Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-07-07


essayed a combined movement. Powerful bodies
of troops plunged into the valley to charge our
lines, but our men. securely posted, swept them
away ruthlessly. Again and again the desperate
fellows were pushed at the breastworks, only to-
be more cruelty slaughtered than before. Mean
time our forces had been strengthened by Grifin's
brigade, which increased the volume of infantry
ready for emergencies. AT dark it was evident
the rebels had ~enough-much more than they
bargained for.
Their infantry fire had entirely subsidized, and
it was obvious that they were withdrawing under
cover of their artillery. Our own batteries,
which had opened in full cry at the start, had not
slackened an instant. Comprehending the situa-
ton fully now, the cannoniers piled themselves
with tremendous energy TO punish the retreating
foe. We have no sure means to determine how
many were slaughtered, but prisoners who we're
in the fight, and an intelligent contraband who
escaped from Richmond the next day, and who
was all over the field. are confident that 5000
fell. Our own loss was eighty killed and less
than $50 wounded. The conduct of our troops
was admirable, and the gallantry of the officers
conspicuous.
BATTLE OF GAINES MILLS.
1t was ascertained that Jackson had not Joined
Lee on on Thursday, and it was presumed that
he was sweeping down the Pamunkey to strike
at the line of supplies. Gen. Stoneman was sent
to watch in that direction, and orders were given
to evacuate the White House. The trains of the
right wing were Withdrawn to Trent's Bluff, and
the sick and wounded to Savage Station. By
daylight Friday morning, the 9th, Mccall had
fallen back to Gaines Mills, his left joining the
right OF Butterfield's brigade resting in the woods
and near the swamps of the Chickahominy. The
attack was made by Lee. reinforced by S~tonewall
jackson, about l O'Clock. with terrible impetu-
osity. The enemy, massing his columns, hurled
them on our lines, first on the right. and then on
the left, and then on the center. His force was
overwhelming. In addition to Jackson's army,
IS. 900 strong, he had four divisions to 80, 900 all
told of our troops. We had fourteen batteries,
eighty -four pieces in the field, and lost twenty of
them. We lost 1000 men, killed, wounded, and
missing, and the enemy's loss, it is said. exceeded
ou7s. We clip from the New York Herald:
A COUNCIL OF WAR.
Headquarter tents were moved from DR.. Trent's
field, on the bank of the Chickahominy, to Saw
ages station, a mile and a half distant, at dusk
on Friday. At night, as the several bTigades
came over the bridge and clustered on the Dor
ders of the swamp, a single tent dotted the hill
side, and in this sat Gen. Mcclellan. At eleven
o'clock Il council of war was called in front OF
this tent, and the several corps commanders, the
Commander in Chief and his aids, the Prince de
1 OOAhHAAtC ~ GbC VI az VIII OllNl
trusted and faithful counsellors, congregated.
A large fire had been lighted just beyond the ar
Dor, and the blaze o. the lighted knots lit up the
faces of the military men within. They sat in a
sort of aroor that had formed a pavilion in one
of the tents, and the conference was very long
and e ernest. Doubtless at that council-the first
called on the field since the beginning of the
war-General Mcclellan presented his plans OF
reaching James river.
The order to fall back was given, and on Sat
urday the long lines of wagons, ambulances and
dusty and tired soldiers took up their sad march.
The sick and wounded were necessarily left be-
hind.
THE BATTLE OF PEACH ORCHARD.
At daylight on Sunday our whole line OF
earthworks had been deserted. and our artillery
removed a mile to the rear. Here il was judici-
ously disposed, the batteries masked, and the in
fantry covered by thicknesses of woods. The
spot was a part of the battle ground of Fair
Oaks, but it is designated as Peach Orchard Sta
ton.
At daylight the enemy came eastward on the
Williamsburg road, one column advancing down
the railroad. They opened from two batteries on
the left; but their firing was awkward and inef-
f~ective. as likewise their musketry, which was
close and might have been more serious. When
they reached a line of march. about three hun
dred yards from our front, the whole terrible fire
VI u 0hhhoh odto 0BCh eASSA- Il NY -
but before the iull effect of our discharge wa:
discerDible the pieces rang again and their col
umns were ~fearfully thinned. For a half hour
our fire was so close that it seemed the perpetual
echo of a single deafening report-a continuous
blaze of fame and oall, to which the Confeder-
ates replied feebly, but with some show OF deter
minatiOn. Gen. Sumner rode in the thickest OF
this fight, and the gallant brigade of Meagher
was like a wall of shamrock. Indeed Richard.
sons division We'd with ~Sedgwick's, and Heint
zelman's troops were not behindhand in the IA
pidity of their discharges and the steadiness oil
their behavior.
The whole fight, though it lasted from eight
o'clock A. NJ. to twelve, was ike one incident
and it terminated with a loss to our side of not
less than one hundred and fifty men, TO the rebel:
of not less than one thousand one hundred. The
efforts OF the enemy to overreach US on the lei
were made futilely. for we took pains to cover
our line of general retreat along the Williams
burg road, by deploying our left along that road
to a creek that crosses it more than a mile in thu
rear of Savageis. They endeavored to charge
through the brigades of Burns, Dana and Cor
man; but the steady fire of such regiments as the
Massachusetts Doth bafled them in that regard
Having held the place until, in the judgment Of
the Generals, our teams, heavy artillery and am
balances were far across White Oak Swamp, oul
troops fell back leisurely to the neighbornood o.
Savage's Station, and again drew up in order o.
action. The fight of Peach Orchard (for so i
was called was a decisive victory to the Unior
troops. 1t was fought with a small force agains
immense odds, and in the rear of the main army
that was every moment receding.
THE BATTLE OF sAvAGEs.
The battle of Savages was more sanguinary
1t commenced about FIVE o'clock in the Afternoon
and lasted till eleven O'Clock at night. The reb
els, when we had fallen back from Peach Or
chard, filed, with large achievements and add
tional batteries, as well as with several squad
rons of cavalry, toward several roads leading &c
the Chickahominy, and, covered by the thict
timber, were enabled to emain concealed unit
they had reached a wheat field that stretches from
Savages to a dense belt of woods in the direction
of the farms of DIR. Trent and Messrs. Mickey
Dudley and Couch. Suddenly appearing out Of
the edges of the timber, they opened with riicc
cannon upon our forces, drawn up in full view &c
the south OF the railroad. Directly they ran out
three batteries to commanding points in the wheat
field, and opened a rapid enhlading fire of shell
and grape. This was at first so staggering thai
our men could not form. nor our artillery bring
their batteries into service.
The l06th Pennsylvania regiment was seized
with momentary panic, but soon recovered anC
did good service. The first named lost in tn,
beginning of the fight a Hundred killed anc
wounded men, and a regiment OF rebel cavalry
galloped in and drove the regiment off, so that
the wounded had to be resigned. In the mean
time a rebel brigade was observed stealing dowT
the right, as if with the design of hanking oui
troops by reaching a position on the Williams
burg road. Capt. Petit at once planted two guns
on the railroad and swept the column with grape
ard canister until it went back to the woods up
on a run. Some ofthe sharpest infantry lighting
of the war ensued. in which parts of Sedgwicks
Richardson's, Hooker's, Kearney's and Smith
divisions engaged with various success. The re