Battle of Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862

The last day of May 1862, broke gray and humid. The heavy rain of the preceding evening had ended and soon the sun made a spotty appearance. Nevertheless, the Chickahominy River lowlands were entirely flooded making any sort of movement painstakingly difficult. That morning, John Sedgwick’s Second Division which included the California Regiment, lay to the right of the Sixth Corps. Second Corps commander Bull Sumner’s First Division, Israel Richardson’s brigades, was encamped on the left of Sedgwick’s command and in front of Sumner’s Lower Bridge. South of the Chickahominy, the brigades of the Second Division, Fourth Corps, were deployed in a defensive position across the Williamsburg Road roughly one mile west of the hamlet of Seven Pines where Brigadier General Darius N. Couch’s First Division lay in reserve.

Chickahominy Lowlands

Not long after dinner, at about 1:00 p.m., the booming of artillery and staccato of small arms fire echoed from the army’s advanced left wing south of the river. "We began to look about for orderlies and aids for we were sufficiently old soldiers to notice the movements of that class of personages, and conjecture what they meant," recalled Lieutenant Ben Hibbs of Company D, California Regiment. Soon the men were ordered to fall in for rations which they stuffed into pockets and haversacks. A fidgety General Sumner received instructions from army headquarters to have his men ready to march at a moment’s notice. The boys formed up without knapsacks and were issued 60 rounds of ammunition. By now everybody could hear what one member of the regiment termed the "prolonged roar of musketry" coming from across the river.

Lieutenant Frank Donaldson spent this time checking on his men of Company M, their ammunition and weapons. Then he slide from one finger a ring that had been given to him by a lady friend. Frank instructed his servant, George, that the keepsake should be sent home to Donaldson’s family should he fall in battle. Finally, in case the lieutenant was killed, the attendant was to make sure that his body received a decent burial in a well-marked grave. All of this made George rather distraught and he urged his friend to not expose himself unnecessarily. Meanwhile General Sumner, fretting about what was transpiring across the Chickahominy, instructed John Sedgwick to get his division down to the Grapevine bridgehead as fast as possible. The roughly three-quarter mile march was not without its problems. Sergeant Albert Schurtz of Company P recorded that the men waded through "mud and water knee deep." Sumner rode the length of the struggling column and "told us to throw away our overcoats for our own men would shoot us," Private William Burns of Company G recounted later that night. Instead of getting rid of his coat, former prisoner Ball's Bluff prisoner Frank Donaldson slung his valuable garment over a shoulder. At length, the men emerged from a ten-foot-deep cut through a natural levee in full view of the swollen Chickahominy. For some of the Californians, this was their first view of the rising waterway. "[W]e saw before us a sweeping, muddy stream, stretching away for three-fourths of a mile," Captain Alfred Hills of Company M remembered. The column ventured onto the corduroyed approach to the bridge and halted to await orders. It was a rather precarious position as the logs on which the men stood were held in place only by the stumps of trees to which they were fastened.

Major Charles Smith, commander of the California Regiment, and his men stood on the floating approach for more than an hour, all the while listening to the sounds of distant fighting across the river. They had no reason to know that what they were hearing were the sounds of Brigadier General Silas Casey’s Fourth Corps division battling elements of General Joseph Johnston’s Rebel army attempting to destroy the detached Federal left wing. Casey’s men held on for some time before being driven back in disorder. Finally, at 2:30 p.m., Sumner was ordered to cross Sedgwick’s division. The Grapevine Bridge looked shaky, as though it might not support the infantry units and batteries that were to cross. A distressed army engineer rushed up to the Second Corps commander and warned him not to cross the bridge. Sumner, who would never be accused of disobeying an order, responded, "I can, sir! I will, sir.!" The agitated engineer implored him not to attempt a crossing. "Sir, I tell you I can cross. I am ordered!", thundered Sumner, and with that, Sedgwick’s men stepped onto the rickety bridge.

General Sedgwick's men cross the Chickahominy on the Grapevine Bridge

Second Corps commander Sumner (on left in tall hat)
and Brigadier General William Wallace Burns (right), chief of the Philadelphia Brigade

General Gorman’s brigade led the division across the Chickahominy followed by Edmund Kirby’s Battery I, 1^st United States Artillery, the Philadelphia Brigade and General Dana’s regiments. Notwithstanding Bull Sumner’s bravado, the bridge did not instill a great measure of confidence in the men. The water was nearly even with the flooring and appeared to be rising. Frank Donaldson claimed that the bridge was almost completely submerged and it was only the weight of the troops crossing it that kept the structure from floating away.

Lieutenant Kirby started his Napoleons across the unsteady span and almost immediately ran into trouble. At least one of the six pieces broke through the bridge flooring and no amount of effort by the team could extract it. Directly, Philadelphia Brigade commander Brigadier General William Burns arrived on the scene and ordered some of his foot soldiers to help get the Napoleon across the bridge by disassembling the carriage and carrying the barrel and pieces to solid ground. During this episode, Sumner called three times for Burns to get his regiments across the river, but the brigadier refused to go without artillery which finally, after almost inhuman efforts, reached the south bank of the river.

The men of the Philadelphia Brigade, led by the 72^nd Pennsylvania Fire Zouaves, tumbled off the bridge and encountered General Sumner who urged them forward. This was easier said than done. One of Willis Gorman’s boys recorded that he and his comrades "waded through mud and water nearly waist deep before we reached hard ground." Kirby’s guns had become stuck in the mud immediately after they bounced off the bridge. Once again, William Burns’ troops were called on to save the Napoleons. The Zouaves and the Californians who were themselves just filing of the bridge, began working feverishly to get the needed artillery to the front. Frank Donaldson ceased his efforts for a moment to watch a field officer of the 72^nd Pennsylvania slog through the goo after his horse. He disdainfully wrote that the man "escaped the battle at all events." Finally, long ropes were attached to the cannons and man and horse worked to get four of the pieces rolling. In spite of these herculean efforts, one of the Napoleons was in the muck so deep that it had to be left behind for now.

Having done their part to free the stranded Napoleons, Major Smith and his men lurched across the swampy south shore of the Chickahominy toward what one Californian described as "a hill of considerable height, which was clothed in the beautiful verdure of summer." This man could plainly see a column of blueclad troops ascending the hill. The "roar of musketry and booming of cannon was deafening," wrote Captain Alfrerd Hills’ subaltern Frank Donaldson. The regiment advanced slowly at first until the 69^th and 106^th Pennsylvania had crossed the bridge at which time the men were ordered forward at the double-quick. Major Smith and his mud covered charges panted to the top of the hill, almost three-quarters of a mile from the river, where they met some wounded men straggling back from the fighting up ahead. The Californians hurried past what one soldier described as "a pleasant white house," and entered a wood stand. The dense forest seemed to amplify the "rapid and continuous firing, which was evidently but a short distance ahead of us." Presently, the Californians emerged from the timber into a wheatfield where they encountered a black man driving a team of oxen. "They’s at it right smart, up yer!" he warned the puffing soldiers. "How far off?", asked one bluecoat; "Oh, jiss over the hill, yer,", was the hurried reply. Leaving the team driver behind, the men double-timed through the field and into another wood stand. Albert Schurtz could see the men up ahead pick up the pace. And although he heard no firing at this time, the sergeant could hear the sounds of cheering not far to the front. In moments, Albert learned what all the yelling was about. At the base of the gradient the column was descending was a swift-flowing, two-foot-deep stream that the troops were floundering across, all the while cheering and hollering. Captain Hills recalled that the regiment crossed the run "in gallant style."

Now the men, having marched and trotted for about two miles, ascended another hill where they met some more wounded soldiers making their way to the rear. Another three-quarters of a mile brought the jaded Californians out of the woods and into an open field. To their front was what one soldier observed as "a fine mansion situated on a knoll," the Adams house. Benjamin Hibbs noted that the house was surrounded by "a large number of men." "What a sight it was," recalled Frank Donaldson as he beheld the fighting on his front. Federal soldiers were falling back and minie balls were kicking up spouts of mud of his feet and pattering into trees behind him. Wounded men and stragglers and skulkers were heading for the safety of the rear.

Two views of the Adams House around which the fighting of May 31, 1862, swirled.

The Union troops observed by Hibbs and Donaldson included elements of the Gorman’s brigade, Kirby’s battery and the Fourth Corps. Gorman’s lead regiment, the 1^st Minnesota, had pulled up in the open field near the Adams house at about 4:30 p.m. to find Brigadier General J.J. Abercrombie’s brigade of Couch’s Fourth Corps division under severe attack northwest of the Adams residence. Abercrombie’s regiments had been driven northeast from the fighting along the Williamsburg Road to near the two-story Courtney house located perhaps 500 yards northwest of the Adams domicile, where they had formed a line of battle facing toward Fair Oaks Station on the Richmond and York River Railroad.

There was a lull in the fighting when the 1^st Minnesota deployed on the right of Abercrombie’s regiments. The Minnesotans were drawn up in line of battle behind a rail fence in farmer Courtney’s field and faced west into the woods. The right flank of the regiment was anchored near the Courtney farmhouse. The balance of Gorman’s brigade, the 15^th Massachusetts and 34^th and 82^nd New York, went into line of battle to the left of Abercrombie’s men and a bit south of the Adams house. Just after this, Lieutenant Kirby arrived on the field and was ordered by General Sumner to post the three Napoleons that had come up about 70 yards to the right or north of the Adams house and near a fence. The lieutenant pointed the pieces to the southwest, toward Fair Oaks Station.

Moments after issuing from the woods, the Californians, without orders, loaded their Springfields. General Burns instructed his regiments to form battalions in mass. Just as this order was being executed, regiments of General William Whiting’s Confederate division moving through the woods to the west of the Adams and Courtney houses opened fire on the blue line arrayed between the two houses. At about the same time, a Rebel force emerged from the woods along the railroad southwest of the Adams house and started for Kirby’s Napoleons with a shout. "Now there is a crush and a roaring as if the earth were rent asunder beneath our feet, and a flashing line of fire is succeeded by the blinding smoke of battle," recalled Captain Hills of Kirby’s reply to the gray infantry. "The battery shakes the ground with its rapid discharges; the horses, terror-stricken by the sound, break loose and dash wildly to the rear." One of the Napoleons broke its trail on its fourth discharge but quickly was replaced by two more of Kirby’s pieces then arriving on the field. The Southern troops suffered under this withering fire and returned to the woods.

The men of the Philadelphia Brigade watched all this from their position about 200 yards east of the Adams house. The battle raging to the front sent electricity through the men. The brigade commander turned to his regiments, waved his hat and shouted "Let them be hearty!" Moments after this one of Sedgwick’s aids instructed Burns "to throw two of my regiments perpendicularly to the right, to prevent the enemy from turning our right flank and getting to our line of communications which they [the Rebels] seemed inclined to do." The 69^th and 72^nd Pennsylvania were called for and Burns himself led the two regiments in line of battle across marshy ground to a position about 200 yards to the right of the 1^st Minnesota and the Courtney house.

Just then, General Sedgwick reined up and assumed command of the California Regiment and the 106^th Pennsylvania. Uncle John ordered Major Smith to form his men in close column by division and advance at the double-quick. Just as the Californians started forward, a round shot slashed across the ground toward Alfred Hills’ Company M causing a panic that sent almost half the company running for the woods. When Frank Donaldson realized what was happening, he drew his revolver and rushed after the fleeing soldiers, seizing a red-headed men named Jones. Grasping the enlisted man by the throat and brandishing his pistol, Frank ordered the men to brace themselves and to return to the formation. As the would-be-fugitives of Company M reformed in the column and started forward, Donaldson threatened death to any man who ran. The Californians trotted over ground which had recently been denuded of its cover of trees. Sedgwick led them past a pile of cordwood and Mr. Adam’s small sawmill to a position roughly 100 yards to the rear of Kirby’s battery. "[O]ur coming is greeted with three times three honest, hearty huzzas; and these cheers are returned by us," wrote Captain Hills of the salutation that he and his comrades received by the batterymen. The infantrymen went to ground amid a rain of bullets directed at the Napoleons.

Within minutes, much of the firing along the line ceased, the Southerners having been repulsed by Kirby’s spherical case and shell as well as by several well directed Federal volleys. But the calm was short lived and the battle was renewed with the "fierce, savage, devilish" Rebel yell. John Sedgwick ordered the California Regiment to a new position toward the right. As Lieutenant Hibbs climbed to his feet, he saw "one of our men lying still….I walked up to him and found that a bullet had passed through his head." The dead man was either Private Richard Hartley or Private William Williams, both of Hibbs’ Company D. With no time to mourn, Hibbs and the other Californians double-quicked to the right. They trotted behind the 15^th Massachusetts and 82^nd New York, and formed in close column of division about 40 yards to the rear of the 1^st U.S. Chasseurs or the 65^th New York, and about 90 yards from a wood line that concealed the Rebel infantry. "We now have a view of the battle for half a mile," noted one man of the new position. "The battle was surging and raging just ahead," wrote Frank Donaldson. The Chasseurs were deployed behind a fence from which they "were loading and firing like demons." On the left, Kirby’s battery continued to fire rapidly and effectively.

Map showing the battlefield of May 31, 1862. The California Regiment's first position is shown. Subsequent to this, the men moved to their right into a position in the rear of the 65th New York and 1^st Minnesota and to the left of the Courtney house (building depicted to the right of the 1^st Minnesota's line).

Even though they were not on the front line, Charles Smith’s men were in an exposed position. Confederate riflemen were aiming high and the Californians were receiving what Private William Burns characterized as a "terrible" fire. Smith ordered his men to the ground. Perhaps Frank Donaldson and Captain John Markoe, the latter in command of the second division of the formation, were the only men to remain standing. Major Smith dismounted and squatted behind his horse which was shot through the stomach and died a short time later. "It was one constant roar," offered a member of Company I. The "entire front is a blaze of destructive fire," recalled Alfred Hills. "Mud was plenty," Lieutenant Hibbs wrote, "but when the bullets began to come thick and fast, we clung to Mother Earth most tenaciously." "A perfect storm of bullets tore over our heads and solid shot rent the air above us," recorded another man. Twenty-six-year-old First Lieutenant Sylvester Greth of Company D apparently took a nasty spill on a fence rail damaging stomach muscles and he left the field. Some Californians believed that the officer was not so much wounded as he was scared. General Burns later declared that "Greth exhibited…a degree of cowardice shameful in a human being." Almost one year later, Burns blustered that "Had he remained, I do not think he would have escaped the penalty of the law - his desertion saved him." Greth never returned to the regiment after this episode.

Frank Donaldson decided that now was the time to demonstrate his mettle on the battle line. Comrades called for him to get down, but the green officer remained indifferent. He looked to his left at First Lieutenant Thomas Ashton in temporary command of Company A which lay immediately in front of Company M. Ashton was lying as close to the ground as possible without crawling into the sod. "Great Scott Ashton!", shouted Donaldson above the bedlam, "why don’t you stand up?" As Frank turned back to the right, something slammed into his left arm and spun him around. The stunned lieutenant looked down at his helpless left hand dangling by his side. Blood streamed from beneath his blouse sleeve. Looking back to Ashton, Donaldson exclaimed, "See how the soil of Old Virginia drinks up the Yankee blood." Strangely, nobody moved to help the stricken officer who quickly pulled a red handkerchief from his breast pocket and, as minie balls whizzed above and around him, tried to wrap the cloth around the wounded limb. Finally, Albert Schurtz of Company P, just behind Company M, dropped his musket and tied the handkerchief into a tight tourniquet above the wound. Frank better hurry to the rear, Albert suggested. The lieutenant heeded his friend’s advice and set off at a leisurely pace in search of medical attention.

Not long after Donaldson had quit the field, John Markoe, walking in front of his division of companies, went down with gunshot wounds of the left thigh and right hand. The severely wounded officer was quickly removed from the field. Adjutant R. Penn Smith had his horse shot from under him and was slightly wounded. Charles Smith was struck in both arms by spent balls, but, as he wrote the next day, the wounds "did not amount to anything as the balls did not draw blood." Throughout all of this, General Sedgwick walked up and down the line giving orders, seemingly oblivious to all that was going on about him. "It does soldiers good to see their General when a fight is in progress," affirmed an impressed Alfred Hills.

	Captain John Markoe		The Courtney House

Within minutes, grayclads of Brigadier Generals Wade Hampton’s, Robert Hatton’s and J. Johnston Pettigrew’s brigades rushed "howling and shouting from the woods" against Abercrombie’s line in the front of the California Regiment as well as against Kirby’s pieces. The artillery officer quickly changed front of the right wing of his five-piece battery and advanced its left wing. "Charge after charge was made, and gallantly made," a member of the 106^th Pennsylvania observed, "but the men manned their Napoleons too well, and each fire of canister swept the ground in their front." The Californians could do nothing but watch and wonder if the front line would hold. "But it yields not one inch," rejoiced one officer and the Southerners were pushed back for at least a third time in this sector of the field. Projectiles, minie balls and shrapnel from air explosions, continued to fall among Major Smith’s men. Private A. Gardiner of Company A was hit in the upper part of his left leg. The badly damaged member was amputated the next day. Private Samuel G. Clift of Company C was wounded as he lay near the Courtney house. He died the next day. Private J.H. Drake, a 23-year-old member of Company H, received a seemingly innocuous wound to the left knee. It eventually became ulcerated and on July 10, in Albany, New York, Drake’s leg was amputated. The private’s condition continued to deteriorate and he died four days later.

By now the Californians must have been wondering how many more attacks the front line could withstand. Yet another Rebel yell heralded one more charge, this one "more fierce, persistent and sanguinary then before" wrote one soldier. Kirby’s battery loosed canister into the fearless enemy troops moving through the smoke filled woods. A Southern prisoner interviewed later that night testified that it was General Magruder’s intention to take Kirby’s battery "if it cost a thousand lives!" Soon what appeared to be a white flag was spotted; closer inspection revealed it to be a faded Confederate battle flag and the fighting continued. Some Yankees in the forward line leaped over their breastworks built of piled up fence boards and dashed for the banner. "In the gathering twilight the scene becomes grand, magnificent, sublime beyond description," gushed Alfred Hills.

At about this time General Sumner concluded that the an offensive movement would be the best defense. He ordered the left wing of the Union line north of Fair Oaks Station, the 15^th Massachusetts and 34^th and 82^nd New York of Gorman’s brigade, and General Dana’s recently arrived 7^th Michigan and 20^th Massachusetts, to form in battle line and fix bayonets. With this, the line swept forward, the men firing as they moved, driving the Rebels before them and bringing the fighting to a close by about 7:00 p.m.

The fighting over for the day, Major Smith ordered his men to get some sleep on the ground they had occupied for much of the afternoon. "Mark you-," declared Lieutenant Hibbs, "sleep in six inches of mud!" It may not have been the mud so much as the awful sounds issuing from the dark woods on their front that made sleep next to impossible for the Californians that evening and night. The battlefield itself, on which they lay, was another horror. "The wounded and dead of both armies were lying as they had fallen, and in large numbers," wrote the Philadelphia Brigade historian. "Strewn over the ground were rifles, haversacks, canteens, and accouterments." A member of the 15^th Massachusetts claimed that bodies lay so thick that one "could not move without falling over them." This was a new but morbid experience for Charles Smith’s men, even those veterans of Ball’s Bluff. Soon a light rain began to fall.

Later that night, Sumner ordered General Burns to proceed with the California Regiment back toward the Grapevine Bridge in order to "hold our line of communication, protecting the artillery and ammunition, nearly all of which was mixed in the bottom on this side." The boys were to connect with the 19^th Massachusetts and 42^nd New York of Dana’s brigade, and the 63^rd New York of the Irish Brigade of Israel Richardson’s division. The Californians were roused from their beds of mud at about midnight and ordered to fall in. Smith led the boys to the rear along the same muddy road they had taken from the bridge. The exhausted troops finally arrived at their destination where they stacked arms and lay down along a fence. Although the night had become one of "drizzling rain and murky darkness," the men rolled into their blankets and fell asleep.

Though they were called to the alert, the Californians did not take part in the next day’s (June 1) fighting. Still, the regiment had lost two men killed and 11 wounded for its efforts of May 31, the highest of any of the regiments of the Philadelphia Brigade. Three men had suffered mortal wounds. Although these losses were not even close to those sustained by some regiments of Gorman’s and Dana’s brigades, Major Smith’s men had done what had been asked of them. A member of Company I assured readers of the Doylestown Democrat that Company I had held "a perilous position" but the boys "all acted bravely and nobly, and came out of the battle unscathed." In his after action report, General Burns offered a succinctly elegant appraisal of the Philadelphia Brigade’s conduct over the two day period:

"It has been christened under fire, and will do what is required of it."

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