BATTLE OF ELLERSON'S MILL, JUNE 27TH, 1862.
For several days we
have been on the qui vive for a fight, and at last it has
come. Day before yesterday my company was transferred from Huger's division, to
which it was temporarily attached, to the First Regiment Virginia Artillery,
commanded by Colonel John Thompson Brown, and we now belong to Longstreet's
division. We had just gotten our tents pitched, picket rope stretched, etc.,
when we were ordered to report to Brigadier-General Featherstone, commanding a
splendid brigade of Mississippians. We reached this brigade on the evening of
the 25th, pitched our tents and camped for the night. At 10 o'clock we were
ordered to rise at 2 A. M., prepare three days' rations, allowing each man one
blanket, and report to General Longstreet near the toll-house on the
Mechanicsville Turnpike. According to instructions we arose next morning at 2
o'clock, but as we had no rations had to start without them. We remained on the
turnpike all day awaiting orders to move. A. P. Hill's division, having crossed
the Chickahominy near the Virginia Central Railroad, flanked the
enemy and charged upon them at Mechanicsville, driving them across Beaver Dam
Creek to Ellerson's Mill. Our division (Longstreet's), with D. H. Hill's, then
moved directly up the Mechanicsville Turnpike and formed a junction with A. P.
Hill at the village of Mechanicsville, five and a half miles from Richmond. The
fighting for the night was over, but sleep was impossible, for well we knew the
coming morrow would be a day fraught with heavy interests to the South.
Jackson, we also knew, was on his way to join us, and was moving around to
strike the enemy's right flank, taking it en reverse. About 12 o'clock at night
my brigade (Featherstone's) was ordered to the front to relieve General Ripley's,
and my company ordered to remain in the road at the blacksmith's shop, awaiting
"further orders."
The dawn of the 27th
of June was announced by a shell from a Yankee battery, and pretty soon they
made the turnpike a very hot place.
Featherstone and Willcox,
supported by R. A. Pryor, were already engaged. Our battery was then ordered to
take position where we could shell the enemy. To accomplish this we had to move
about a mile across an open field and in point blank range of the Yankee
batteries. Gallantly did our boys dash across the field and in the very face of
the enemy; loudly screamed the shot and shell; but on we pushed until we
reached our position directly in front of the Catlin House. Our guns were
speedily "unlimbered," and soon the clear, ringing report of the
little howitzers bespoke the earnestness of the affair we were engaged in.
Our Parrot gun and
howitzer No. 2 were stationed to the rear of the Catlin House, whilst the third
and fourth (my gun) were directly in front.
The enemy's artillery
soon ceased, for it was very evident that having been struck such a heavy blow
on this, their extreme right flank, by Hill on the preceding day, that
McClellan was drawing in his lines, and we were now fighting only a heavy rear
guard commanded by Fitz John Porter.
Nevertheless their
sharp-shooters were swarming like bees on the opposite hills, across the Beaver
Dam, and they made it uncomfortably warm where we were strange to say none of
my company were hurt.
Pryor's, Wilcox's
and Featherstone's brigades were fighting heavily on our right and their loss
was quite severe, the enemy being strongly posted.
Our artillery was
composed of the "Maryland Artillery," "Donaldsonville
(Louisiana) Artillery, "Thomas Artillery" and the "Third Company
Richmond Howitzers." Our guns were worked with coolness and precision. The
Yankee skirmishers, being posted in rifle-pits, and many of them securely
stationed up tall pine trees, had many advantages over our men, we fighting in
the open field all the time. For several hours did we pour a galling fire into
the enemy and they replied with great spirit. About 8 A. M. our batteries were
ordered to "cease firing," and "Gregg's brigade," A. P.
Hill's division, charged the works in our front, meeting with but little
opposition, as the enemy rapidly retired before them. The remainder of A. P.
Hill's division was moving against the enemy's right flank, hoping to get in
the rear of Fitz. John Porter and capture his entire force, but he, seeing
Hill's intention, rapidly decamped.
An incident, proving
the money loving nature of the genuine Yankee, occurred
at this place, and I cannot refrain from relating it. One of our boys, in
conversation with one of the wounded prisoners who had both eyes shot
entirely out, remarked to him that "his wound must be
very painful?"
The Yankee replied:
"I don't mind the pain so much, sir, but I wouldn't have both of
my eyes shot out for twenty-five dollars!" Umph!
What a people-eyes twelve and a half dollars each.
This Catlin House
was built by my grandfather, and sadly sweet is the recollection to me that for
three hours, to-day, I fought within a few short yards of my father's grave. Yes!
here where we fought to-day is the very spot where he was born, more than a
half century ago, and hard by is the grave where he now lies buried. Oh! who
can wonder that my arm was strengthened, and my heart nerved for the conflict.
The balls flew thick and fast around me, but I heeded them not, and thought
only of the sacred dead, whose grave had been desecrated and his slumbers
disturbed by the foeman's shout and the wild, loud, crash of battle!
BATTLE OF GAINES'S MILL, FRIDAY, JUNE 27TH,
1862.
The Federals were
driven back through Austin's, Sydnor's, Hogan's and Gaines's farms, slightly
skirmishing as they rapidly retreated before our successful forces. They made a
final stand about a mile from Dr. Gaines's residence. Pryor's brigade was in
the advance, and was acting as skirmishers—the Donaldsonville Artillery was
attached to this brigade. The remainder of Longstreet's division was stationed
in a thick wood near Dr. Gaines's house, and was evidently waiting for the
music of Jackson's guns. We knew Jackson was close at hand,
for this morning, on following up the enemy from Ellerson's Mill, we took the
wrong road at Meadow Farm (William Sydnor's,) and crossed over into Oakley Hill
(Edward Sydnor's) where we ran into Jackson's men, and skirmished with them
some time before we found them out. The enemy soon found out our position in
this wood and commenced shelling us at a terrific rate. Their guns were well
aimed for their shots skim'd above and around us in no very pleasant manner.
Being somewhat worried by the delay and wanting to see what was going on, I
rode out to the front where Pryor's men were skirmishing; seeing a deserted
camp about a half mile off, I rode over to it, hoping to get something for my
horse to eat, and just as I was securing a very plump looking bag of oats, a body
of our cavalry dashed in at the other end of the camp, and the first thing I
knew, one of them was about to shoot me for a Yankee—remembering I had on a
Yankee jacket, I cried out lustily, that I was a Confederate soldier, whereupon
they rode swiftly on, leaving me to carry off my booty.
Shortly after 3 P.
M. the welcome sound of Jackson's guns is heard on our left, and our
entire line advances in splendid style, our infantry moving across an open
field, subjected to a terrific fire poured into them by the enemy, who were
strongly entrenched in earthworks commandingly situated. My company took
position on the east side of Dr. Gaines's house and immediately opened fire
upon the enemy. Three of our guns, it will be remembered, were twelve-pound
Dahlgren navy howitzers, fitted only for very close work, and I presume the
chief good we did was to make a noise and draw the fire of the enemy. Our
rifled Parrot gun, however, did good service, and was effectually manned during
the remainder of the day.
The enemy opened a
heavy fire upon us both from the north and south sides of the Chickahominy. We
were also under a galling fire from their infantry directly in our front.
Longstreet's
division, on our left, charged across the open field in gallant style and up
the hill they went as if they meant to stay. Three times were they driven back,
but they rapidly reformed and finally drove the Yankees from their almost
impregnable position, slaying them by thousands. The shot and shell from the
Yankee batteries would strike in our battery and ricochet farther than our guns
would carry. Our little howitzers now being unable to reach the enemy, Colonel
John Thompson Brown, Longstreet's chief of artillery, ordered us into a ravine,
where we were in a great measure protected. During the engagement our battery
was subjected to an enfilading fire from the south side of the Chickahominy,
and how we escaped without loss is a mystery to me. Finally darkness brought an
end to the bloody scene; the enemy had been completely whipped out of their
works. We captured a great number of prisoners, including the Eleventh
Pennsylvania Reserve entire; also, some twenty-five or thirty pieces of
artillery. We passed through many Yankee camps, and our men obtained a number
of articles they were sadly in need of. The enemy, however, destroyed vast
quantities of commissary stores and all their camp equipage. The people of
Hanover were perfectly overjoyed to see us once more, and as many an old
acquaintance and kinsman grasped me warmly by the hand I could but silently
offer up my thanks to the Omnipotent for our success. The Yankees have been
more lenient to this portion of Virginia than has been their custom,
but the parlor walls of some of our Hanover houses bear ample testimony to their
obscenity and meanness. Their letters, which we find scattered all over the
fields, are also filled with obscene thoughts and vituperations of us of the
South. One thing especially I notice in the letters the Yankee soldiers receive
from their homes, in nine cases out of ten: the people at home write piteous
appeals for money and complain bitterly of the hard times,
whilst our soldiers write home, invariably, for money. Many of
the Yankee soldiers enter the army because it insures a comfortable support,
and they can, if at all provident, put by something every month.
SOURCE: William S.
White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, pp. 117-22
