PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN–SEVEN DAYS’ BATTLES
No. 258. — Report of-Maj. Gen. Daniel H. -Hill, C. S. Army, of egagement at King’s School-House and battles of Mechanicsville and Gaines’ Mill, engagement at White Oak Swamp Bridge, and battle of Malvern Hill.
Extract
In regard to the Twelfth Alabama General Rodes says:
The Twelfth Alabama, which in some confusion had shifted to the left late in the evening, joined the troops which came up on the left of Hill’s division.
Anderson’s brigade, on the left, met the Yankees on the edge of the swamp and was first engaged. The contest was short but bloody, and the woods were entirely cleared of the Yankees, who fell back behind a fence and ditch and the brow of a hill.
My division now occupied the edge of the wooded swamp, separated from the Yankees by an open field some 400 yards wide. Confederate troops upon our right, subsequently discovered to be Winder’s and Lawton’s brigades, were advancing across the plain to attack them. I found Generals Anderson and Garland discussing with great enthusiasm the propriety of attacking the Yankees in flank with their two brigades, while Lawton and Winder attacked in front. The only objection to the movement was that a Yankee battery on our extreme left could enfilade our line on its advance. Garland observed, "I don’t think it can do much harm, and I am willing to risk it." Anderson responded in the same spirit, and I ordered an advance of the whole division. To prevent the destruction of life item the battery I resolved to make an attempt to capture it. Two regiments of Elzey’s brigade (I think) were found separated from their command, and these I ordered under my volunteer aide, Mr. Sydnor, perfectly acquainted with the ground, to get in rear of the battery, while the Twentieth North Carolina, Col. Alfred Iverson; the Third North Carolina, Col. Gaston Meares, and the First North Carolina, commanded by Capt. H. A. Brown, were ordered to make a direct advance. Unfortunately Colonel Iverson alone carried out his orders fully.
