Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 5.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[315] they could not be rallied. The road was filled with fugitives (not all from this division) as far as Bottom's Bridge. Col. Starr's regiment, of General Hooker's division, had to force its way through them with the bayonet, and a guard I placed at Bottom's Bridge stopped over a thousand men.

An officer informed me that after we had driven the enemy beyond our first intrenchments, he visited Gen. Casey's camp, and found more men bayoneted and shot inside the shelter-tents than outside of them.

As Gen. Casey, in his report, has not designated the regiments who did not behave well,. I do not feel called upon to name them. The One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania, the One Hundredth and Ninety-second New-York, and Eleventh Maine, Gen. Casey says, made a charge on the enemy, under his eye and by his express orders, that would have honored veteran troops. The One Hundred and First Pennsylvania and Ninety-sixth New-York fought well.

There is one statement in Gen. Palmer's report which it is necessary to notice. No portion of Gen. Hooker's division was engaged on Saturday, the first day. The heavy loss in Gen. Kearny's division will attest how much his division felt the enemy. After Gen. Kearny's division arrived in the field, our forces did not fall back a third of a mile before they checked the enemy. The next day they drove them back, and before night a portion of Sickles's brigade, Hooker's division, occupied at least a portion of Gen. Casey's camps, and brought off numbers of our wounded of the day before, and of the enemy's, too, whom they had been compelled to abandon on the field when they retreated. Gen. Keyes, all the Generals of division, and most of the Generals of brigades, are specially mentioned for good conduct and activity on the field. Many lost their horses. I have already mentioned Generals Jameson and Berry, of Gen. Kearny's division, and will refer you to Gen. Keyes's report, where he specially refers to the exposure and gallantry of the division and brigade commanders of his corps. As all the reports I have received accompany this, it is unnecessary to report their names.

Couch's, Casey's, and Kearny's divisions on the field numbered but eighteen thousand five hundred men; deducting from this force Casey's division, (five thousand men,) dispersed when I came on the field, and Birney's, (two thousand three hundred,) not engaged, we, with less than eleven thousand men, after a struggle of three hours and a half, checked the enemy's heavy masses. Gen. Nagle, who is highly commended for his gallantry and activity, has not sent in his regimental reports. It is but just that these should be forwarded to the War Department, as an evidence of the good conduct of the officers and men of the regiments mentioned by their regimental commanders.

When I started for the field, I have to regret I was obliged to leave at my headquarters Captain McKeever, Chief of my Staff, to attend to the forwarding of orders, etc. Shortly after I left, he received an order from the Commanding General to remain and keep him informed by telegraph of the progress of the battle; and thus I was deprived of his services in the battle. His services and those of Capt. Moses, Assistant Adjutant-General, were very arduous in attending to the wounded, who were all sent to my headquarters for transportation to the White House. When I arrived on the field, I met Samuel Wilkeson, Esq., of the New-York Tribune, I accepted his services as volunteer aid, and I wish to bear testimony to his gallantry and coolness during the battle. When the rebel reenforcements arrived, about five P. M., and our troops commenced to give way, he was conspicuous in the throng, aiding in rallying the men. The officers of my staff, who were with me at this critical moment, Dr. Milhau, the Medical Director of my corps, Lieuts. Morton and Deacon, were also quite active and efficient. Lieuts. Hunt and Johnston, who also behaved with much gallantry, were absent at this moment, delivering orders. Capt. McKelvy, Chief Commissary, was very active in carrying orders, and rendered me most efficient service during the battle.

The arrival of Gen. Sedgwick's division, of Gen. Sumner's corps, on my extreme right, late in the afternoon, was most opportune. Gen. Abercrombie's brigade had maintained itself most gallantly, but would have been overwhelmed by the masses of the enemy, but for his timely assistance. The greatest distance the enemy, with their over-whelming numbers, claim to have driven us back is but a mile and a half--the distance was less.

During the evening the troops were formed in the lines before spoken of, and the artillery so disposed as to resist a heavy force should the attack be renewed the next day. At midnight I had an interview with Gen. McClellan, and was ordered to hold my position. On the next morning, Sunday, June first, a little before seven o'clock, firing of musketry commenced near the Fair Oaks station. This soon became heavy, occasioned by an attack by the enemy on Gen. Sumner's corps, on my right. I immediately gave orders for that portion of Gen. Hooker's division--one half was left at Bottom's Bridge — present to advance between the railroad and the Williamsburgh road. Gen. Hooker gallantly led the Fifth and Sixth New-Jersey regiments forward near the railroad. Gen. Sickles's brigade followed, but finding the enemy in force to the left of the Williamsburgh road, turned, by my direction, a portion of the brigade to the left of this road. The ground was so boggy that the artillery, after making the attempt to follow, had to return. Gen. Birney's brigade, on the right of Gen. Hooker, and now under the command of Col. J. Hobart Ward, promptly and gallantly supported the former. After some firing, Gen. Hooker made a gallant charge with the bayonet, leading himself the Fifth and Sixth New-Jersey against the rebel troops, and driving them back nearly a mile. In Sickles's brigade, the Seventy-first New-York volunteers, Col. Hall, after one or two volleys, made a charge, and soon drove the