REAR-GUARD FIGHTING DURING THE CHANGE OF BASE.
BY WILLIAM B. FRANKLIN , MAJOR-GENERAL, U. 8. V.
rpHE positions of the troops holding the Union line on the»» -L south side of the Cliickahominy on the 26th of June,1862 (the day before the battle of Gaines’s Mill), were thefollowing: General W. F. Smith’s division of my corps,the Sixth, held the right of the line, its right resting onthe hill overlooking the Cliickahominy [two miles north ofFair Oaks station], and my other division, General Slocum’s,was next on the left. Going toward the left, GeneralSumner’s corps came next, then General Heintzelman’s,and then, on the extreme left reaching to White OakSwamp, General Keyes’s corps. J On the 26th an epaule-ment was thrown up by the troops of the Sixth Corps ina wheat-field in front of our lines on Golding’s farm,which was ready for guns on the morning of the 27th.During the night of the 26th five batteries of the Artil-lery Reserve, under the command of Colonel (now General)G. W. Getty, were collected in rear of the epaulement,ready to take position in it and commence a heavy artil-lery fire on the enemy’s line opposite. [See map, p. 384.]Golding’s is near the Cliickahominy on the extreme rightof the Union intrenched line. Five days’ rations, cold teain the canteens, etc., etc., had been issued, so that every-thing was ready to follow up the projected bombardment, which it was pre-sumed would commence on the morning of the 27th. But on the evening ofthe 26th the fight at Beaver Dam Creek occurred, and General McClellan called at my headquarters on his way to confer with General Porter as tohis operations of the next day. I was then absent at General Slocum’sheadquarters, conferring with him in regard to the attack we were expectingto make, and therefore missed General McClellan , so that I received no wordfrom him until the next morning.
About daylight on the 27th I received orders to send General Slocum’s divis-ion across the Cliickahominy to report to General Porter. This order wascountermanded a short time after the division had started by way of Wood-bury’s Bridge, and it returned to its station. About 10:30 o’clock in themorning the enemy opened on our artillery with theirs, doubtless unaware of
i General Heintzelman’s corps, the 3d, advanced loss of 441. (For the strategy of this movementto the positions held hy its outposts on the 26th, see General McClellan 's article, page 170.) Theafter a sharp engagement along the whole line on the ground secured hy this action varied in front of25th, known as Oak Grove, or King's School House. the different brigades, and was from a quarter ofOak Grove was the first of the Seven Days' battles, a mile to one mile in advance of the line that hadThe Union loss was 67 killed, 504 wounded, 55 been held by the Third Corps since the battle ofmissing. The Confederate reports show a total Seven Pines.— Editors.
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BAXTER'S FIRE ZOUAVES.