenel, Aid-de-camp. Lieutenant Ravenel, after behaving with most distinguished gallantry at Ellison's Mills and at Cold Harbor, was killed while leading on the troops of the right of the brigade in the very front at the battle of Malvern Hill. Of all who have fallen during this series of engagements, none braver have sealed their devotion to our cause. Major Mitchell, Brigade Commissary, was also on the field, and rendered valuable services.

In conclusion, I beg to remark that the troops of this brigade, arriving at Richmond just after the battle of Seven Pines, were ordered immediately to the front, and performed picket and outpost duty, with slight intermission, until the march towards Mechanicsville. Two of the regiments — the First and Third North Carolina--had been some time in service, but not in action. The Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth Georgia were new troops, and it is perhaps to be regretted, as the whole were brigaded for the first time, that some further opportunity could not have been afforded for perfecting their organization and discipline as a brigade. Nevertheless the mass of the troops did their duty well, and although there were exceptions, from respect to those gallant officers and men who upheld bravely the honor of their flag, those who strayed from the field of duty I leave to their own consciences and the condemnation of their comrades.

I have the honor to enclose a return and lists of the killed and wounded, and the reports of regimental commanders, so far as they have been received.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Major: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of this brigade in the recent engagements and operations of the army before Richmond:

On the twenty-fifth of June, the movements of the enemy on the Williamsburg road inducing Major-General Huger, whose troops were in front, to call for support, I was ordered to move forward my brigade in supporting distance of Generals Armistead and Wright, and cooperate with them to such an extent as the exigency might require. Those Generals having moved forward their troops into the woods in front of our lines on the Williamsburg road, my brigade was placed in the vacated rifle pits, and kept under arms, and exposed to artillery fire during the entire afternoon.

The Fifth North Carolina, Colonel D. K. McRae, was ordered to move forward out of the rifle pits, across the field in front, to the edge of the woods opposite, and protect a section of artillery brought up to that point to silence the enemy's guns. This duty they performed with their accustomed alacrity, and happily escaped casualties.

Having spent more than half the day under arms and under fire, the brigade was permitted to return to camp after dark, and make preparations for the impending movements. I mention the foregoing fatigues and exposure, because they were in the nature of extra duty borne by this brigade, on the eve of general operations, and the troops should receive the proper credit for it. Cooking until a late hour of the night, and then catching a little sleep, the brigade moved, about two o'clock A. M. on the morning of the twenty-sixth of June, along with the rest of this division, to a position on the Mechanicsville turnpike, just behind the crest of the commanding hills which overlook the Chickahominy, where we remained in position, masked from the observation of the enemy, until Major-General A. P. Hill's troops should carry Mechanicsville from the other side. This part of the plan being at length accomplished,