a reënforcement. Butterfield threw the Eighty-my we no longer use the bugle for the "general third Pennsylvania and Sixteenth Michigan in on assembly" and "color"- and our stout fellows, the left. McQuade sent the Sixty-second Penn- cut short of their morning cup of coffee, seized sylvania, Col. Black, in the timber on the ex- their arms, and the long dark regimental lines treme right, deployed mainly as skirmishers, and began to appear over the camp grounds at the advancing rapidly; also the Ninth Massachusetts, first dawn of day. An hour passed, and still no Col. Cass, on the left of the Eighty-third. The order and no countermand. Yet another-and Fourteenth New-York having relieved the Second an orderly came galloping to our tent. We were Maine, was joined by the Thirteenth New-York, sure the march for that day had been given up. from Col. Warren's brigade, on our left support-"You will start with your command at once-ed by Berdan's Sharp-shooters, half of whom went in with their Sharpe's rifles, doing sure work at every shot, while the balance of the regiments were held in reserve. Griffin's battery now came thundering in, unlimbered and took position in a twinkling, and commenced throwing shell and shrapnel with excellent effect. The fresh regiments now pressed forward, the Eightythird Pennsylvania advancing under several volleys, but reserving its fire for close quarters, losing but slightly. The enemy found the pressure of the Sixty-second on his left and the other regiments in front altogether too great, and, with several well-directed volleys, our advancing columns soon threw him into the direst confusion, and he at once beat a precipitate retreat, under the cover of the dense forest in his rear. the head of the column is moving. T. J. Hoyt, 66 The morning wore away and at noon the storm had departed with it. We were now some twelve miles from camp in a direction about north-westerly. The order of advance at a cross-roads here was changed a little. The Seventeenth New The victory was ours! All honor to the three noble bands who so long held the enemy in check without abating an iota of their foothold; and great praise to the vigorous and timely efforts of the brave regiments from Butterfield and Mc-York had led our brigade, followed by Griffin's Quade, who drove from the ground a force superior to the whole of ours engaged at any one time. Butterfield's efforts, from first to last, were productive of the very best results. The results are more than we expected. to this hour, over six hundred prisoners. Stoneman captured a railway-train. ANOTHER ACCOUNT. Up Gen. battery, then the Forty-fourth New-York, Eightythird Pennsylvania, Twelfth New-York, and Sixteenth Michigan. Here the Forty-fourth NewYork was detached with two pieces of Martin's Fifth Massachusetts battery to guard against any attempt of the enemy to interfere with our rear. The regiments closed up, took the right-hand road, and forward we went for some three miles more. Sharp volleys of musketry were now heard, and then the heavy thunder of the larger guns. Evidently the enemy had been found. The Twenty-fifth New-York, Col. Johnson, was Fort Donelson, Pittsburgh Landing, Williams-in advance of the division. The rebels had chosen burgh, Hanover, and Fair Oaks illustrate in this war, what is a remarkable fact in the campaigns of both classic and modern times, that the most drenching storms and the deepest mud have not been able to deter energetic commanders and vigorous troops from making long marches or fighting hard battles. BUTTERFIELD'S BRIGADE, PORTER'S DIVISION, FIFTH PROVISIONAL ARMY CORPS, CAMP NEAR HANOVER COURT-HOUSE, VA., May 29. an open space of large extent, flanked with woods, several hundred yards to the right and left of an orchard and dwelling-house, (Dr. Kinney's,) near the centre, where they had planted two guns, supported by a regiment of infantry. Col. Johnson's attack upon this position was brave and impetuous, but the superior numbers of the enemy in the field, and in the woods on his right, compelled him to withdraw with severe loss. The artillery had opened briskly, and the head of this brigade-of which I wish particularly to speak, because I know whereof I affirm-made its appearance. The old division of Gen. Fitz-John Porter, now commanded by its ranking general, Brig.-Gen. Morell, received, on the night of the twenty-sixth instant, orders to move on the following morning, equipped for fight. Five o'clock was the hour appointed for starting. At three the officers of the different guards roused the men to find the Stripping off their wet blankets and tents, forrain falling rapidly, their tents overflowing, and ward went the Seventeenth New-York and Eightypools of muddy water where their kitchen-fires third Pennsylvania in line of battle, led by their had been the night before. The storm kept in- gallant General, and followed in column of divicreasing, and many an officer and man hoped sion by the Twelfth New-York and Sixteenth that before daylight a countermand would come. Michigan. This movement was for the enemy's The kindest persuasion could not induce a fire to flank as well as front; to gain this, therefore, the burn-"fall in," was heard, for so near the ene-woods to his right were taken and skirmishers thrown ahead A slight reconnoissance revealed their guns through the same fence, which here his position. The word came from Gen. Butter- made nearly a right angle, and fired on each field to advance, and forward out of those woods other. The conduct of the Forty-fourth was galcame the Seventeenth New-York and Eighty-lant in the extreme. Four times was their flag third Pennsylvania in line, as compact and steady struck by a bullet to the ground and raised again as in the many dress-parades they have made side by side. The skirmishers opened their fire and down bore the regiments upon the enemy, with the old Stars and Stripes flying high. No rebels could withstand this. The supports broke and fled, the gunners emulated their haste, and a twelve-pound howitzer of Capt. Latham's battery, abandoned in their flight, now attests the discipline and courage of the Third brigade. The prisoners whom we took at this point were of the Twenty-eighth North-Carolina regiment, clad in the homespun "confederate grey," and of an intelligence and manner far inferior to the same class of society at the North. There was none of the savage and brutal appearance about them, attributed to rebels of the Gulf States. The enemy had fled and disappeared in the woods; a momentary halt and three rousing cheers from the regiments as Gen. Butterfield rode along the line, and thanked us for this spirited conduct, and forward we went again. The enemy's plan, as disclosed to us soon, and afterwards corroborated by a captured officer, was to lead the main body of our troops onward after the Twenty-eighth North - Carolina, if it escaped, while the rest of their forces, lying concealed in the woods, should, after our advance, come upon our rear, place us between two fires, and make us an easy prey. As the sequel showed, their bag was well made, but the material was hardly strong enough for such troops as FitzJohn Porter's. by an intrepid hand. When the name of one of these brave fellows was asked by the Lieut.-Colonel, then in command through the absence of the Colonel, in consultation with Gen. Martindale, he gave it, and remarked: “As long as I live, sir, you shall never see that flag in the dust." In the fiercest of the fight, when it seemed necessary to make a charge to keep the enemy off, a captain replied to the question of the LieutenantColonel, "How many men can you muster to follow you in a charge?" 'Every man, sir, will follow, save the dead." By a strange coïncidence the flag of the Forty-fourth was pierced with just forty-four bullets. The horse of the LieutenantColonel was killed, the Major wounded, and the arm of the Adjutant shattered while his blade was waving. For more than an hour consecrated by bravery like this, that mere handful of men held the enemy in check. At length the sound of distant cheers was heard. It was the Third brigade hastening to their relief. 66 In line of battle, Sixteenth Michigan on the left and Eighty-third Pennsylvania on the right, they were pressing through the ploughed fields, straight for the heaviest fire. Up rode General Butterfield, whose uncovered head at this moment struck you as more than ordinarily like Napoleon's. Ah! here comes the little General," says one. "Now for the double-quick." "Yes, my boys, now you see the use of doublequick." "Oh! yes; oh! yes.' "Well, then, three rousing cheers to encourage our brave fellows yonder." The effect was electric. Those men who had already marched eighteen miles through drenching rain and bottomless roads, and chased the enemy two miles more, took up the double-quick, caught the General's cheer and sent it increased many fold through the ranks of the enemy, to gladden the hearts of our friends. As a prisoner stated to us afterwards, these cheers told the enemy his game was lost. His fire slackened perceptibly, and on went the regiments into the woods. The marks of a terrible Meantime the Forty-fourth New-York, when battle were all around us. Dead and dying were the enemy made his appearance a second time at the foot of every tree; the trees themselves, for the purpose named, had been ordered up with a splintered and torn by the bullets, were as mansection of Martin's battery, and soon found it- gled as the bodies beneath them. The sulphuself subjected to a cross-fire from a much supe-rous smoke made the air strangely blue. rior force. Clearly the enemy thought his work Closely pressing the enemy, and capturing some thirty prisoners, among them a captain and half his company, the Eighty-third Pennsylvania hurried up the road in the direction of Hanover Court-House. There Gen. Butterfield received intelligence from Gen. Porter that the enemy was in our rear, and to return at once. Now commenced the marching such as no troops under the sun could have endured except those who had been subjected to their five months' severe drill on the banks of the Potomac. easy. A fragment of the Twenty-fifth New-York, the Second Maine, and the Forty-fourth New-York, lying in the open road, were exposed to the galling fire of an enemy concealed and protected by a close fence in the woods, not two hundred yards distant, and yet here they lay receiving and returning volley after volley, until many had expended their sixty rounds of cartridges, and were obliged to borrow of the dead. So near were the Second Maine and the enemy at one time, that the men on both sides actually thrust Here we captured, from the enemy falling back, more prisoners than we dared detach men to guard. One poor fellow jumped from the ground, evidently to deliver himself up, but unfortunately brought his piece too near a horizontal line; one of our skirmishers dropped on his knees and fired. The rebel whirled completely round, pierced through both sides. Two others came forward displaying a dirty handkerchief, once white-bearing between them a small pale-faced fellow, a mere boy, badly wounded-and asked us to spare their lives. "We've been forced into this; we're con 66 our bullets in the evening closed the success of the day. Darkness had now come, and gathering up the honored dead and the sufferers who yet lived, we sent them to the hospital and returned to bivouac on the field. scripts," they cried. Their piteous begging showed how fully their unprincipled leaders had deceived them with the idea that they were to be murdered at once. They, like the others, were sent to the rear. Here we found from the prisoners that two regiments of the enemy were The next morning Butterfield's brigade turned just to the right of us, in line of battle at right into the guard over two hundred and fifty prisonangles to our own. Here we flung out our right ers, two hundred stand of small arms, wagons, skirmisher with his company - -a burly captain, tents, cannon, etc., etc.—among the prisoners whose weight before the war was always a good a major, six or eight captains, a batch of lieutenthree hundred, but now reduced by hard march-ants and were ready for another fight, with one ing and harder eating to the size of common men regiment on the march toward the South Anna, -up the railroad-track, to feel the enemy there. to accomplish, what I had forgotten to state was He soon found them and received their introduc- the object of our expedition, namely, the cutting tory volley, returning the salutation. He turned the enemy's lines of communication with the to see where his supports were, and discovered forces in front of Banks and McDowell. Gen. Butterfield close behind him. "They are There were many noteworthy incidents of the here in large force," said he to the General. day that have not made part of my description. "Pitch into them all you know how," was the A ball struck at the foot of Gen. Porter's horse. prompt response. Aye, aye, sir," and away" Did you see that?" asked an aid. "I see that went the captain at the double-quick. The bold- Butterfield is driving them handsomely," was the ness of the flank attack surprised the enemy and quiet reply. An Irishman of the Seventeenth Newhe fell back. Pressing through the woods, the York came up to the General, tugging under a load Eighty-third Pennsylvania came out just in front of three guns on one shoulder, his own at a trail in of the enemy, as two sections of Griffin's battery the other hand, driving three prisoners in gray were unlimbering. Here again Gen. Butterfield before him- "Sure Gineral, and I have three of appeared, and calling for a horse, shouted, "Where them; what'll I do wid em ?" is Stockton? Give me a horse and Stockton too, and the day is ours!" and at once ordered the Eighty-third Pennsylvania forward through the battery, to engage the enemy now in the open | field. The enemy was wavering, but this demonstration decided him at once; his face was turned and we followed. Just as the Eightythird was crossing the railroad, excavated some ten feet in the field here, and mounting the opposite bank, the enemy opened upon them a terrific fire. Nothing but the protection offered by the bank, and the position of the men as they lay and sat firing, saved them in this fifteen minutes from severe loss. Here an incident occurred not to be soon forgotten. A sergeant, who had but just rejoined his regiment after a two months' sickness, had managed after great exertion to keep in his place through the trying march, but now was almost exhausted. An officer stopped to encourage him. "A few minutes more, sergeant, and we shall be on them." "Yes, I'll be with you," said he, and pulling out a miniature of his wife and two children, "That is what I have to fight for." The next instant a ball shattering his leg had borne him to the ground. Advancing now in compact line, and firing as they went, the Eighty-third Pennsylvania and Ninth Massachusetts drove the enemy some five hundred yards through the open field. No retreat could have been more handsomely made than was this. He retreated a short distance, came to the right about, and with colors steady, delivered his volley and again retreated. His pursuers were gaining on him, however, and others following fast after their steps, when near the edge of the woods his line gave way, and he fled in confusion. The enemy began his retreat in the morning under the fire of this brigade, and The kindness shown the wounded and captured was an evident surprise to them, and affected them much. They had no desire to be exchanged. The battle-field brings out man's nature in its strongest and truest light. One of our colonels is said to have been absent from his command at a most critical moment, improperly, and it is reported that he will be cashiered. Time must prove this. One of our generals is said to have cried and lost his mental balance completely for a time during the fight, but the instant the fight was over, was laying down to the newspaper reporters, his deeds of valor, over the table where the surgeons were amputating the wounded. I might add a hundred incidents, but what I have told you is enough to give you an idea of the affair. Gen. McClellan came up the next morning and was most enthusiastically received by the men. He grasped Gen. Porter by the hand most cordially and congratulated him. Turning to Gen. Butterfield, who was near, he put one hand on his shoulder and said some words that we on the outside could not hear. That they were well merited compliments for brave and gallant deeds, the faces of both showed most plainly. Our brigade was satisfied and confident that under fire, as well as elsewhere, we have the right man in the right place. Doc. 17. BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS, VA. GENERAL MCCLELLAN'S DESPATCHES. NEW-BRIDGE, June 5-10.30 AM. Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War. to the battle of Fair Oaks,* was incorrectly pub-works extending to the left about eight hundred lished in the newspapers. I send with this a cor-yards, and terminating in a crotchet to the rear. rect copy, which I request may be published at Similar works, about three hundred yards further once. I am the more anxious about this, since in advance, were constructed on the right, exmy despatch, as published, would seem to ignore tending toward the Richmond and West-Point the services of Gen. Sumner, which were too val- Railroad. uable and brilliant to be overlooked, both in the difficult passage of the stream and the subsequent combat. The mistake seems to have occurred in the transmittal of the despatch by the telegraph. G. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General Commanding. Yesterday, at one o'clock, the enemy, taking advantage of a terrible storm which had flooded the valley of the Chickahominy, attacked our troops on the right bank of that river. Casey's division, which was the first line, gave way, unaccountably and discreditably. This caused temporary confusion, during which some guns and baggage were lost. But Heintzelman and Kearney most gallantly brought up their troops, which checked the enemy. At the same time, however, General Sumner succeeded, by great exertions, in bringing across Sedgwick's and Richardson's divisions, who drove back the enemy at the point of the bayonet, covering the ground with his dead. OFFICIAL REPORT OF GENERAL KEYES. HEADQUARTERS FOURTH CORPS, June 13, 1862, Brig. Gen. S. Williams, Adjutant-General, Army of the Potomac : ŠIR: The following is my report of the operations of the Fourth corps in the battle of the thirty-first May and first June: Having been ordered by Gen. McClellan to hold the Seven Pines strongly, I designed to throw forward to that neighborhood two brigades of Casey's division, and to establish my picket-line considerably in advance, and far to the right. The lines described above are those upon which the main body of the troops engaged near the Seven Pines spent the night of the thirty-first after the battle. Examinations having been made by several engineers, I was ordered on the twenty-eighth of May to advance Casey's division to a point indicated by a large wood-pile and two houses, about three fourths of a mile beyond the Seven Pines, (but which, in fact, is only half a mile,) and to establish Couch's division at the Seven Pines. Accordingly, Casey's division bivouacked on the right and left of the Williamsburgh road and wood-pile, and Couch established his division at the Seven Pines, and along the Nine-mile road. Both divisions set to work with the few intrenching tools at hand to slash the forests and to dig a few rifle-pits. Casey erected a small pentangular redoubt, and placed within it six pieces of artillery. The country is mostly wooded, and greatly intersected with marshes. The Nine-mile road, branching to the right from the Seven Pines, slants forward, and at the distance of a mile crosses the railroad at Fair Oaks. A mile beyond it reaches an open field, where the enemy was seen in line of battle on the twenty-ninth and thirtieth days of May. Casey's pickets were only about one thousand yards in advance of his line of battle, and I decided, after a personal inspection with him, that they could go no further, as they were stopped by the enemy in force, on the opposite side of an opening at that point. I pushed forward the pickets on the railroad a trifle, and they had been extended by Gen. Naglee to the open field where to the right bank of the Chickahominy. After a the enemy was seen in line of battle, and thence discovered that, on the thirtieth of May, the enethorough examination of my whole position, I my were, in greater or less force, closed upon the from my headquarters, near Seven Pines, with a whole circumference of a semi-circle, described The Fourth corps, being in the advance, crossed the Chickahominy at Bottom's Bridge, the twen-radius of two miles. ty-third of May, and encamped two miles beyond. Two days later I received orders to advance on the Williamsburgh road, and take up and fortify the nearest strong position to a fork of roads called the Seven Pines. The camp I selected, and which was the next day approved by Major-Gen. McClellan, stretches across the Williamsburgh road between Bottom's Bridge and Seven Pines, and is distant about a mile from the latter. I caused that camp to be fortified with rifle-pits and breast This battle is also known as the battle of the Seven Pines. at Seven Pines was open, cultivated ground, and A considerable space about the fork of the road there was a clear space a short distance in front of Casey's redoubt at the wood-pile. Between the two openings we found a curtain of trees, which were cut down to form an abattis. That line of abattis was continued on a curve to the right and rear, and across the Nine-mile road. When the battle commenced, Casey's division was in front of the abattis, Naglee's brigade on the right, having two regiments beyond the rail |