PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN–SEVEN DAYS’ BATTLES
No. 259. — Report of Brig. Gen. R. E. Rodes, C. S. Army, commanding First Brigade, of the battle of Gaines’ Mill.
HDQRS. FIRST BRIG., MAJ. GEN. D. H. HILL’S DIV.,
July 19, 1862.
MAJOR: I have the honor to make the following report of the operations of my brigade, composed of the Third, Fifth, Sixth, Twelfth, and Twenty-sixth Alabama Regiments, and Carter’s battery, making an-aggregate of about 1,460 men, from the evening of June 26 to that of June 28 last:
In common with the other brigades of Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill mine took position on the Mechanicsville turnpike on the morning of June 26. We lay there until late in the afternoon of the 26th, when we moved across the Chickahominy, taking position in the field between Mechan-icsville and the Chickahominy.
Next morning, after being subjected to a brisk shelling process from the enemy without loss except one horse, we moved forward in the road to the left of the Mechanicsville battery, halted near that battery, and about 9 or 10 o’clock moved to the road leading to Bethesda Church. General Ripley’s brigade followed, mine being in reserve on that day.