almost as dark as night in our front, but the long line of fire flashing from the enemy’s guns revealed their position.  The men became woefully tangled and disorganized, and in some places losing the organizations entirely, but under all these difficulties they steadily pressed to the front.  When near the outer edge of the thicket, we could see the enemy lying down in some young growth of pines, with their batteries in the fort.  The graping was simply dreadful, cutting and breaking through the bushes and striking against trees.  I had not gone far into the thicket before I was struck by a minnie ball in the chest, which sent me reeling to the ground momentarily unconscious.  Our men lost all semblance of a line, being scattered over a space of perhaps 50 yards, and those in front were in as much danger from friend as from foe.  While I lay in a semi-unconscious state, I received another bullet in my thigh which I had every reason to believe came from some one in the rear.  But I roused myself, and staggering to my feet made my way as well as I could out of the thicket.  When I reached the place from whence we had first made the charge, our drummer was beating the assembly or long roll with all his might, and men collecting around General Kershaw and Colonel Nance.  Here I first learned of the repulse.  The balls were still flying overhead, but some of our batteries had got in position and were giving the enemy a raking fire.  Nor was the railroad battery idle, for I could see the great black, grim monster puffing out heaps of gray smoke, then the red flash, then the report, sending the engine and car back along the track with a fearful recoil.  The lines were speedily reformed and again put in motion.  Jones, too, was forced by overwhelming numbers to give back, but Jackson coming up gave him renewed confidence, and a final advance was made along the whole line.  The battle was kept up with varying success until after night, when Sumner withdrew over White Oak Swamp.

On the morning of the 30th, McClellan, like a quarry driven to bay, drew up his forces on the south side of White Oak Swamp and awaited the next shock of battle.  Behind him were his trains of heavy siege guns, his army wagons, pontoons, and ordnance trains, all in bog and slush, seeking safety under the sheltering wings of his gunboats and ironclads on the James.  Lee met him at every point with bristling bayonets of his victorious troops.  At three o’clock A.M.  Longstreet and A.P.  Hill moved down the Darbytown road, leaving Jackson, D.H.  Hill, and Magruder to press McClellan’s retreating forces in the rear.  Huger, with the two former, was to come down the James River and attack in the flank.  Magruder, with his corps, was sent early in the day on a wild goose chase to support Longstreet’s right, but by being led by guides who did not understand the roads or plan of battle, Magruder took the wrong road and did not get up in time to join in the battle of Frazier’s Farm.  Jackson for some cause did not press the rear, as anticipated, neither did Huger come in time, leaving the brunt of the battle on the shoulders of A.P.  Hill and Longstreet.  The battle was but a repetition of that of Gaines’ Mill, the troops of Hill and Longstreet gaining imperishable glory by their stubborn and resistless attacks, lasting till nine o’clock at night, when the enemy finally withdrew.