HANOVER COURT HOUSE AND GAINES’S MILL.
339
of our front, till after five o’clock. Large and numerous bodies of infantryfrom the direction of Old Cold Harbor, under cover of artillery, directed tlieirattacks upon Sykes’s division and Martin’s battery; others, from the west sideof Powhite Creek, were hurled in rapid succession against Martindale andButterfield. These furious attacks were successfully repelled, but were imme-diately renewed by fresh troops. McCall’s Pennsylvania Reserves, as needed,were pushed as rapidly as possible into the woods, in support of Martindaleand Griffin, whose brigades for a long time bore the brunt of the attacks andwhose regiments were relieved as soon as their ammunition was expended.All our positions were held against enormous odds, and the enemy was drivenback by our fresh troops, successively thrown into action. At each repulsethey advanced new troops upon our diminishing forces, and in such numbersand so rapidly that it appeared as though their reserves were inexhaustible.The action extended along our entire line. At 4 o’clock, when Slocumarrived, all our reserves were exhausted. His brigades were necessarily sepa-rated and sent where most needed. Newton’s brigade, being in advance, wasled to the right of Griffin, there to drive back the enemy and retake groundonly held by the enemy for an instant. Taylor’s brigade filled vacant spacesin Morell’s division, and Bartlett’s was sent to Sykes, just in time to renderinvaluable service, both in resisting and attacking.
On the right, near McGehee’s, the enemy captured one of our batteries, whichhad been doing them great damage by enfilading their lines and preventingtheir advance. They gained thereby a temporary foothold by advancing someinfantry; but, prompt to act, Sykes directed its recapture, and the 16thNew York, ji with arms shifted to the right shoulder, and moving at a double-quick, was soon in possession of the prize, which again renewed its fire.
At times, the enemy on the right would gain an advantage, but in such acase our infantry, supported by the fire of artillery, would move immediatelyat a rapid gait and regain the lost ground. This occurred frequently in Sykes’scommand and in the brigades serving near it, all of which were, more or less,in exposed ground. Not less deserving of praise were the divisions of McCall,Morell, and Slocum in their stubborn resistance to the oft-repeated and deter-mined onslaughts of their assailants, who vastly outnumbered them.
About 6:30, preceded by a silence of half an hour, the attack was renewedall along the line with the same apparent determination to sweep us by the forceof numbers from the field, if not from existence. The result was evidently amatter of life or death to our opponent’s cause. This attack, like its prede-cessors, was successfully repulsed throughout its length. The sun had sunkbelow the horizon, and the result seemed so favorable that I began to cherishthe hope that the worst that could happen to us would be a withdrawal afterdark, without further injury— a withdrawal which would be forced upon usby the exhausted condition of our troops, greatly reduced by casualties, with-out food and with little ammunition.
! The men of this regiment wore on this field, for Howland, wife of the colonel. As the hats drewthe first time in battle, the white straw hats which upon them the particular attention of the enemy,made them so conspicuous during the “Seven they were discarded after the retreat to the JamesDays.” These hats were presented by Mrs. Joseph River.— Editors.