TWO DAYS OF BATTLE AT SEVEN PINES.

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in the face of the foe. The Wo lines neared each other to 30 or 40 yards. . . . Losing

heavily I pressed on, and the enemy sullenly and slowly gave way. . . . We had advanced

some 200 or 300 yards. . . . By this time . . . the 5th South Carolina . . . came upat a double-quick. . . . The 27th Georgia . . . rallied and came forward. . . .Jackson [5th South Carolina ] came up on their right, sweeping before him the rallied fragments,who had collected and resumed fire from the woods to the right, and thus, at 7:40 P. M., weclosed our busy day.”

Out of thirteen brigades composing the right wing of the Confederatearmy, but five were put in close action that day. General Pickett says:

“ On the afternoon of May 31st, and just as the bat-tle of Seven Pines was being opened by General Long-street, I was directed by that officer to move with mybrigade to the York River Railroad, cover the same,

[and] repel any advance of the enemy up that road.”

General Longstreet held Pickett’s brigadeback in that position until daybreak, June 1st.

From this it would seem that Longstreetwas not in need of help on that side fromtroops not under his command. Attentionwill now be called to the five brigades underLongstreet’s control on the Charles City road.

General Wilcox, in his official report, saysthat the three brigades under his commandwere in camp near the “ Mechanicsville ’’road. He tells me, however, that he had nomap of the country, knew very little aboutthe names of the roads, but distinctly re-members that the road his troops were onpassed close to General Johnston’s headquar-ters near the north-east suburb of Richmond and led to New Bridge,— that is, the Nine-mile road. Whatever may have been thename of the road on which his troops werein camp, he says they were three and a halfmiles from the city, and moved, at G: 30 a. m.,

“ by by-paths across to the junction of theCharles City and Williamsburg roads, andremained at this point till 3:30 p. m. I wasthen ordered to move with three brigades —my own, Colston’s, and Pryor’s — on theCharles City road, in rear of a part of Huger’sdivision (Blanchard’s and Armistead’s brigades), as a support to these troops.”

The Charles City road is south of the White Oak Swamp; it bears rapidlyaway from the point where the battle had been raging for more than twohours; and there was no enemy on that road. General Wilcox adds:

“ This order was soon modified, and my three brigades ordered to precede Huger’s two.Having passed Huger’s brigades, the march was continued but for a short time, when orders

MAJOR-GENERAL DAVID B. BIRNEY.FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.