The FReeper Foxhole Revisits Battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines) (5/31 - 6/1/1862) - May 27th, 2005

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/HMore/battleof.htm ^

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

The Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia
May 31, 1862 - June 1, 1862

Fair Oaks was a small station on the Richmond & York River railroad, about 6 miles east of Richmond. Three miles farther east was Savage Station, and a mile southeast, on the Williamsburg stage road, about half-way between Richmond and Bottom's bridge over the Chickahominy river, was Seven Pines. North of the railroad and nearly parallel with it ran the New Bridge road, which at Old Tavern was intersected by another highway called the Nine-mile road. From Old Tavern this road ran southeast, crossing the railroad at Fair Oaks and forming a junction with the Williamsburg road at Seven Pines. Three miles from Richmond the Charles City road left the Williamsburg road to the right and ran southeast toward White Oak swamp.

After the reconnaissance of Gen. Naglee to Seven Pines (q. v.) on the 24th the 4th Corps, under command of Brig.-Gen. E. D. Keyes, was ordered to fortify a position there. A strong line of rifle-pits, protected in front by an abatis was constructed a little east of the junction of the Nine mile and Williamsburg roads. Fronting the Williamsburg road were two houses, exactly alike, called the "Twin Houses," near which a small pentangular redoubt was thrown up and manned by a battery of 6 guns. The 3rd Corps, Brig.- Gen. S. P. Heintzelman commanding, was ordered to cross the Chickahominy at Bottom's bridge and take position near White Oak swamp to guard the left and rear of the army.

On the 30th the troops on the south side of the Chickahominy were stationed as follows: Casey's division of the 4th Corps on the right of the Williamsburg road at right angles to it, the center being at Fair Oaks; Couch's division of the same Corps at Seven Pines; Kearny's division of the 3rd Corps along the railroad from Savage Station to the Chickahominy, and Hooker's division of the 3rd Corps at White Oak Swamp. The Corps of Porter, Franklin and Sumner had not yet crossed the Chickahominy. On the morning of May 30, Gen. D. H. Hill (Confederate) sent Garland's brigade out on a reconnaissance on the Williamsburg road and the rifle-pits of the 4th Corps at Seven Pines were discovered. About noon on the same day Hill reported to. Gen. J. E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate forces about Richmond, that the Federals were in force on the south side of the Chickahominy.



Johnston had already learned that McDowell's Corps, some 40,000 strong, was on the way to join the Army of the Potomac, and now determined to strike McClellan before McDowell could come up. In his official report of the engagement of Fair Oaks he gives the following plan of battle, which was explained to his different commanders that afternoon: "Gen. Hill supported by the division of Gen. Longstreet (who had the direction of operations on the right), was to advance by the Williamsburg road to attack the enemy in front. Gen. Huger, with his division, was to move down the Charles City road in order to attack in flank the troops who might be engaged with Hill and Longstreet, unless he found in his front force enough to occupy his division. Gen. Smith was to march to the junction of the New Bridge road and Nine mile road to be in readiness either to fall on Keyes' right flank or to cover Longstreet's left. They were to move at daybreak."

The attack was expected by the Federals, as the cars had been heard running nearly all night, indicating a movement of troops to the front, and their suspicions were strengthened by the capture of one of Johnston's aides near the Union lines on the morning of the 31st. The Union generals had therefore exercised increased vigilance to prevent anything like a surprise. Keyes formed his men in two lines of battle, Casey's division moving to the left and taking a position in front of the abatis, Palmer's brigade on the left, Wessells' in the center and Naglee's on the right, with two regiments north of the railroad. Couch's division constituted the second line which was formed across the Williamsburg road and along the Nine mile road, Peck's brigade on the left, Deven's in the center and Abercrombie's on the right, two regiments of his brigade and Brady's battery being beyond the railroad at Fair Oaks.

Casey's pickets were about 1,000 yards in advance of the first line. Owing to a severe storm on the night of the 30th, with some confusion in moving the troops to their positions the next morning, the Confederates did not begin the attack until 1 p.m. About noon a mounted vedette rode back to Casey's headquarters with the report that the enemy was approaching in force on the Williamsburg road. Casey ordered the 103rd and 104th Pennsylvania to move forward to the support of the pickets and the regiment was hardly in position when two shells were thrown into the Union lines.


Chickahominy Lowlands

The whole division was then ordered under arms and Spratt's battery moved to the front about a quarter of a mile to shell the enemy as soon as the pickets and their supports could be withdrawn. Bates', Regan's and Fitch's batteries were also placed in position, with instructions to open on the enemy as soon as he debouched from the woods. They had not long to wait, for in five minutes the pickets and their supports were forced back by the overwhelming force of the enemy. Gen. Webb says of this part of the action: "The pickets, reinforced by the 103rd and 104th Pennsylvania, soon broke and joined by a large number of sick, camp followers and skulkers, flowed in a steady stream to the rear, thus giving the impression that Casey's division had broken in a panic, and left the field without making any firm or prolonged resistance."

Such, however, was not the case. When the pickets fell back the Confederates advanced and soon the "rebel yell" resounded on all sides. They were met by a steady fire of canister that thinned their ranks, but failed to check their advance. Seeing himself greatly outnumbered, Casey sent back to Keyes for reinforcements. In response to his request the 55th New York, under Lieut.-Col. Thourot, was sent forward into the rifle-pits to support the center; the 23rd and 61st Pennsylvania., commanded by Cols. Neill and Rippey, were ordered to the right; and Gen. Pack, with two regiments of his brigade-the 93rd and 102nd Pennsylvania-was sent to the left. In order to save his artillery Casey ordered a bayonet charge against the center. This charge was made by part of Naglee's brigade and the enemy driven back, giving the batteries an opportunity to withdraw from their exposed positions.

On the right Neill and Rippey repulsed one attack, but the Confederates rallied and, were reinforced, when they again assaulted and the two regiments were forced back, though they brought 35 prisoners with them. In trying to reinforce them the 7th Massachusetts and 62nd New York, commanded by Couch in person, to avoid being cut off, joined Abercrombie at Fair Oaks and fought with his brigade during the remainder of the day. Peck, on the left, held his position for over two hours, when the heavy force massed against him compelled him to retire, which he did in good order. Mill then began moving troops to the right and, left "to take the Yankee works in reverse," and Casey again sent back for reinforcements, but as the second line had already been weakened to support the first, Keyes deemed it inadvisable to send any more troops to the front. Casey then fell back to Couch's line, after having maintained his position for over three hours against a vastly superior force. Here he rallied part of his division, and reinforced by part of Kearny's division which was just then coming up, tried to recapture his works, but the enemy was too strong and the attempt was abandoned.


General Sedgwick's men cross the Chickahominy on the Grapevine Bridge

Up to this time Hill's division had been the only portion of the Confederate forces actively engaged. Johnston, who was with Smith on the left gave the order at 4 p.m. for that wing to move forward. About the same time Longstreet sent in the brigades of Anderson, Wilcox and Kemper on the Williamsburg road, and those of Colston, and Pryor on the right, and with the addition of these fresh troops a general attack was made all along the line. Although Berry's and Jameson's brigades of Kearny's division arrived on the field in time to reinforce the Union troops before this general assault was commenced, the weight of superior numbers was with the enemy and after a stubborn resistance of more than an hour the Federals fell back slowly to a narrow strip of woods across the Williamsburg road. Here Heintzelman succeeded in rallying a sufficient force to hold the enemy in check until a new line of battle could be formed in the rear of the wood. In the formation of this third line Keyes noticed that the key to the position was at the left of the wood, where the ground sloped to the rear, and determined to occupy it.

Concerning this action he says in his report: "I hastened to the 10th Mass. Col. Briggs, which regiment I had myself once before moved, now in the rifle-pits on the right of the Williamsburg road and ordered them to follow me across the field. Col. Briggs led them on in gallant style, moving quickly across an open space of 700 or 800 yards under a scorching fire, and forming his men with perfect regularity. * * * Had the 1Oth Massachusetts been two minutes later they would have been too late to occupy that fine position, and it would have been impossible to have formed the next and last line of battle of the 31st, which stemmed the tide of defeat and turned it toward victory." In forming the new line it was impossible to pay attention to brigade organizations. Regiments and fragments of regiments were thrown into position at the most convenient points, and none too soon, for scarcely had the line been formed when the Confederates bore down upon it, elated with success and confident of again driving the Union forces from their position. But they never entered the wood. When they came within range they were met by a deadly fire that checked their advance. Another volley caused them to fall back in some disorder, and as it was now after 6 o'clock they did not make another attempt to carry the position.


[The Battle of Fair Oaks, Va. May 31st, 1862]
Lithograph, hand colored.
Published by Currier & Ives, [c1862]

About 2:30 p.m. the sound of firing was heard at McClellan's headquarters on the north side of the Chickahominy, and Sumner was ordered to move his two divisions across the river to the support of Heintzelman and Keyes. The troops were already in marching order, so that no time was lost in getting started. Sedgwick's division moved in advance on the road directly to Fair Oaks, the head of his column coming up just in time to join Couch, as that officer with four regiments and Brady's battery, was holding in check Smith's entire division.

Col. Sully, with the 1st Minnesota, was the first of Sedgwick's command to reach the field, and without waiting for orders he swung his regiment into line on Couch's right, charged across a field and took position with his right resting on a farm house and his left on the edge of the woods. Gorman quickly followed with the rest of his brigade, moving to Couch's left, where Kirby's battery was planted in a position to command the road. It was immediately charged by the enemy in an attempt to capture the guns, but Gorman threw three regiments on their flank and this was followed by a bayonet charge that drove the Confederates from the field. This closed the battle on the Federal right for the day. Richardson's division arrived just as the enemy were retiring, but too late to take part in the engagement.


Federal observation balloon Intrepid being inflated.
Battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 1862. (NARA 111-B-680)

At 2 o'clock on the morning of June 1, a council of war was held at Sumner's headquarters, at which it was decided to attack the enemy as soon as the different commands could be properly disposed. Richardson's division was posted along the railroad east of Fair Oaks, French's brigade in the first line, Howard's in the second and Meagher's in the third. On the left of Richardson was Birney's brigade of Kearny's division, Berry's and Jameson's brigades being at the cross- roads east of Seven Pines, where the Union forces made their last stand in the first day's battle. Here were also the rest of Keyes' Corps and Hooker's division of Heintzelman's, which had come up from White Oak swamp about dark on the 31st. Gen. Johnston was severely wounded by a shell near the close of the first day's fight, and in the battle of June 1, the movements of the Confederate forces were directed by Gen. G. W. Smith, second in rank.

About 5 a.m. the enemy's skirmishers and a small body of cavalry appeared in front of Richardson, but a few shells from Pettit's battery dispersed them. Soon afterward a large force of Confederates debauched from the woods and opened a heavy musketry fire at short range. French's division returned the fire for some time, when, the enemy being heavily reinforced, Howard was ordered to French's assistance. One regiment of Howard's brigade - the 81st Pennsylvania - had been sent to close a gap in the line between Richardson and Kearny, but with the rest of his command Howard moved promptly forward on French's left, as the enemy was trying to turn that flank, and forced the Confederates back through the woods beyond Casey's old camp at Seven Pines. In this action Howard received a wound that resulted in the loss of his right arm, and turned over the command of the brigade to Col. Cross, of the 5th New Hampshire.



As soon as Hooker heard the firing he advanced with the 5th and 6th New Jersey, of Patterson's brigade, with Sickles' brigade in support, to attack the Confederates in the rear. Skirmishers were thrown forward and the two New Jersey regiments were soon engaged. Sickles had been ordered to the left by Heintzelman, but Birney's brigade, now under command of Col. J. H. Ward, happened to be in a convenient position, and it was ordered to Hooker's support. As the line had to move through a swamp the advance was slow, but Hooker says in his report: "Our lines were well preserved, the fire brisk and unerring, and our troops reliant-all omens of success. After an interchange of musketry of this character for more than an hour directions were given to advance with the bayonet, when the enemy were thrown into wild confusion, throwing away their arms, hats and coats, and broke through the forest in the direction of Richmond. At this moment chivalry and rebellion presented a deplorable picture. Pursuit was hopeless."


A view of the Adams House around which the fighting of May 31, 1862, swirled.

When Sickles was withdrawn from Hooker's support his brigade was moved to the left of the Williamsburg road. The ground here was too boggy to permit the use of artillery but Sickles pushed forward the 71st and 73rd New York, under Col. Hail and Maj. Moriarty, supported by the rest of the brigade, and his victory here was no less brilliant than that of his division commander. After firing one or two volleys Hall charged and started the enemy in retreat, when the whole brigade pressed forward to take advantage of the situation, and the Confederates were forced back until Sickles occupied the field of the previous day. Concerning this part of the fight Sickles, report says: "The fields were strewn with Enfield rifles, marked 'Tower, 1862,' and muskets marked 'Virginia,' thrown away by the enemy in his hurried retreat. In the camp occupied by Gen. Casey and Gen. Couch on Saturday, before the battle of Seven Pines were found rebel caissons filled with ammunition, a large number of small arms, and several baggage wagons, besides two barns filled with subsistence and forage."

Thus the Confederate army that had marched out so proudly on the morning of May 31, to drive McClellan's left wing into the Chickahominy and cut the Federal line of supplies, returned to Richmond the next day defeated, panic-stricken and disorganized. The Union losses at the battle of Fair Oaks amounted to 790 killed, 3,594 wounded and 647 missing. The Confederates lost 980 killed, 4,749 wounded and 405 missing.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[Professional Engineer]

We did our best to straighten him out.

A funny thing happened on the way to middle age. I've had the epiphany that I'm more conservative than my conservative dad.

Speaking of bugs, he tried to collect some when he visited a colleague in College Station, but didn't do well. Things were a bust in San Antonio, and he didn't even try here.

[Professional Engineer]

Aye.

BTW, I can walk away anytime I want as well.

/lier mode

[Professional Engineer]

I'm not aware of any Marines in our family trees, but we certainly have the rest covered! Most of them many times over.

[Soaring Feather]

Hi Wneighbor!!


How's it going for ya. Moving is hard to do. So much emotional stuff to deal with.

I have been located in this apartment for 10 years now. I love this house and have no plans to leave for many years to come. Of course, I am retired so that makes it easier for me. My kids all live within 15-20 miles from me. However, I don't see them that often--they have jobs and a life of their own. We do get together on certain big holidays like Christmas and Easter.


The city has pretty good public transportation which is a big help.

[GailA]

Hearing is going on now...no TV coverage so far...of course I've been out until 15 mins ago...Wal-Mart for food.

[Wneighbor]

Speaking of bugs, he tried to collect some when he visited a colleague in College Station, but didn't do well. Things were a bust in San Antonio, and he didn't even try here.

Whoa! That's bad news! Sorry to hear that. Woulda liked to hear about his captives.

Yes, even though my parents are conservative, I have found that I am more conservative than they as well. Maybe I started young. I didn't have much of a young liberal phase. The American Embassy in Tehran put a big red STOP to any of the usual liberal thoughts that came to my age group. That and one other thing, when I was at UT a group of my friends asked if I would go protest the South Texas Nuclear Project with them. When I started discussing nuclear energy with them to find out why exactly they wanted to protest I found out none of them even had a clue about the science of the issue. They didn't even know the rudiments that we learned in high school physics and chemistry. Heh, needless to say that just didn't compute to me. LOL

[GailA]

My thoughts exactly!

[Wneighbor]

BTW, I can walk away anytime I want as well.

Yeah! Me too!

...the first step is to admit you have a problem...

Houston, we have NO problem! :-)

[SAMWolf]

A girlfriend came over last night so we could have a last gal's night

I'm suprised you're coherent this morning. ;-)

[Wneighbor]

I love this house and have no plans to leave for many years to come.

Okay, that's how I want to be when I can retire!!! :-) Sounds like you have a pretty wonderful life there Bentfeather. I am very happy for you. :-)

I loved my old home before I moved to this one. I really had trouble leaving and have never really liked it where I am now. Hence the move. I came here because I got a job opportunity I wanted to try out. I moved from being a designer in a design engineering department to a college teaching position. I really liked my teaching job, but then, career has never been a focus of my life so it just didn't make up for having moved so far away from my friends and family. ~sigh~

Now, I have an opportunity to amend that. The teaching job was eliminated due to low student enrollment so I can now return to a place where I can be near loved ones. The choice now is, do I want to go back "home" with friends, aunts, uncles, cousins. Do, I want to go to Alabama and live near my 2 daughters and 3 of my grandchildren. Or do I want to go to Arizona and live in the midst of one of my favorite aunts and her children/grandchildren whom I love dearly too. I count those all quality choices. Now, just to find the job in one of those places! :-)

[Professional Engineer]

Well, well well, I knew there was a good reason to like this guy. See the first paragraph.

RUBE GOLDBERG BIOGRAPHY

 

Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, and author.

Reuben Lucius Goldberg (Rube Goldberg) was born in San Francisco. His father, a practical man, insisted he go to college to become an engineer. After graduating from University of California Berkeley, Rube went to work as an engineer with the City of San Francisco Water and Sewers Department.

He continued drawing, and after six months convinced his father that he had to work as an artist. He soon got a job as an office boy in the sports department of a San Francisco newspaper. He kept submitting drawings and cartoons to his editor, until he was finally published. An outstanding success, he moved from San Francisco to New York drawing daily cartoons for the Evening Mail. A founding member of the National Cartoonist       Society, a political cartoonist and a Pulitzer Prize winner, Rube was a beloved national figure as well as an often-quoted radio and television personality during his sixty-year professional career.

Through his "INVENTIONS", Rube Goldberg discovered difficult ways to achieve easy results. His cartoons were, as he said, symbols of man's capacity for exerting maximum effort to accomplish minimal results. Rube believed that there were two ways to do things: the simple way and the hard way, and that a surprisingly number of people preferred doing things the hard way.

Rube Goldberg's work will endure because he gave priority to simple human needs and treasured basic human values. He was sometimes skeptical about technology, which contributed to making his own mechanical inventions primitive and full of human, plant, and animal parts. While most machines work to make difficult tasks simple, his inventions made simple tasks amazingly complex. Dozens of arms, wheels, gears, handles, cups, and rods were put in motion by balls, canary cages, pails, boots, bathtubs, paddles, and live animals for simple tasks like squeezing an orange for juice or closing a window in case it should start to rain before one gets home.

Rube's drawings depict absurdly-connected machines functioning in extremely complex and roundabout ways to produce a simple end result; because of this RUBE GOLDBERG has become associated with any convoluted system of achieving a basic task.

Rube's inventions are a unique commentary on life's complexities. They provide a humorous diversion into the absurd that lampoons the wonders of technology. Rube's hilarious send-ups of man's ingenuity strike a deep and lasting chord with today's audience through caught in a high-tech revolution are still seeking simplicity.

Hardly a day goes by without The New York Times, National Public Radio, The Wall Street Journal or some other major media invoking the name Rube Goldberg to describe a wildly complex program, system or set of rules such as our "Rube Goldberg-like tax system". The annual National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at Purdue University, which is covered widely by the national media, brings Rube's comic inventions to life for millions of fans.

The work of Rube Goldberg continues to connect with both an adult audience well versed in the promise and pitfalls of modern technology (can anyone over 40 program their VCR?) as well as younger fans intrigued by the creativity and possibility of invention.

 

[Wneighbor]

I'm suprised you're coherent this morning. ;-)

Fortunately I inherited something very very special from my grandparents. I can drink and hold it well - but I have never had a hangover. LOL. In younger years there were those two times when I puked everything prior to time for the party to stop... but aside from that, I got some really good gene in this realm. LOL

I will admit that I slept until 9:30 this morning though. But, you know from my middle of the night posts how late I was up the last 2 nights... and yesterday I was up at 6 and didn't ever get that nap I thought I deserved. LOL Too much tequila at least convinced me to sleep in while unemployed today. :-)

[Wneighbor]

I love it!!! :-)

I worked with engineers who learned lots from him you know. LOL

[alfa6]

A couple years ago we has some issues with our process so a chemist from the Tech Center shows up with a lab scale reactor. The reactor required a cooling water loop. Well the fume hood had a water supply and a drain so my job was to set up the loop.

As luck would have it we did not have a mechanical resource on shift that day, so I scrounged a bunch of wierd tubing shapes that we had laying around the shop, 4 or 5 short lenghts of flexible tubing and a big handfull of fittings of various sizes and functions.

It was kinda like mating an elephant except we did not have to wait two years!!! After much trial and error I was able to get the loop to function properly but it was the darndest tubing hook up I have ever seen.

I had made several comment during the process about Rube Goldberg and finally Jeffry, the Chemist, goes "Who the devil is this Rube Goldberg". I tried to explain it to him and finally got on the internet a little later and found some of his inventions.

BTW havw you seen the Honda commercial with the Rube Goldberg set up made out of car parts?

http://autorepair.about.com/cs/funstuff/l/bl_honda.htm

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[colorado tanker]

I remember Hubert. He was Mayor of Minneapolis and Senator from Minnesota before being Johnson's V.P. An old-fashioned DFL liberal, liberal on domestic policy but generally patriotic on defense and foreign affairs. I remember never reading a satisfactory explanation of how he avoided wearing the uniform during WWII

[colorado tanker]

I'm more conservative than my conservative dad.

Me too. My dad was a Goldwater conservative, but these days all he does is rant and rave about Christian conservatives - he's pro-abortion.

[colorado tanker]

Hiya folks. "Canister." Boy, oh boy, am I glad I wasn't in the Civil War Army.

Here's hoping for a big holiday weekend for birders - and their suppliers.

[Peanut Gallery]

I noticed that too. I think he even tried to convince us they were the same flag until we told him what it looked like.

[snippy_about_it]

OMG, dangerous assault rifles have learned to fly.

LOL. Just wait until they learn how to drive SUV's.

[Peanut Gallery]

...and on my side of the mix we have the Navy covered several times over, the Army National guard, and Air Force.