but there had been no increase in the very small staff which had sufficed for the Valley army.  The mistakes which occurred at Gaines’ Mill, and Jackson’s ignorance of the movements and progress of his troops, were in great part due to his lack of staff officers.  A most important message, writes Dr. Dabney, involving tactical knowledge, was carried by a non-combatant.) “Unconscious,” says Dabney, “that his veteran brigades were but now reaching the ridge of battle, he supposed that all his strength had been put forth, and (what had never happened before) the enemy was not crushed."* (Dabney, volume 2, page 194.) Fortunately, the error of the aide-de-camp had already been corrected by the vigilance of the chief of the staff, and the remainder of the Valley army was coming up.

Their entry into battle was not in accordance with the intentions of their chief.  Whiting should have come in on Ewell’s right, Lawton on the right of Whiting, and Jackson’s division on the right of Lawton.  Whiting led the way; but he had advanced only a short distance through the woods when he was met by Lee, who directed him to support General A.P.  Hill.* (* Whiting’s Report, O.R. volume 11 part 1 page 563.) The brigades of Law and of Hood were therefore diverted to the right, and, deploying on either side of the Gaines’ Mill road, were ordered to assault the commanding bluff which marked the angle of the Federal position.  Lawton’s Georgians, 3,500 strong, moved to the support of Ewell; Cunningham and Fulkerson, of Winder’s division, losing direction in the thickets, eventually sustained the attack of Longstreet, and the Stonewall Brigade reinforced the shattered ranks of D.H.  Hill.  Yet the attack was strong, and in front of Old Cold Harbour six batteries had forced their way through the forest.

As this long line of guns covered McGehee’s Hill with a storm of shells, and the louder crash of musketry told him that his lagging brigades were coming into line, Jackson sent his last orders to his divisional commanders:  “Tell them,” he said, “this affair must hang in suspense no longer; let them sweep the field with the bayonet.”  But there was no need for further urging.  Before the messengers arrived the Confederate infantry, in every quarter of the battlefield, swept forward from the woods, and a vast wave of men converged upon the plateau.  Lee, almost at the same moment as Jackson, had given the word for a general advance.  As the supports came thronging up the shout was carried down the line, “The Valley men are here!” and with the cry of “Stonewall Jackson!” for their slogan, the Southern army dashed across the deep ravine.  Whiting, with the eight regiments of Hood and Law, none of which had been yet engaged, charged impetuously against the centre.  The brigades of A.P.  Hill, spent with fighting but clinging stubbornly to their ground, found strength for a final effort.  Longstreet threw in his last reserve against the triple line which had already decimated