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What effect Hancock’s slight success might have had if Johnston had fought another day at Williamsburg, I cannot tell you. But as Johnston was trying to retreat to Richmond without a ¤ght, and as that great commander well knew the danger of delay with bad roads before him and®anked by the rivers, the army retreated before daylight of the 22nd.1 As we marched up the road we only came up with a wounded man here and there trying to escape on foot. There was nothing like the spirit of our troops at that day notwithstanding conscription. I saw men with terrible ®esh wounds in the legs that had not been dressed, marching steadily on. We, following the example of the main body, divided, a portion of the cavalry taking the Stage Road via Diascund Bridge, the other the road to New Kent Court House. On the 6th the head of our column was attacked by a ®anking column that had landed from York River near Brick Church.2 After a heavy skirmish of two or three hours, the enemy was driven to their boats with a loss of two or three hundred men. Colonel Fitz Lee of the 1st Virginia Cavalry, commanding a portion of 1st and 4th and all of 3rd regiments, was unexpectedly charged on two roads at Slatersville by squadrons of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry and was rather worsted at ¤rst. But as we outnumbered the enemy greatly, we drove them off as soon as we got over the shock. They lost ten or eleven men and we about the same.3 From this time till about the 10th of May, (when we took up our line near Seven Pines), our cavalry had daily skirmishes and were sometimes 4 “The Enemy Were Worsted” supported by infantry. We kept up a picket line in front of our infantry lines from quarter to half a mile. Such an immense amount of rain had fallen during the retreat and such was the fare, (crackers and pickled pork), that as the weather became warm, the troops became greatly af®icted with scurvy, dysentery, and a low camp fever. It was undoubtedly the roughest army life I ever experienced. For ten days my clothes and blankets were almost constantly wet and we slept without shelter. Notwithstanding all these dif¤culties, by bringing over [Benjamin] Huger’s Division and reinforcements from the south, General Johnston got together at least 75,000 men. McClellan stated that he landed on the Peninsula with 120,000 effective men. He afterwards received reinforcements and probably had at this time 110,000 to 115,000 men.4 McClellan had selected a line confronting ours and running across the Chickahominy [River] at what was called McClellan’s Bridge. We had destroyed the bridges below Mechanicsville. Taking advantage of the heavy rains, Johnston determined to attack the forces on the west side of the river consisting of a corps of about 35,000 men, hoping to destroy these before the troops from the other side could cross the swollen stream. Among his superior of¤cers at this time were Major Generals G[ustavus] W. Smith, second in command, Huger, Longstreet, D. H. Hill, A[mbrose] P. Hill, and Magruder. I think [G. W.] Smith’s and A. P. Hill’s divisions were on the left with Magruder’s in reserve; Huger’s and D. H. Hill’s on the right with Longstreet’s in reserve. Huger was ordered to commence the attack on the Stage Road at 6 a.m. Owing to the terrible storm the night before and some other cause, he did not make it till 12 noon.5 I was in reserve that day and did not see the ¤ght and haven’t a very distinct recollection of the details. But about 2 or 3 p.m. Brigadier General Robert E. Rodes carried Major General [Silas] Casey’s forti¤cations and camp by assault just as the enemy were about to enjoy a very sumptuous dinner. It fell into the hands of worthier and hungrier men. Rodes was driven back to the forti ¤cations, but being reinforced, held them and after, after a while, the entire camp was retaken and our line advanced a mile and a half or two miles. On the left we were not so successful having to give up the ground we Enemy Were Worsted / 45 took and would probably have been smartly worsted but for the gallantry and skill...

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