ON THE CONFEDERATE RIGHT AT GAINES'S MILL.
By E. M. Law, Major-General, C.S.A.

BY 5 o'clock on the 27th of June the battle of Gaines's Mill was in full progress all along the line. Longstreet's and A.P. Hill's men were attacking in the most determined manner, but were met with a courage as obstinate as their own by the Federals who held the works. After each bloody repulse the Confederates only waited long enough to re-form their shattered lines or to bring up their supports, when they would again return to the assault.. Besides the terrific fire in front, a battery of heavy guns on the south side of the Chickahominy was in full play upon their right flank. There was no opportunity for ma- noeuvring or flank attacks, as was the case with D. H. Hill on our extreme left. The enemy was di- rectly in front, and he could only be reached in that direction. If he could not be driven out before night it would be equivalent to a Confederate dis- aster, and would involve the failure of General Lee's whole plan for the relief of Richmond.... It was a critical moment for the Confederates, as victory, which involved the relief or the loss of their capital, hung wavering in the balance. Night seemed about to close the account against them, as the sun was now setting upon their gallant, but so far fruitless efforts.

While matters were in this condition Whiting's division, after crossing with much difficulty the wooded and marshy ground below Gaines's Mill, arrived in rear of that portion of the line held by the remnants of A. P. Hill's division. When Whit- ing advanced to the attack a thin and irregular line of General Hill's troops were keeping up the fight, but, already badly cut up, could effect noth- ing, and were gradually wasting away under the heavy fire from the Federal lines. From the cen- ter of the division to the Chickahominy swamp on the right the ground was open; on the left were thick woods. The right brigade (Law's) advanced in the open ground, the left (Hood's) through the woodsorward to the firing we could see the straggling Confederate line lying behind a gentle ridge that ran across the field parallel to the Federal position. We passed one Confederate battery in the edge of the field badly cut to pieces and silent. Indeed, there was no Confederate artillery then in action on that part of the field. The Federal batteries in front were in full play. The fringe of woods along the Federal line was shrouded in smoke, and seemed fairly to vomit forth a leaden and iron hail.. General Whiting rode along his line and ordered that there should be no halt when we reached the slight crest occu- pied by the few Confederate troops in our front, but that the charge should begin at that point in double-quick time, with trailed arms and without firing. Had these orders not been strictly obeyed the assault would have been a fail me. No troops could have stood long under the withering storm of lead and iron that beat into their faces as they became fully exposed to view from the Federal lines. As it was, in the very few moments it took them to pass over the slope and down the hill to the ravine, a thousand men were killed or wounded.

Law's brigade advanced to the attack in two Lines, the 11th Mississippi regiment (Colonel Lid- dell) and the 4th Alabama (Lieutenant-Colonel McLemore) forming the first line, and the 2d Mississippi (Colonel Stone) and the 6th North Carolina (Colonel Avery) the second. Hood had a similar formation on our left, but just as we came under fire, and before reaching the slope where the charge began, General Hood passed rapidly across my rear at the head of the 4th Texas regiment, closely followed by the 18th Georgia, both of his brigade. They came up on my right, extending our line in that direction. The 1st and 5th Texas regiments and the Hampton Legion of the same brigade remained on the left in the woods. Pass- ing over the scattering line of Confederates on the ridge in front, the whole division " broke into a trot" down the slope toward the Federal works. Mves in an autumn wind, the Federal artillery tore gaps in the ranks at every step, the ground in rear of the advancing column was strewn thickly with the dead and wounded; not a gun was fired in reply; there was no confu- sion, and not a step faltered as the two gray lines swept silently and swiftly on; the pace became more rapid every moment; when the men were within thirty yards of the ravine, and could see the desperate nature of the work in hand, a wild yell answered the roar of Federal musketry, and they rushed for the works. The Confederates were within ten paces of them when the Federals in the front line broke cover, and, leaving their log breast- works, swarmed up the hill in their rear, carrying away their second line with them in their rout. Then we had our "innings." As the blue mass surged up the hill in our front, the Confederate fire was poured into it with terrible effect. The target was a large one, the range short, and scarcely a shot fired into that living mass could fail of its errand. The debt of blood contracted but a few moments before was paid, and with interest.

Firing as they advanced, the Confederates leaped into the ravine, climbed out on the other side, and over the lines of breastworks, reaching the crest of the hill beyond with such rapidity as to capture all of the Federal artillery (fourteen pieces) at that point. We had now reached the high plateau in rear of the center of General Porter's position, his line laving been completely cut in two, and thus rendered no longer tenable. From the flanks of the great gap where Whiting's division had torn through, the Federal lines gave way in both directions. R.. H. Anderson's brigade, till then

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^ This description of the fighting in front of Morell's Line is from an extended paper on "The Fight for Richmond in 1862," which appeared in "The Southern Bivouac" for April, 1887. ---EDITORS. ---------------------------------------------------------------