Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/119

 Memoir of General John Bankhead Magruder. 109

upon a personal examination, he found them too strong to be carried by assault, and therefore determined to reduce them by regular ap- proaches. For that purpose he promptly commenced the erection of his primary batteries beyond the effective range of Magruder' s guns (one and a half miles).

At this time Magruder' s force did not exceed eleven thousand men, while that of his opponent numbered over a hundred thousand. Notwithstanding this disparity of numbers, Magruder, with match- less audacity, maintained his position for several weeks. Every ad- vance of McClellan was met with such vigor and boldness that he was compelled to retire with loss. His force being evidently inade- quate for the permanent maintenance of his position, strong re-en- forcements were ordered to his assistance, and General Johnston was directed to assume command of the Peninsula. Magruder, in his report, says that with twenty-five thousand men he could have held his position. Judging from what had preceded, this was clearly no idle boast. It may be here remarked, in the face of his distinguished service, that the omission of Magruder' s name is a matter of sur- prise, when reference is made to the Peninsula campaign.

After General Magruder had resigned the command of the Penin- sula to General Johnston, he exhibited the same patriotic zeal as division commander that had characterized him while exercising an independent command. His division, which was trained under his own eye was unsurpassed in discipline and spirit by any other divi- sion in the army.

We will now follow General Magruder to the Chickahominy. For his heroic defence of the Peninsula he had been rewarded with the rank of Major-General. The day after the battle of Seven Pines I met Magruder for the first time since the commencement of the war. He did not then possess the dashing nonchalant air that char- acterized him at Newport, and which he particularly retained at -Leavenworth, but he had the mien of a veteran who .fully under- stood the importance of his position. General Lee had just assumed the command of the Army of Northern Virginia, and was occupied in the selection of a defensive line. The position that had been chosen by General Johnston with but slight alteration was adopted, and Magruder retained that position that had been previously occu- pied by his division, that being the one of greatest prominence.

From the ist to the 25th of June the operations of both armies were of preparatory character. During that interval I was fre- quently on Magruder' s line, and was always impressed with the supe-