Battle of Gaines' Mill
The
Battle of Gaines' Mill, also known as the
First Battle of Cold Harbor or the
Battle of Chickahominy River, took place on
June 27,
1862, in
Hanover County, Virginia, as part of the
Seven Days Battles (
Peninsula Campaign) of the
American Civil War.
Union Major General George B. McClellan's
Army of the Potomac had pushed to within a few miles of the Confederate capital of
Richmond and had stalled following the
Battle of Seven Pines in late May 1862. The Seven Days began on
June 26 when
Confederate General
Robert E. Lee and the
Army of Northern Virginia launched a large-scale assault against McClellan at the
Battle of Beaver Dam Creek (or Mechanicsville). Lee attacked the
V Corps, commanded by Brig. Gen.
Fitz John Porter, north of the
Chickahominy River, while the bulk of the Union Army was relatively unoccupied south of the river. By the next morning, the Union forces were concentrated into a semicircle with Porter collapsing his line into an east-west salient north of the river and the four corps south of the river remaining in their original positions. Porter was ordered by McClellan to hold Gaines' Mill at all costs so that the army could change its base of supply to the
James River. Several of McClellan's subordinates urged him to attack the Confederate division of Maj. Gen.
John B. Magruder south of the river, but he feared the vast numbers of Confederates he believed to be before him and refused to capitalize on the overwhelming superiority he actually held on that front.
|
Seven Days Battles, June 26–27, 1862 |
On
June 27, Lee continued his offensive, launching the largest Confederate attack of the war. (It occurred in almost the same location as the 1864
Battle of Cold Harbor and had similar numbers of total casualties.) Maj. Gen.
A.P. Hill resumed his attack across Beaver Dam Creek early in the morning, but found the line lightly defended. Moving eastward and approaching Gaines' Mill, his lead brigade, under Brig. Gen.
Maxcy Gregg, was held up by fierce resistance from the 9th Massachusetts Infantry. By early afternoon, he ran into strong opposition by Porter, deployed along Boatswain's Creek and the swampy terrain was a major obstacle against the attack. Attacks by the brigades of Brig. Gens. Gregg,
Dorsey Pender,
Joseph R. Anderson, and
Lawrence O'Bryan Branch made little headway. As Maj. Gen.
James Longstreet arrived to the south of A.P. Hill, he saw the difficulty of attacking over such terrain and delayed until Maj. Gen.
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson could attack on Hill's left.
For the second time in the Seven Days, however, Jackson was late. Maj. Gen.
D.H. Hill attacked the Federal right and was held off by the division of Brig. Gen.
George Sykes; he backed off to await Jackson's arrival. Longstreet was ordered to conduct a diversionary attack to stabilize the lines until Jackson could arrive and attack from the north. In Longstreet's attack, Brig. Gen.
George E. Pickett's brigade attempted a frontal assault and was beaten back under severe fire with heavy losses. Jackson finally reached D.H. Hill's position at 3 p.m. and was completely disoriented following a day of pointless marching and countermarching. Believing that Longstreet's attack was underway, he kept his men and those of Hill's out of the fight to avoid
friendly fire. Receiving messages from Lee, Jackson began his assault at 4:30 p.m.
Porter's line was saved by Brig. Gen.
Henry W. Slocum's division moving into position to bolster his defense. Shortly after dark, the Confederates mounted another attack, poorly coordinated, but this time collapsing the Federal line. Brig. Gen.
John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade opened a gap in the line, as did Pickett's Brigade on its second attempt of the day. The brigades of Brig. Gens.
Thomas F. Meagher and
William H. French arrived, too late to help other than as a rear guard for Porter's retreat. A battalion of the 5th U.S. Cavalry under Captain Charles J. Whiting suffered heavy losses and was forced to surrender. By 4 a.m. on
June 28, Porter withdrew across the Chickahominy, burning the bridges behind him.
For the second day, Magruder was able to continue fooling McClellan south of the river by employing minor diversionary attacks. He was able to occupy 60,000 Federal troops while the heavier action occurred north of the river.
Gaines' Mill was an intense battle. Union casualties from the 34,214 engaged were 6,837 (894 killed, 3,107 wounded, and 2,836 captured or missing). Of the 57,018 Confederates engaged, losses totaled 8,751. Although McClellan had already planned to shift his supply base to the James River, his defeat unnerved him and he precipitously decided to abandon his advance on Richmond and begin the retreat of his entire army to the James. Gaines' Mill and the Union retreat across the Chickahominy was a psychological victory for the Confederacy, signaling that Richmond was out of danger.
* Eicher, David J.,
The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War, Simon & Schuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
* Esposito, Vincent J.,
West Point Atlas of American Wars, Frederick A. Praeger, 1959.
*
CWSAC Battle Summary, National Park Service
