208 Norra Carotina Troops, 1861-’65.

hood have met its doom in the Chickahominy swamps. Had
Southern practicalness been at all commensurate with South-
ern generalship and Southern courage, it is hard to see how
McClellan’s army could have escaped ruin, if not total de-
struction. This unpracticalness manifested itself here in
the failure to prepare accurate topographical maps of a region
which the trend of events had, for months, pointed out as the
most probable scene of conflict.

The position of the Federal army was, on the whole, nat-
urally very strong and made as much stronger as engineering
skill could make it. But owing to the isolating effect of the
many streams and swamps, difficult of passage, it gave the
opportunity of the war to the qualities in which the Southern
army excelled—prowess and military genius. In this in-
stance these qualities were largely negatived by the fact that
the Confederate leaders fought and manouvered over a region
of whose exact topography they knew scarcely more than of
the craters in the moon. The result of this ignorance of nat-
ural obstacles, and of the roads that turn them, was that
thousands of gallant men, the very flower of the Southern
army, were needlessly and heedlessly sacrificed, and that a
half victory cost double the price for what a whole victory
could have been obtained.

Lee’s plans were that Jackson, then in the Shenandoah
Valley, by a rapid and secret march, should strike the right
flank of this twenty-mile line, while he smote its right front.
Then beginning at the end, 55,000 of his 80,000 men, were to
be thrown impetuously against the Federal line, flanking it
as far as practicable, and rolling it back upon itself, compass
its destruction if possible.

After Seven Pines the Twenty-third was assigned a posi-
tion near the left wing of the army. Our tents were pitched
on the banks of a small stream about 600 yards in the rear of
the works. As an advance of the enemy was hourly expected,
the orders were that upon the sound of a bugle at brigade
headquarters, the regiment must be formed in five minutes
with three days’ rations, canteens filled and forty rounds of
ammunition per man, ready to march rapidly to its place in
line. This rendered it necessary for the men to sleep with

TwENTY-THIRD REGIMENT. 209

their cartridge belts on and haversacks and canteens by their
sides. Mounted officers had to keep their horses saddled.
No one was allowed to be absent from the command for a
moment. Many such alarms were given by day and by
night. Two weeks of this rigid discipline made the order to
advance a genuine relief.

The fighting began in earnest on Thursday, 26 June, a
fine cloudless day. On the afternoon of that day A. P. Hill
moved to the east and without waiting for Jackson’s appear-
ance on the Federal flank, as had been agreed, assaulted in
front the impregnable lines on Beaver Dam Creek, a small
stream running north and south, and emptying into the
Chickahominy. The result was that he was beaten off with
the loss of over 3,000 men, a loss nearly ten times as great as
he inflicted on the enemy. This is often called the battle of
Mechanicsville from a very small village at the cross roads a
mile west of the stream. [This premature assault and conse-
quent disastrous and useless loss of life General A. P. Hill
afterward repeated at Gettysburg and at Bristoe Sta-
tion.— Eb. |

The Twenty-third, which belonged to D. H. Hill’s divis-
ion, was not actively engaged on the 26th. About 11 a. m.
of that day, we left our position in line and marched to the
left, striking the Mechanicsville road as we filed down the
hill towards a little stream. To the left of our line of march
could be seen a group of high Confederate officers, including
President Davis, Generals Lee, Longstreet, D. H. Hill, Gar-
land and others. Their earnest consultation and the distant
firing made us feel that a momentous period in the struggle
was now athand. We were marched up and took position op-

posite the hills beyond the stream, and were for a while under

a spirited cannonade. Adjutant Turner’s horse was killed,

falling on him, but not inflicting injury enough to keep him
out of the. battle of the next day. Several other casualties

were also sustained by the regiment.
We slept that night on our arms. Early the next morning

while Captain I. J. Young was getting his company 1 line
for the work before us, one of his men complained that he

14