[
170]
‘I am in hopes the enemy is as completely worn out as we are. He was certainly very severely punished in the last battle.
The roads are now very bad. For these reasons I hope we shall now have enough breathing space to reorganize and rest the men, and get them into position before the enemy can attack again. . . . It is, of course, impossible to estimate, as yet, our losses, but I doubt whether there are to-day more than 50,000 men with their colors.’
By the next morning 21 Confederate brigades had arrived and would have been upon Evelington Heights had
Stuart not forced the enemy to come over and occupy them.
McClellan's 50,000 men would then have had the task of removing them.
Stuart thus describes his resistance: —
I held the ground from 9 A. M. till 2 P. M., when the enemy had contrived to get one battery into position on this side the creek.
The fire was, however, kept up until a body of infantry was found approaching by our right flank.
I had no apprehension, however, as I felt sure Longstreet was near by, and, although Pelham had but two rounds of ammunition left, I held out, knowing how important it was to hold the ground till Longstreet arrived.
‘The enemy's infantry advanced, and his battery kept up its fire.
I just then learned that Longstreet had taken the wrong road and was then at Nance's shop, six or seven miles off. Pelham fired his last round, and the sharp-shooters, strongly posted in the skirt of woods bordering the plateau, exhausted every cartridge, but had at last to retire. . . . The next day, July 4, Gen. Jackson's command drove in the enemy's advanced pickets.
I pointed out the position of the enemy, now occupying, apparently in force, the plateau from which I shelled their camp the day before, and showed him the routes by which the plateau could be reached, to the left, and submitted my plan for dispossessing the enemy and attacking his camp.
This was subsequently laid before the commanding general.’
From the
Federal reports it appears that the enemy occupied the heights on the afternoon of July 3 with
Franklin's division.
The next morning
Longstreet was up with his own and
A. P. Hill's division and two brigades of
Magruder's.
Jackson was also up with his own,
Ewell's,
Whiting's, and
D. H. Hill's divisions.
Lee did not reach the field until noon, and, as
Longstreet ranked
Jackson, he ordered the enemy's pickets driven in and preparation made for an attack.
A favorable opportunity was presented to regain the
Evelington Heights by main force.
They were occupied by but one
