THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. and the broken regiments galloping through the artillery and the flying infantry in the clouds of dust only increased the general disorder. The artillery horses were killed, and I saw, with painful emotion, the men working with the courage of desperation at guns which could no longer be removed. They dropped one after another. Two alone were left at last, and they continued to load and fire almost at point blank range upon the enemy. Then the deepening twilight hid the scene. All these guns were lost. General Butterfield had made in vain the most superhuman efforts to save them. On foot, his horse having been shot, struck in the hat by the fragment of a shell, and his sabre hit • by a ball, surrounded by his aids-de-camp, of whom several fell at his side, he had tried to rally the infantry around a flag planted in the ground. He succeeded, but only for a few moments; the precipitate rush of the retreat carried everything away. Happily, night came on, and after losing amileof ground, the army reached the fresh brigades of Meagher and French, which were formed in good order. These brigades sent up a vigorous hurrah, and a few guns put anew in battery opened their fire upon the enemy, who paused at last, cheeked by this final and determined resistance. As the last guns of this action were firing, we heard a lively rattle of musketry from the direction of Fair Oaks, on the other side of the river. It came from the confederates who were attacking the federal works; but the attack, which was probably only a demonstration, was vigorously repelled. The day had been severe. In the main battle, that of Gaines’s Mill, 35,000 federals had failed to defeat 60,000 confederates, but they had held them in check. More could not have been expected. During the night the federals repassed the bridges of the Chickahominy in perfect order, destroying them after they had passed. They left behind them the field of battle, covered
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