338

HANOVER COURT HOUSE AND GAINES’S MILL.

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CAPTURE OF ABANDONED UNION GUNS AT THEBATTLE OF GAINES’S MILL.

FROM A SKETCH MADE AT THE TIME.

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and persistent attacks upon our center and right. The troops were wellshielded, with their reserves within immediate call. Commanders of divisions,of brigades, and of batteries were in the midst of their men, all confident anddetermined to hold their posts to the utmost, to resist and drive back theenemy, prepared to call up their reserves, replenish ammunition, and com-municate to me such needs as they could not fill, and furnish all necessaryinformation for my action. They had been left to their own judgment andenergy, to determine in what manner they could accomplish the best resultswith the means at their command and with the least exposure.

From my post in advance of the Watts house, the field in front of Sykeswas visible, and it was easily understood, by the sound of battle in the woodsand by the fire of the enemy in his advance and repulse, that the center andleft still remained solid and undisturbed. All available means were used bywhich I could be kept informed so that I could provide, in the best possiblemanner, for the many rapid changes and wants suddenly springing up. ThePrince de Joinville and his two nephews—the Comte de Paris and Due deChartres—and Colonels Gantt, liadowitz, and Hammerstein, from the com-manding general’s staff, joined me as volunteer aides. Each of these, withmy own staff, Locke, Kirkland, Mason, Monteith, and McQuade, exposed them-selves to danger, not only quickly and cheerfully carrying every message, butoften voluntarily throwing themselves where needed, to direct, to lead, toencourage, and to rally.

During the greater part of the afternoon, D. H. Hill’s troops, in detachments,were more or less aggressive on the right. The silence which followed therepulse, already referred to, lasted but a short time. The renewed attacksraged with great fierceness and fury, with slight intermission, along the most