[from the diary of Joseph Addison Waddell civilian employee of the Quartermaster Dept.]

                                      June 28th  1862

           My Dear Boys

                              After a long interval
of silence on your part, my anxiety has
been relieved concerning you by the receipt
of Pauls letter and day before yesterday of
yours dear Alex, I [?] so , lest you might
be sick that I was half tempted to go and
see for myself, had my family been well
I might have done so.  Nannie and her
husband have had a siege of it but are both
much better now, they with my sister will
go to the Falls of St Anthony as soon as their
health will permit, I shall remain at home
Nan and I will have a lonely time, but,
cannot consent to go any further from my
darlings, what would I not give to have
you two dear boys with me, not a day
passes but you are tenderly thought and

[page 2]
spoken of, reminiscences of our European
tour are rarely refered to that your name
Alex is not mentioned, on a pleasant
afternoon when about to ride out Nan
will say, I know poor Alex often thinks
of Cadet’s query of ladies will you like
to go to the “Pines to day”  how I wish he
could be with us now, or when the fine
fruits or gumbo are brought on the
table we “wish the dear boys had some
of it,” by the bye I have made some nice
preserves for you and will send you a box in
the early part of the week, & will try to let
you have it by the 4th of July , a novel thing
it will be for Americans to celebrate the
anniversary of their independence in
prison, but look out for the box you
will not probably enjoy its contents the
less because you are where good things
are scarce,  I am glad to hear you are
both bearing your prison life in so
soldierly[?] a manner.  I hope you did
not fail to write to your mother by the

[page 3]
released surgeons you spoke of
they will be permited to take open
letters, it would have been such a direct
opportunity; have they gone south: if so by
what route?  I heard of your friend, W
he was well and in high favour, being recom
-mended for promotion, and transfer into
the regular army, by five of the most prominent
officers in it, a Federal officer who saw
him on the battle field at Elkorn says
his gallantry on that occasion attracted the
attention of the officers of their side and
said he deserved promotion on the field.
The City is dull, nothing breaks the monotony
except an occasional pic-nic, even they
are few and far between.  Tom sends his
love as does Nan who says she intends
to write to you soon.  do either of you
need any thing?  remember me to  Col.
Battle; when you get the box invite him to
lunch. Each and every one join in
much love to both of you.  I remain dear
boys most affectionately
                                      yours

unsigned letter to Alexander and Paul de Clouet

The de Clouet brothers were sons of Confedrate congressman Alexandre Etienne deClouet of Louisiana.  Both were in the 1st Field Battery, Louisiana Artillery which served in New Orleans until the fall of that city.

MSS 9564-a

[from the diary of William M. Blackford,  bank officer and former diplomat, with five sons in the Confederate Army]

Friday 27  The great battle has begun
It opens auspiciously for our cause
The enemy are routed on their right
wing–driven back for miles–all
their batteries carried.  Every thought
so far as heard from favorable–but
it is too soon perhaps to crow. We
are not yet out of the woods–Went
down to meet Lanty who informed me
on the back of a letter that he wd
arrive this evening.  Missed him at
the Depot.  Saw two cars follow
with 76 prisoners- mostly wounded badly.
They were left by Fremont at Harrison-
burg on his retreat coming home
found Lanty had brought Mary
Jane with him who has grown
much and slenderer since I saw her
Lanty looks thin & not wel.  He as
ked permission to invite for  to supper
Mr. Gildersleeve Greek prof of the University
and three young gentleman of the 1st
Maryland Regt.  Their names were
Williamson, Murray, & Laird–all
gentleman born & bred, and distinguished
for polish of manners & high intelligence.
Williamson is a man of fortune–was edu-
cated in Europe & has [fine?] [talent?]
Muray is the son cousin of the gallant
Lt Murray who distinguished himself
some years ago on board the San Francis
co at the time of her wreck.  In what
other servie could you find four such
young men as these & Lanty ser-
ving in the ranks.  I am struck with
the young men from Maryland.  They
beat ours in manners & dignity of
character–How very inferior seems
Gildersleeve to this youn man William
son–They had been in the same Univer
sities in Germany though not at the
same time.  They staid until near 11
and made themselve very agreeable
–went down street to hear the news
but [?] at nothing.  Ben retu
-ned & staid all night with Lanty.

MSS 4763

Thursday Eveng Fredericksburg, June 26

Dear Sir
I avail myself
of a kind offer to take my letter
to Baltimore to write you
a few lines.  But we have
written you so many letters
and have non in reply
that I have thought it
best not to write more.
We are living  in Dr George
Carmichael’s house in
Fbg. pleasantly enough
Fitz Taylor’s illness alarms
us greatly for the result.
I fear he can not recover
To day I have been busily em=
ployed in the meadow
saving the crop of grass=
A great undertaking it is
with no one to do it.

[page 2]
We moved here this week
thinking it might improve
Father, and then conveniences
of life are greater here.
Write soon and direct
your letter care of Capt
Mansfield or Provost marshall
of Fbg  It will come safely

unsigned letter to Dr. William Forbes of Philadelphia passed across the lines from his family in Fredericksburg

MSS 15127

[from the diary of Jonathan B. Hager of the 14th U.S. Regulars as copied and annotated by him at a later date]

June 27  A day never to be forgotten.  It is impressed
             upon my mind by virtue of its heat, its hard
             marches, its privations of food & water, its great
             dangers.  The battle of Mechanicsville the day
             before was an attack by Jackson upon McCall
             This General during early this morning fell back
             & the army took position near Gaines Mill and
             Cold Harbor.
                  We left bivouac before day this morning,
             marched back to our old Camp, where the men
             got their knapsacks.  It was evident to us, that
             we were going to vacate the ground, which had
             been our home for a month.  Our Sutler not
             having transportation for all his goods, they
             had to be destroyed, and champaign flew
             around in unlimited quantities.  This with
             hard bread constituted our breakfast that
             morning.  An immense pile of Commissary
             stores Bread, Salt, Pork, Beef, Whiskey, Candles,
             Soap, Beans were all set on fire.  It was a
             sad looking sight and indicated a precip-
             itate retreat.  Early we took up our line of
             March by Gaines Mill.  Gen Porter seemed to
             find it difficult to find a position that
             suited him and we marched & countemarched
             all over the Country, up hill & down, through
             water, mud & dust until we were nearly
             exhausted.  Finally about 10 a m. we halted
             and lay in the hot sun for an hour.  Not
             the vestige of a shadow and officers not per-
             mitted to leave their companies. We made up
             our minds to suffer all things this day and
             and [sic] could certainly endure this.
                About 12 oclock Capt. OConnell gave us the
             order to load.  The only speech he made was this
             “Now Men in the fight we are about to have
             all I have to say is to keep closed, fire low
             & do not become too much excited”  Whatever
             may have been our thoughts before, a battle
             looked imminent here.  And yet we were
             in much doubt whether it would come.  We
             had been called out so often & had returned
             without seeing a rebel, that we were almost
             faithless.  We knew however that rebels were
             near now & this certainly the nearest we had
             ever been to them.  Our position at this time was
             at “a” (see diagram).  We then moved position to
             the road or lane at “K”.  Here we awaited the
             Enemy.  We had not long to wait.  about 1 P.M.
             he was seen on the hill beyond the apple or-
             chard where he had established a battery.
             This battery attempted to shell us at our po-
             sition “K”.  In order to get out of his line of fire
             we were ordered to “b” across the cornfield  some
             several yards.  We went across this
             field in line of battle in quick time only &
             in splendid order, under a heavy shelling.
             When about the point marked “e” I saw a shell
             coming towards me, being almost in a direct
             line.  I saw it distinctly.  It looked horrible and
             tremendous in size.  I mad a very quick cal-
             culation.  I calculated that if I took one more
             step that shell would hit me.  Prudence indeed
             seemed to dictate that I should halt, and
             give it the right of way.   I did so, all this was
             as quick as thought, & had to be–The shell struck
             at the feet of the color corporal, the man next
             to me but one in the rear rank.  I saw him
             fall but had not time to see if he was hurt.
             I learned afterwards that the shell did not
             hit him, but that the concussion threw him
             and two or three others to the earth.  It did
             not burst.  If it had this diary would not
             perhaps have been written.
                 The battalion pushed on under this fire
            until it reached the position “b” near the edge
            of a dense wood and a fence out of the line
            of fire from the rebel batteries.  We lay here
            until nearly 3 P.M.  In the interim we sent
            pickets through woods in our front to give
            us notice of the approach of the enemy from
            that direction.  We also sent the left company
            in the direction and into the apple orchard.
                Towards 3 P.M. we could see the skirmishers
           of the enemy advancing towards us on the
           hill beyond the orchard in handsome style.
           It was not long before our skirmishers were
           engaged & they fell back to their regiment, not
           however without gallantly contesting the ground.
               The 14th charged front & advanced to meet them
          and took the position marked “c” when the
          battle commenced.  The rebels were in a grove of
          small pines marked “H” & the fire became lively
          Almost the first fire my best corporal was
          killed.  The fight here continued with much of any
          for about two hours with an occasional intermission
          We not only maintained our ground against
          their furious assaults, but drove them twice out
          of the woods to the hill beyond where we could
          see them running for dear life.  These were
          interesting moments and if our men had not
          been checked by us would have rushed into the
          very arms of the whole rebel army.
               The rebels, however, as soon as one line was
          forced back would send in another to take its
          place. Thus we had to fight tow or three sets
          of fresh troops.  We would have maintained
          our position at “c” until night (we had ad-
          vanced twice to “d” & fell back to “c”) but the 3rd
          Infantry which had been fighting at the point
          “p” on the death of Major Russell, Commanding,
          fell back without giving us notice when
          the rebels then directed their fire upon the 14th.
          We were thus between two fires and we were com-
          pelled to make a flank movement and take up
          our old position at “b”.  Our battery drove the
          rebels from “H” and they left the woods at “J” for
          which we were thankful as we were greatly in
          need of rest & water.  After laying here awhile
          we fell back to point marked “e” under the crest
          of a slight rise in the ground where we lay.
          Here we sent a couple of men from each Comp-
          any with nearly all the canteens, for water.
          They were taken prisoners, so we lost our canteens
          and didn’t get any water.  We lay here some
          length of time, I felt perfectly secure suppo-
          sing we had skirmishers in the woods in our
          front. The rest was grateful though it was in
          a ploughed field and under a broiling sun.
          I felt thankful I had escaped being hit with
          the murderous lead & iron of the enemy though
          so many had fallen around me and was
          thankful to be any where else. I had not
          yet finished my part of the fight.
          In the midst of a profound quiet we were
          startled by a tremendous volley of musketry
          from those very woods in our front not seventy
          five yards distant, then came another and
          another. The bullets whisteled [sic] in terrific
          proximity to our heads as we hugged the furrows.
          The time though but a moment seemed an age
          Several of our officers & many of our men were
          wounded & Killed here.  All at once, during a
          momentary lull in the firing, came the order
          from OConnell to rise & retire stooping.  As
          we  retired the rebels came out from their cover.
          We had not gone far when we faced about
          and gave them a volley which somewhat
          checked their advance: then our battery at
          “G” poured into them grape and cannister. They
          still advanced in masses under this terrible
          fire.  We had given them several volleys before
          we got back to the lane in the position marked “f”
          where we made a stand.  Here we fought in the
          twilight keeping this force in check when we were
          relieved by a volunteer regiment (the 16th N.Y.)
          which came into the fight with a tremendous
          cheer, nearly breaking our line.  They received
          about one volley from the enemy when they
          retired in great disorder.
              It being now dark, the battle was nearly
         over.  An occasional volley fired on suspicion
         and an occasional shell were the only evidences
         that the two armies had just been engaged in
         deadly conflict.  Night with it charitable
         mantle covered the horrible scene.  Our army
         which was composed of about Twenty seven
         thousand troops, held in check about Seventy
         thousand of the enemy.  Our task was well
         done.  We were selected to interpose between the
         rebels & the rest of the Union Army.
            Gen. McClellan finding it impossible to per-
        suade the Government to let McDowell u-
        nite with him on the right, necessarily was
        compelled to shorten this line, and as the attack
        was made, while the rest of the army with
        its immense trains of artillery & supplies
        of all kinds crossed the Chickahominy–
        That night  our portion of the army which had
        been fighting all day, also crossed, when the
        bridges were blown up & we lay down at
        daylight to take some rest.

     MSS 9044

[from the diary of Samuel Johnson, 1st Massachusetts Independent Light Battery]

                        June 27th

At seven A. M, we harnessed up, and
proceeded to the front, and went into
position, expecting an engagement.
Gen Porter having fallen back to
Gaines Mills, burning his commissary
and quarter-master’s stores.  there he
formed a new line of battle in a
strong position.  Remained in
position until noon, when all being
quiet we returned to camp and
unharnessed.  Early in the afternoon
the rebs opened on our lines with
their Artillery. and drove Bartlett’s
and Newton’s brigades. D. battery 2nd
U. S. and our battery, from our camps.
At two P. M. Porter who was severly
pressed at Gaines Mills, sent in for
reinforcements.,  Our div.( Slocum’s)

was ordered to march to his assistance.
Crossed the river at Woodbury bridge, and
by ½ past three, we had arrived on the
field.  Our div. was sent to different parts
of the line where they were most needed,
Bartlett’s brigade, and a Penn. battery. of
McCalls div;   at five P. M. French’s and
Meagher’s (Irish) brigades were sent to reinfor-
-ce us.  At six the rebs attacked us in great
force, but were repulsed, after a most
desperate struggle; our position was a
most critical one.  The rebs next opened,
on us a cross fire, which they kept
up for nearly an hour, and a most
terrible fire it was; the air over, around,
and even the ground beneath us, was
full of shot shell and musket balls;
during this storm of iron hail, we
changed our position a little to the
left, and it was a perfect miracle
that half of the battery was not
killed, while we were changing our
position,  At seven, they again attack-
-ed our lines, with still greater fury,
and finaly gained the woods on
our left, this reverse, aided by the
confusion which followed an

unsuccessful charge by five compa-
nies of the 5th U. S. Cavalry, caused
us to fall back to a hill, overlooking
Woodbury bridge,  French’s and Meaghers
brigade’s now appeared, driving before them
the stragglers, who were crowding for the
bridge.  These brigades advanced steadily to
the front, and by their example
reanimated our retreating columns, and
warned the rebels that reinforc ^ ‘e’ments
had arrived.  It was now nearly dark,
and the rebs who had been repulsed
several times with great loss, hearing
the shouts of these fresh troops, failed
to follow up their advantage;  this gave
us time to rally our columns, and behind
our reinforcements, advanced again ready
to repulse another attack.  Night ended
the fighting:  during the night our forces were
with drawn to the left bank of the
river, and the bridges were blown up.
We lost some twenty two pieces of Artillery,
and although were finaly compelled to
retire from the field, we gained the
object which we fought for.  The entire
4th N. J. regt was captured. which fate for
a few moments appeared to be ours.
we had one man wounded.  We had
but 30,00 men engaged, while the force of

the rebs exceeded 80,000.  Pleasant and warm.


[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]


MSS 8493

[from the diary of Sgt. Z. Lee Gilmer of the Albemarle Rifles,  Co. B. of the 19th Virginia]

27th June
    As soon as we could see I
saw long black lines of troops
stretching from hill to hill
from woods to woods & in Brigade
after Brigade they slowly but
surely advanced down the river to
the field of carnage Sweping[?]
that cowardly foe before our
impenitrable ranks leaving
the ded & wounded behind. This
I thought was the most sublime
sight I have ever witnessed. But
before the fireing was very warm
here at McCanicsville this morn
[hole in paper]  the Federals soon gave way & we
poreing a warm fire into them
as they skedaddled before us, for
we had driven them from the bridge
from McKanicsksville & from many
brestworks which our men advanced
upon in the most perfect order
& bravest manner.  In this way we
were closley pressing them through
the day fireing upon them all
the time until about one or two
oclock when I entered the battle of
        Gainsmill
Just before going in to that
dredful fight we saw Old Jackson
pass on our left going to
the rear of the enemy at this
time we were resting at Gains
dwelling here I laid down &
got a short [s]leep.  But about 2
O’Clock we made the attack on
the enemy right wing where
we found them strongly intren
ched in the woods.  we charged
upon their works they in the
woods & we in the fair open
field, we charged until within
150 yds of their works when
we stood & fired very severe &
a most heavey fire was pored
into us, for Pofers[sic] Division here
was strongely intrenched–Our
men here fell thick & fast
but stood as firm as the
rock of ages, here fell Gen
Pickett my major & many
brave & gallant officers.  soon
we were ordered to charge & drove
the enemy from their behind
their works.  here my Brigade
was relieved & I entered the
fight with Pryors (Roger A)
& in advancing across the field
in a very short distance not more
than 80 yards from their battery
& a very severe fire, I received my
wound which the Surgeon’s
pronounced mortal for two days
It was just dark when I received
my wound.  I was then borne
to the field officer Hospital
where I remained until the
next day

[although dated the 27th, Gilmer’s diary appears to have been written some days to weeks later]

MSS 4459

[from the diary of Frank Fitzhugh of Cutshaw’s Battery]

                                  Friday 27
Battle opened at day break. enemy
retreated until 1 Oclock   battle
then opened & lasted until 9 P.M.
with great fury.  Enemy ret-
-reated.  Va. Bat. under heavy
fire, but could not return
a shot.

[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 4448

[from the diary of Matthella Page Harrison as transcribed at a later date]

Friday, June 27th

Yeterday Mary and I went to Winchester to have our teeth fixed but failed, the dentist having no material. The Yankees are discomforting us in every way.  It was reported coming from Col. Bacheler, the Provost Marshal, that the French consul was at Hampton Roads.  An armistice of thirty days had been declared, whether to head off negotiations we knew not.  McClellan has been driven beyond the Chickahominy out of sound of the church bells. He will not attend services there for some moths now we think.  He calls loudly for reinforcements, which is comforting.  Vast boasted numbers must be decreasing when the call for them is made so loudly.  They evidently do not heed the first trumpet note of despair.


MSS 9759

[from the diary of Daniel D. Logan, younger brother of General Thomas M. Logan, formerly a Sgt, Co. B, 1st Special Battalion (Rightor’s), now with the Hampton Legion]

                        Friday – June 27th 1862
Heavy artilery firing commenced by Early day
light this morning toward the Chickahominy
River – I am unable to join in the fray!  Capt
Harrison is going away this week for his health
& our returns & money to be handed into the de
-partment.  Learn today that D H Hills division made
the attack yes’day Evening – at Mechanicsville driving
the Enemy out their works & uniting with D H Hills
division who crossed the river at the Mechanics-
-ville Road.  they drove the Enemy as far as
Beaver dam two & ½ miles by 9 o’c at night
a signal victory so far – as our forces have
taken Beaver dam & driven the Enemy 8 miles
further towards the Pamunkey R & White House –
at a special point Jackson will attack them –
Nothing very definite from todays operations how
-ever.  Bro got a horse & left at ten o’c for the
scene – I had to go to town on business – went
to Rockets this Evening also – Many hundred
are coming in – Our men suffered very much

[The following lines are cross-written over the above page.]
in storming the Enemies batteries at Beaver Dam
& other places – So far McClellands Chances
are good for a Sound thrashing – Have the
Diarhea pretty badly again today

[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 6154