THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 5 93 motive, tender, and ears, which had been left on the rails was sent headlong over the broken bridge into the river. Nothing was left for the foe but three siege guns which could not be moved, and which we neglected to bury. These were the only siege guns he captured, although the story has been everywhere repeated that he took the whole federal siege train with the exception of these three pieces. The whole of that train reached the James river in safety. Our great misfortune was, that we were obliged to abandon so many of our wounded, not only at Gaines’s Mill and at Savage's Station, but along the whole line of retreat. This misfortune was inevitable. It was only by ceaseless fighting that we could protect our retreat, and the transportation of so many wounded men would have required conveniences which we did not possess. General McClellan, during the 29th, and the morning of the 30th, remained near White Oak Swamp, urging on the passage of his enormous train. The heat was overwhelming. Uis aids-de-camp, continually galloping from the rear-guard to the advance, were utterly exhausted. So long as this huge train divided the different parts of the army we were in great danger. But nothing disturbed the serene self-possession of the General-in-Chief. On the 29th, he had stopped, I remember, to rest in the verandah of a house by the way side, when the mistress of the establishment came to complain to him that the soldiers were eating her cherries. The General rose with a smile, went himself and put a stop to the pillage. But he could not prevent the shells, next day, from setting fire to the house of his pretty hostess. At davbreak on the 30th "McClellan had the satisfaction of seeing all his troops and all his trains in safety beyond "White Oak Swamp which was to oppose a new barrier to the pursuit of the enemy. By the evening of the next day Generals Keyes and Porter were in communication with the gunboats on the James. The trains had moved upon roads pointed out
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