Meanwhile, the other brigades moved very slowly, skirmishing slightly, and cutting away trees which the enemy continually felled in their road. A scarcity of tools made this work so slow that it was late in the afternoon when Mahone's brigade, in the lead, reached Brackett's field and found the enemy (Slocum's divisions) posted behind a considerable swamp, which here falls into White Oak swamp. Mahone advanced a section of Moorman's battery, which drew a very severe fire on itself and the supporting infantry, and developed such a strong position that General Huger determined to turn it by a movement to his right. Night, however, had now come on, and the division bivouacked that night near Mrs. Fisher's.
The division of General Magruder was marched in the morning from Savage station across to Timberlake's store on the Darbytown road (three miles above Fussell's mill), a distance of about ten miles by the road traversed. Here, about two P. M., General Magruder received a note from General Lee (written under the impression, it seems, that his division was in supporting distance of Longstreet), ordering him to halt and wait further orders.
Meanwhile, General Holmes, with six thousand infantry and six batteries, had been brough from the defences on the James river, and at ten A. M. had taken position at New Market. Hearing here of the enemy's trains passing over Malvern Hill, General Holmes moved his command down the River road about four P. M., and ordered his chief of artillery, Colonel Deshler, to establish batteries to fire upon the enemy's columns. After some difficulty, Colonel Deshler got five pieces into position, and opened upon Malvern Hill. He was immediately replied to by thirty guns from the hill, and at the same time also the gunboats anchored in the river at Turkey Bend opened a severe fire, directed in their aim by signals from Malvern. After maintaining the unequal conflict for an hour, Colonel Deshler retired seriously punished, but bringing off his guns; and General Holmes, seeing the hopelessness of further efforts, withdrew his whole command. During this withdrawal, a stampede was caused by the heavy fire of the gunboats, among some artillery which had not been engaged and a cavalry battalion, which resulted in the abandonment of two guns and caissons in a road through the woods, where they were found and carried off by the skirmishers of Warren's brigade, which held that flank of the Federal line.[1]
- ↑ It was never known in the Confederate army that the enemy had followed after Holmes' retreat at all, and it was therefore always supposed that some other Confederate battery had
