REAR-GUARD FIGHTING DURING THE CHANGE OF BASE.
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was over, our troops held the contested ground. Their behavior throughoutthe fight had been admirable. \
The Confederate force engaged in this fight was commanded by General J.B. Magruder, and consisted of Semmes’s and Kershaw’s brigades, Kemper’sbattery, and two regiments of Barksdale’s brigade opposite our left. Cobb’sdivision and two guns of Hart’s battery were north of the railroad to the rightof our line. Cobb’s infantry was not engaged.
About a half-hour after the fight was ended, I suggested to General Sum-ner that if he had no objection I would carry out the commanding general’sorders, so far as I was concerned, and cross the White Oak Swamp withGeneral Smith’s division. We were then on the field. His answer was, “No,General, you shall not go, nor will I go—I never leave a victorious field.Why! if I had twenty thousand more men, I would crush this rebellion.” Ithen told him that I would show him a dispatch from General McClellan directing that all of the troops should cross during that night. With somedifficulty a candle was found and lighted, and the general read the dispatch.After reading it he exclaimed, with some excitement, “ General McClellan didnot know the circumstances when he wrote that note. He did not know that,we would fight a battle and gain a victory.” I was at my wit’s end. I knewthat General McClellan ’s arrangements did anticipate a fight exactly like thatjust over, and that unless the whole force was on the other side of the swampby the next morning, his movement might be seriously delayed. Moreover, Ibelieved that if we staid where we were, the enemy would be upon us in forceenough to defeat us utterly on the next morning, endangering the remainderof the army. Yet by all military usage I was under General Sumner’s orders.At this juncture General Smith asked me to introduce Lieutenant MathewBerry, his aide-de-camp, to General Sumner. After the introduction, Lieuten-ant Berry told General Sumner that he had seen General McClellan only ashort time before, that he knew there had been a fight, and fully expected thatall of the troops would cross the swamp that night. General Sumner wasconvinced by this statement, and with great reluctance permitted me to con-tinue the movement toward the swamp, he following immediately after.
General Smith’s division crossed the White Oak Bridge about 3 o’clock onthe morning of June 30th, and went into position on the left of the road lead-ing from the bridge toward the James River. The batteries of the divisionwere already there in position. It faced about so that its left restedupon the road, the division bearing southward from the road. At the sametime I reported to McClellan at his headquarters.
The rear of Sumner’s corps, Richardson’s division, crossed the bridge at 10o’clock in the morning, destroyed it, and took position some distance onSmith’s left, nearly in line with him. Both divisions guarded the crossing.
After the fight at Savage’s Station was over, Hazzard’s battery of Richard-
\ General E. M. Law says in the “ Southern was three times as great as that of the Confed-Bivouac” for May, 1887: “ The battle of Savage’s erates, they accomplished the main purpose of theStation, although a ‘drawn fight’ as far as the battle, which was to gain time for the passage ofpossession of the field was concerned, was practi- trains, artillery, and troops across White Oakcally a victory for the Federals. Though their loss Swamp.”