THE ABMY OF THE POTOMAC. 75 knew anything more of the result of the fighting than his own eyes had seen. Friends and foes flinging themselves down in the woods lay there, among heaps of the dead and the dying, wherever the darkness found them. The fatigue of this obstinate fight, as well as the shades of night, had brought about one of those tacit truces not uncommon in war. Evidently Johnston had imagined that by throwing his whole force on the four federal divisions which had crossed the Chickahominy he could crush them before the rest of the army could come to their assistance. For the moment he had failed, thanks to the energetic resistance of these divisions and to the furious and unexpected onslaught of the troops of Sumner. No doubt he counted upon the tremendous storm of the previous night to swell the Chickahominy so as to make it impossible to throw any bridge over the river, and to carry away with its flood any bridge already fixed. But the capricious stream undid his combinations, as a few hours later it undid those of his enemies. The effect of the deluge of rain was not immediate. Twenty-four hours passed before it was fully felt. Was the interval employed as profitably as it ought to have been by the federals ? This is a question which will always afford a matter of controversy, like so many similar questions which inevitably arise out of the history of most great battles. It was not till one in the afternoon that the battle began. Some time had been lost under the impression that the attack on the right bank might be a feint to draw over the federal troops while the main body of the confederates was preparing to debouch upon the left bank. An end was soon put to all doubts on the subject by the vehemence of the attack, and by the aeronauts who reported the whole confederate army moving to the scene of action. It was then that Sumner received the order to pass the river with his divisions. He executed it rapidly, marching a little at haphazard at the head of his column with no other guide
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