Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/135

 /,//; and Cteracter of Lt.-GenereA I). II. Hill. \-il

I between Hill and the McGehee house. (Series i, Volume XI, Part 2, page 626 of Official Records.) General Jackson's language is not less unmistakable : " Again pressing forward the Federals again fell back, but only to select a position for more obstinate defence, when at dark under the pres- sure of our batteries, which had then begun to play with marked effect upon the left, of other concurring events of the field and of the bold and dashing charge of General Hill's infantry, in which the troops of General C. S. Winder joined the enemy yielded the field and fled in confusion. Of the part taken by Hill, General Lee said in his report (Series i, Volume XI, Part 2, page 493, Official Records): " D. H. Hill charged across the open ground in his front, one of his regiments having first bravely carried a battery whose fire enfiladed his advance. Gallantly supported by the troops on his right, who pressed forward with unfaltering resolution, he reached the crest of the ridge (above the McGehee house), and after a sanguinary strug- gle broke the enemy' s line, captured several of his batteries and drove him in confusion towards the Chickahominy until darkness rendered further pursuit impossible." As Mr. Davis (2 Rise and Fall, C. G., page 138) adopts the exact language of General Lee, it is needless to reproduce it a second time. General McClellan refers to the report of Fitz John Porter, who was in command, for a detailed account of the affair at Games' Mill. Porter admits that the withdrawal of his line was caused by the retreat on his right, but insists that the de- moralization was due entirely to the stampede of the Federal cavalry, who were mistaken, as they fell back on the infantry line, for rebels. More candid or better informed than General Porter, the French Princes, who served on his staff on that day, admit that the charge of Hill and the discomfiture of the enemy's right necessitated the abandonment of their line of entrenchments. If to double the right flank of an army suddenly back so as to expose to an enfilade the flank of his last and strongest line of entrenchments is to make his position untenable, then Hill's charge was indeed decisive of the struggle at Games' Mill.

Crossing the Chickahominy on the night of the 2gth in the advance of Jackson's corps, D. H. Hill passed Savage Station where he took 1,000 prisoners, exclusive of 3,000 in and connected with the Federal hospital. The progress of Jackson was arrested by obstructions and the stubborn resistance at White Oak swamps, and he failed to effect a junction with Longstreet till after the fight at Frasier's farm.