DREWRY'S BLUFF.

A Letter from General Beauregard to General Wise Regarding the Battle,

AND THE

Difference between General Beauregard and General Bragg as to the War Policy at that Crisis.

Now printed, as written, from the original, now owned by the grandson of General Wise, Mr. Barton Haxall Wise, of Richmond, Virginia:

ALLEGHANY SPRINGS, October 3, 1873.

My dear General: Mr. Marrin has referred to me your letter of the 19th ulto. I give you, with pleasure, some of the dates you. refer to.

I arrived at Petersburg from Weldon (where I had been ordered to from Charleston to "await orders") on or about the 14th May, '64. Finding that General Pickett was very ill from fever, I ordered Genl. Whiting, then at Wilmington, to come at once to Petersburg to assume command, while I moved to Drury's Bluff, where Gen’l Hoke temporarily commanded.

Gen'l W. arrived at about noon on the 13th, & after about one hour's conference with him & leaving with him some written general instructions, I started for Drury's Bluff accompanied by 3 regiments of Colquitt's brigade & part of Col. Baker's Reg't of Cavalry.

When we arrived at Swift Creek I was informed by one of my aids just returning from Rich'd that he had met some of Butler's Federal troops on their way to attack Drury's Bluff. I therefore diverged to Chesterfield C. H., where we arrived about 12 h. P. M., & found it occupied by a small force of Federals which we drove out of the place. We reached D's Bluff about 3 h. A. M., in a terrible rain-storm, passing between Butler's left & the river. I at once sent for Col.s Harris and Stevens of the Eng'rs & after conferring with them about one hour, I sent the latter to the Pres't [Davis], to tell him that, if he w'd that day (the 14th) send me 10,ooo men from the troops about Richmond (5,000 under Ransom) & Gen'l Lee's army, I w'd attack Butler's 30,000 men (who had been successful in the afternoon of the 13th in taking the outer line of defences) capture or destroy them by 12 h. on the 15th. I would then move to attack Grant on his left flank & rear, while Lee attacked him in front, & I felt sure of defeating Grant & probably open the way to Washington where we might dictate Peace!!

The Pres't being sick & very tired, Col. Stevens could not see him, but delivered my message to Gen'l Bragg with my request that the necessary order sh'd be issued at once, but he refused to do it, although mil'y adviser of the Pres't, without the orders of the latter & as he w'd not disturb him (!) he came to confer with me at D's b. where he arrived at about 6 h. A. M.

After discussing my plan, which he agreed was the only one which might save Rich'd & the Conf'cy, he still refused to issue the neces sary orders. I then said to him "Bragg circumstances have thrown the fate of the Conf'cy in y'r hands & mine, let us play our parts boldly & fearlessly! issue those orders & I'll carry them out to the best of my ability. I'll guarantee success!" but he w'd not, saying that he w'd return at once to Rich'd & get the Pres't to issue them about one hour after the latter arrived, & after a long conference, he refused to issue them, except as to Ransom's command, which came only on the morning of the 15th & the battle of D's b. was fought & won on the 16th-if Gen'l Whiting had obeyed my orders, which I sent him by three diff't couriers on the afternoon of the 15th we w'd nevertheless have captured or destroyed Butler's army. Bragg's last dispatch to Whiting could not have been dated before the 14th of May, for he only knew of my intended attack on the morning of that day.

Fearful of interference from Rich'd in Gen'l Whiting's movement, I insisted as a part of my order to him, that he w'd obey no orders, from any source not passing through me.

Such, General, are my recollections (distinct) of those events— which you will find in the No's. of the "Land We Love," or Baltimore "Southern Magazine" in which they were published a few years since, numbers of which I sent you at the time.

I regret that I have not a copy of Ransom's subterfuge in defence of Bragg or I w'd send it to you with pleasure, but you will probably find it in the back files of the Rich'd Whig, in which, I think, it was published, shortly after the Battle of Drury's bluff.

With my kind regards to your family, & hoping that you may furnish Mr. Marrin with your recollections of that eventful period of our late war,

I remain, Sincerely y'r friend

Gen'l H. A. Wise, Rich'd, Va.

G. T. BEAUREGARD.

P. S.-The events of the 15th, 16th, 17th & 18th of June, '64, about Petersburg were also critical & glorious.

G. T. B.

MALVERN HILL-JULY 1, 1862.

AN ADDRESS

Delivered before Pickett Camp, Confederate Veterans, Richmond, Va., on March 8th, 1897, by Hon. John Lamb.*

The deep interest taken by old soldiers in the delineation of any of the battles through which they passed, and the even deeper interest manifested by the younger generation, who never heard the sound of a hostile gun, is an encouragement and an inspiration to those who have the good fortune, after the lapse of so many years, to be able to call up some of the salient points in one of the most remarkable contests of modern times. The witness of any event, when asked to relate it, is apt to have his imagination fired, and thus to color the facts. There is unconscious exaggeration. Hence historians attach small value to memoirs written long years after the occurrence of events, and we naturally take with "a grain of salt" the enthusiastic utterances of our speakers on occasions like this. Fortunately, however, we have here the carefully prepared reports of the corps, division, brigade, and regimental commanders, on either side, written at the very time of the engagement; and by carefully considering them we can arrive at a correct and intelligent opinion of the results. Only a few have the time or the taste to examine such reports critically, and we find in this fact the importance of your camp organizations, and the necessity for encouraging such efforts.

THE SEVEN DAYS' FIght.

While Daniel has graphically described the battle of Gettysburg, and thus added, if possible, to his fame as an orator; and McCabe, in the most beautiful word painting, has pictured the Crater in all its thrilling horrors, and helped to immortalize the heroes who figured in and around that pit of death; and Robinson, with his philosophical mind, has drawn from the Wilderness a history and

*Captain_Lamb took part in the seven days' fighting around Richmond. He was a member of the Charles City Troop, to which he refers, and was courier to General Magruder at the battle of Malvern Hill. He repeatedly crossed the field that day under the hot fire of the Federal guns, but escaped unhurt..

a story that will instruct and delight succeeding generations; and Stiles, in your presence a few weeks ago, gave a most vivid and interesting history of Second Cold Harbor,-no one has, as yet, attempted to describe any part of the seven days' fight which took place in June, 1862, under the walls of this historic city.

The most momentous, the least understood, and the severest criticised battle of that year was that of Malvern Hill. In order to understand why and how it was fought, it becomes necessary to examine the position of our troops on the day of the 30th, and to pass over the field of Glen Dale (Frazier's Farm) and witness the death-grapple of Longstreet with McCall and Sumner.

On Sunday morning, June 29th, the divisions of Generals Longstreet and A. P. Hill left their camp north of the Chickahominy, and marched, via the Long Bridge and Darbytown roads, to intercept General McClellan in his retreat to James river. The distance of sixteen miles was made, and those weary survivors of the desperate encounters of the previous days camped on the Long Bridge road, within two miles of the retreating Federals, who were then passing Glen Dale, where the Long Bridge, Charles City, and Willis Church roads meet.

While these two divisions were marching down the Darbytown road, Magruder was engaging the enemy at Savage's Station on the York River road, and Jackson's forces were detained at Grape Vine bridge. Magruder, having lost 400 men killed and wounded, and | having captured many prisoners, including one hospital with 2,500 sick and disabled Federals, and inflicted a severe loss on the enemy, estimated at not less than 1,000, slept on the field that night; and early on Monday morning, the enemy in his front having retreated via White Oak, marched his whole command over to the Darbytown road, and at 2 o'clock reached Timberlake's Store. At 4 o'clock he was ordered to New Market to the assistance of General Holmes. Between sunset and dark his front brigades were forming in the dense woods bordering the Long Bridge road, with the view of rendering this assistance. After dark, he was ordered to Longstreet; and, weary and footsore, these men marched to Glen Dale and occupied the battlefield, where Longstreet and Hill had made their slendid fight unsupported, although 50,000 men were within a radius of three miles.

General Huger's forces, consisting of Mahone's, Wright's, Armistead's and Ransom's brigades, were ordered down the Charles City road early Sunday morning, the 29th. At the request of General

Magruder, one brigade (Ransom's) was sent back; but, so far as we can learn from these reports, there was no interruption to the march of the other brigades down the Charles City road, until they reached Fisher's run, within three miles of the cross roads at Glen Dale. The enemy had blocked the road for a mile with felled trees, and planted their guns on the south side of the stream, and succeeded in detaining Mahone at that point all day. A flank movement of his infantry through the woods to his right would have turned the position and placed him in easy reach of General Longstreet's left. Longstreet, in his report, complains of both Generals Jackson and Huger, saying that 50,000 were in easy hearing of the battle, yet none came in to co-operate with him. "Jackson should have done more for me than he did. When he wanted me at Second Manassas I marched two columns by night to clear the way at Thoroughfare Gap, and joined him in due season." We have seen why General Magruder did not reach him, and no blame can attach to that commander. That Franklin was able to hold Mahone and Armistead so long at Fisher's Run, or that those ambitious and enterprising brigadiers had not found a way to flank his position, will always be a mystery to the student of these detached fights made in thick woods and swamps, with raw troops, who were than only volunteer associations of men, without the drill and discipline necessary to make even of the very best material good and efficient soldiers. The detention of Gen. Jackson at White Oak Swamp, three miles in rear of Glen Dale, and only two miles to the left of Huger, was as unfortunate (though more easily accounted for), as the delay at Fisher's Run. General Jackson's troops reached White Oak Swamp at noon Sunday. The bridge was destroyed and the crossing commanded by the enemy's batteries. Jackson, in his report, says: "A heavy cannonading in front announced the engagement of General Longstreet at Frazier's Farm, and made me eager to press forward, but the strong position of the enemy for defending the passage, prevented my advancing until the following morning."

Major Dabney, in his life of Jackson, says: "On this occasion it would appear, if the vast interests dependent upon General Jackson's co-operation with the proposed attack upon the centre were considered, that he came short of the efficiency in action for which he was everywhere else noted." Then, after showing how the crossing might have been effected, Dabney adds: The list of casualties would have been larger than that presented on the 30th, of one cannoneer wounded; but how much shorter would have been the bloody