THE EIGHTEENTH CORPS AT COLD HARBOR.
BY WILLIAM FARRAR SMITH, BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL, U. S. A.

A BOMB-SHELL IN AN ARTILLERY CAMP-FIRE - AN INCIDENT OF COLD HARBOR.

ON the 27th of May an order came from Washington to me near Bermuda Hundred to concentrate sixteen thousand men under my command ready for removal by water to a point opposite White House on the Pamunkey, there to protect a corps of bridge-builders. On the 28th I received the following order :

" HEADQUARTERS IN THE FIELD, May 28th, 1864.

" MAJOR-GENERAL SMITH, Commanding Eighteenth Corps : " The transportation for your column having arrived, although not in my judgement sufficient y et in consequence of imperative orders from General Grant your column will move to his assistance. You will use the utmost expedition in embarking and getting on. If you desire any cavalry to accompany you, please designate what regiments or battalions. I grieve much that this weakness of the Army of the Potomac has called the troops away just as we were taking the offensive, and that the attack on Petersburg which was agreed on to take place to-morrow morning must be abandoned but it is so ordered and, however against our wishes and , judgment, we must obey. I propose to give you every facility in going off. You will have to use great caution in going up the Pamunkey and in getting into White House. The torpedoes on the water or a well-arranged surprise on land would bring your expedition to grief, as you will not have the advantage in going away which we had coming. Your destination will be exactly known by the rebels the moment you start. Indeed, they have already predicted it in their newspapers. . . .

"BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, Major-General Commanding." In half an hour after the receipt of this order my troops were moving to Bermuda Hundred and City Point for embarkation.
Learning at Fort Monroe by a telegram on the 29th that the Army of the Potomac had crossed the Pamunkey, I determined to land the troops directly at White House, and tegan there on the morning of the 30th and proceeded as rapidly as the limited wharf facilities would admit.

The landing was covered by Captain Babcock of the U. S. Navy, in command of an old New York ferry-boat on which were mounted some bow and stern guns. The whirligig of time had brought me back to the Army of