354

LEE’S ATTACKS NORTH OF THE CHICKAH0M1NY.

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OLD COLD HARBOR TAVERN. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH MADE IN 1885.

This view is from the south, from the road by which later, during the bloody engagement of General Grant’sthe Confederate left under Stonewall Jackson and 1). H. campaign, it was within the Union lines. The name isHill advanced to attack Porter’s right. Five roads meet sometimes written Cool Harbor, Coal Harbor, or Coolat this point. Old Cold Harbor consists of one or two Arbor; but Mr. Burnet, the present owner of thehouses and a smithy. During the battle of Gaines’s Mill tavern, says that family tradition admits only Coldthe tavern was within the Confederate liues. Two years Harbor. —Editors.

Longstreet came into action after 4 o’clock. He thus describes the diffi-culties before him:

“ In front of me the enemy occupied the wooded slope of Turkey Hill, the crest of which isfifty or sixty feet higher than the plain over which my troops must pass to make an attack.The plain is about a quarter of a mile wide ; the farther side was occupied by sharp-shooters.Above these, and on the slope of the hill, was a line of infantry behind trees, felled so as toform a good breastwork. The crest of the hill, some forty feet above the last line, was strength-ened by rifle-trenches and occupied by infantry and artillery. In addition to this the plainwas enfiladed by batteries on the other side of the Chickahominy. I was, in fact, in the veryposition from which the enemy wished us to attack him.”

All was done that mortals could do by the two gallant divisions strugglingagainst such disadvantages, but nothing decisive could be effected until thefull Confederate forces could be brought into action. In the meanwhile,Jackson moved forward on what we afterward found to be the GrapevineBridge road, my division in advance. A few squads of Federal stragglerswere picked up, and some wagons and ambulances were captured. One sut-ler, in his desperate desire to save his fancy stock, tried to dash his wagonthrough J. R. Anderson’s brigade. He paid no attention to the orders tohalt, or to the presented bayonets. Fortunately for him, his horses did nothave so much at stake as he had in canned fruits and vegetables, and werequite willing to surrender. Some poor ragged graybacks got toothsomedelicacies then, from which they had been long debarred, and of whichbefore nightfall they had no need forever.

About 2 p. m. we reached the neighborhood of McGehee’s house, an elevatedknoll, which was the Federal right, and from which a dense and tangled swampextended westward in an iiregular curve to Gaines’s Mill. Bondurant’s battery