"...Lee, Lee, Lee, it is all Lee"

Friday, July 4, 1862, Virginia


I do not know where I am. I do not know where I have been, somewhere near H--l I would suppose. I am alive and perhaps well. There are many others who are neither. I can remember the long roll being beaten on  Wednesday of this past week. We fell in under arms and marched towards  Meadow Bridge, spanning the Chickahominy. there we spent the night. 


The following morning, Thursday, the brigade, minus the 14th, marched across the bridge into the the inferno. It did not take long for the Yankee guns to find the range and welcome our approach with shot and shell. As the brigade was in reserve, we were ordered into a protected area, out of danger. Even so, we suffered a few casualties. There we spent the night but did little sleeping. There was a good deal of praying whenever we were not bragging.


On Friday, the brigade was advanced to the front of the lines. We advanced against their earthworks and took them after a brief exchange of musketry. We flattered ourselves by thinking that the Yankees had run from us. We saw Jackson come up on our left, flanking the earthworks at which point their occupants advanced to the rear. For several hours, we pursued the enemy across fields and through forests, taking and giving fire. We spent the night on the field of battle. We were much too exhausted to let the groans of the wounded keep us awake. Our own captain, Vanlandingham, and three other captains were wounded. The regiment suffered at least 100 casualties.


On Saturday, we rested, buried our dead, and made ourselves ready for the next fight.


On Sunday, we marched in the direction of Frayser's Farm in an attempt to cut off McClellan's retreat. We realized by this time that he had abandoned his positions along the Chickahominy and was looking to move his army to a place of comparative safety.


On Monday, the last day of June, we marched to the farm and there we caught it. Longstreet had preceded us along the route of march. The Yankees had some well-placed artillery shelling us, trying to protect the rear of McClellan's army. We were sent in to re-enforce Longstreet. Whatever shells that missed Longstreet's troops fell in our ranks. The 14th South Carolina suffered the most.


On Tuesday, the first day of the last half of 1862, there occurred the greatest artillery engagement of the world. McClellan had placed a great many guns atop Malvern Hill. For us to cut off McClellan from his base and chew him up, Malvern Hill had to be won. We sent grey flesh against black iron. The slaughter was terrible and the hill remained in their hands. They gave it up only when it suited them to do so. Our brigade was not engaged and even if it had, I doubt that the issue would have changed.


It is now Friday and we await the orders that will direct us into tomorrow's battles. I think that we have given a good account of ourselves to this point. All of us are dirty and tired. Our uniforms need mending or replacement. Our cartridge boxes need replenishment as do our bellys. There seems to be little trouble filling the former. 


All of us can now say that we have seen the elephant. Those of us who were in Fort Walker during the naval engagement last November said that we had seen that great beast even though so little of the enemies attentions were directed at us. It was the troops at Fort Beauregard that caught the Devil, not us. Even the few small engagements near Beaufort did not prepare us for what has happened during the course of the last seven days or so. The elephant we saw there was a pigmy. Here, we have seen a whole herd and a good many of us were crushed in the stampede.


I saw much and perhaps a kind Providence will allow me to forget much. At Gaines' Mill on Friday, I witnessed the discharge of muskets and the discharge of one's stomach contents. I saw men fall as if killed only to reserrect themselves once their faint had passed. I saw Flynn act in a most animated manner but cannot recall hearing anything he said. Several times during these battles, some of us, myself included, emptied our cartridge boxes and had to fill them by taking cartridges from the fallen. They did not appear to mind. Terry and Castles, Vincent and Carter, White and Hancock all fought like true men. Even Adkins, new to the company, and never having tasted fire before, did his duty. In our company, Jim McDow gave his last and best for his country.


We started this campaign five miles from Richmond. We stand now at least three times that distance from our starting point. We have taken on an army bigger than our own and beaten it several times in one week. We put our bayonets in their backs and prodded them along against their will until they no longer threatened our capital.


And it is Lee, Lee, Lee, it is all Lee. I take back any hurtful word I ever uttered about him. It is due to his genius that against all odds, we have prevailed. This Lee knows how to make war.