divisions) yielded to the pressure of the attack at all points, and withdrew in the night across the Chickahominy, leaving 5000 prisoners in the hands of General Lee. The Confederates lost 7000 men on June 27.
Lee’s right wing had in the meantime demonstrated against the main body of the Federals about Fair Oaks, on the south bank of the river. On June 28 complete inactivity supervened among the Confederates north of the Chickahominy save that Stuart’s cavalry and Ewell’s division were advanced as far as the railway to reconnoitre, but on this day McClellan was making good his retreat southwards to the James with little interference, for Magruder was instructed to “hold his lines at all hazards,” and accordingly acted on the defensive except that Jones’s division opposed a Federal division under W. F. Smith near Fair Oaks. On June 29 General Lee became aware of the situation and then issued orders for his six divisions to cross the Chickahominy in pursuit. Jackson’s corps and D. H. Hill’s division were to follow the enemy, while Longstreet and A. P. Hill were to move their divisions via New Bridge to the Darbytown or James River Road to cut off McClellan from the James. Stuart was to operate at his discretion north of the Chickahominy, and it seems that he was attracted by the enemy’s abandoned depot at White House more than by McClellan’s retreating army. On this day Magruder with two divisions attacked superior forces about Fair Oaks and was repulsed, and again attacked at Savage Station with like results. General Lee, however, rebuked Magruder for slackness in pursuit. Holmes’s division was moving in front of Longstreet on the James River Road, but two Federal divisions were holding the route at Willis Church and at Jordan’s Ford. On June 30 Jackson got into action with Whiting’s division at White Oak Swamp, while Longstreet encountered the Federals at Frazier’s Farm (or Glendale). Longstreet was supported by A. P. Hill and together they lost 3200 men; it was hoped that Jackson’s corps would come up during the engagement and attack the enemy’s rear, and Huger’s division assail his right, but Federal artillery stopped Huger, and of Jackson’s three divisions only one came into action. Magruder and Holmes were engaged to their own advantage at Turkey Bridge. Longstreet and Hill were thus opposed to five Federal divisions, while General McClellan was pushing his wagons forward to Malvern Hill, on which strong position the Army of the Potomac was concentrated at nightfall. On July 1 Jackson’s corps and D. H. Hill’s division had been drawn again into the main operation and followed the Federal line of retreat to Malvern Hill with Huger and Magruder on their right. The divisions of Longstreet and A. P. Hill were in support.
General Lee had thus on the seventh day concentrated his army of ten divisions in the enemy’s front; but Jackson’s dispositions were unfortunate and General Lee’s plan of attack was thus upset; and while seeking a route to turn the enemy’s right the Confederate commander was apprised that a battle had been improvised by the divisions in advance. In the result these troops were repulsed with a loss of 6000 men, a circumstance hardly to be wondered at, since McClellan had entrenched eight divisions on the strongest position in the country, and was aided by his siege artillery and also by a flanking fire from his gunboats on the river near Haxall’s Landing. General Lee’s offensive operations now ended, though Stuart’s cavalry rejoined the main army at night and followed the enemy on July 2 to Evelington Heights, while Lee rested his army. Stuart discovered a position which commanded the Federal camp, and maintained his cavalry and horse artillery in this position until the afternoon of July 3, when, his ammunition being expended, he was compelled to retire before a Federal force of infantry and a battery. Longstreet and Jackson had been dispatched to his support, but the former did not arrive before nightfall and the latter failed to appear until the next day (July 4). Stuart afterwards moved farther down the James, and shelled McClellan’s supply vessels in the river until recalled by General Lee, who on July 8 withdrew his army towards Richmond.
The operations resulted in re-establishing the confidence of the Confederates in their army which Johnston’s retreat from Yorktown had shaken, in adding prestige to President Davis and his government, and in rectifying the popular view of General Lee as a commander which had been based upon his failure to recover West Virginia in the autumn of 1861. In the north a feeling of despondency overtook Congress at the “lame and impotent conclusion” of a campaign of invasion which was expected to terminate the war by the defeat of the Confederate army, the capture of Richmond and the immediate overthrow of the Confederacy. (G. W. R.)
SEVENOAKS, a market town in the Sevenoaks parliamentary
division of Kent, England, 22 m. S.E. by S. of London by the
South-Eastern and Chatham railway. Pop. of urban district
(1901) 8106. It is beautifully situated on high ground among
the wooded undulations of the North Downs, above the valley
of the river Darent. The town consists principally of two streets
which converge at the south end, near which is the church of
St Nicholas, of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. It contains
monuments of the Amherst family and a tablet to William
Lambarde (d. 1601), which was removed from the old parish
church of Greenwich when that was demolished. Lambarde
was author of the Perambulation of Kent, and founded the College
of the Poor of Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich. The grammar
school founded in 1418 by Sir William Sevenoke was reconstituted
as a first-grade modern school in 1877. There is also
a school founded by Lady Margaret Boswell, wife of Sir William
Boswell, ambassador to Charles I. at The Hague, and almshouses
founded by Sir William Sevenoke in Connexion with his
school. Close to Sevenoaks is Knole Park, one of the finest old
residences in England, which in the time of King John was
possessed by the earl of Pembroke, and after passing to various
owners was bought by Archbishop Bourchier (d. 1486), who
rebuilt the house. He left the property to the see of Canterbury,
and about the time of the dissolution it was given up
by Cranmer to Henry VIII. By Elizabeth it was conferred
first on the earl of Leicester and then on Thomas Sackville,
afterwards earl of Dorset. By this earl it was in great part
rebuilt and fitted up in regard to decoration much as it now
exists. The gateway in the outer court and the Perpendicular
chapel are from Archbishop Bourchier’s time. The great hall,
with elaborately carved music-gallery, is mainly the work of the
first earl.
SEVEN SLEEPERS OF EPHESUS, THE, according to the
most common form of an old legend of Syrian origin, first referred to in Western literature by Gregory of Tours (De glor. mart. c. 95), seven Christian youths of Ephesus, who, in the Decian persecution (A.D. 250), hid themselves in a cave. Their hiding-place was discovered and its entrance blocked. The martyrs fell asleep in a mutual embrace. Nearly 200 years later a herdsman of Ephesus rediscovered the cave on Mount Coelian, and, letting in the light, awoke the inmates, who sent one of their number (Jamblicus) to buy food. The lad was astonished to find the cross displayed over the city gates, and, on entering, to hear the name of Christ openly pronounced. By tendering coin of the time of Decius at a baker’s shop he roused suspicion, and was taken before the authorities as a dishonest finder of hidden treasure. He confirmed his story by leading his accusers to the cavern where his six companions were found, youthful and beaming with a holy radiance. The emperor Theodosius II., hearing what had happened, hastened to the spot in time to hear from their lips that God had wrought this wonder to confirm his faith in the resurrection of the dead. This message delivered, they again fell asleep.
Gregory says he had the legend from the interpretation of “a certain Syrian”; in point of fact the story is common in Syriac sources. It forms the subject of a homily of Jacob of Sarug (ob. A.D. 521), which is given in the Acta sanctorum. Another Syriac version is printed in Land’s Anecdota, iii. 87 seq.; see also Barhebraeus, Chron. eccles. i. 142 seq., and compare ssemam, Bzb. Or. x. 335 seq. Some forms of the legend give eight sleepers—e.g. an ancient MS. of the 6th century now in the British Museum (Cat. Syr. MSS. p. 1090). There are considerable variations as to their names. The legend rapidly attained a wide diffusion throughout Christendom; its currency in the East is testified by its acceptance by Mahomet (sur. xviii.), who calls them Aṣḥāb al-Kahf, “the men of the cave.”
