E. Burd Grubb

“ The pig was cooked and eaten at once. The battle of Malvern Hill which took place that day was a magnificent pageant for those of our brigade who could see it. The coming down of a great mass of the enemy on the open plain to their utter destruction by the awful artillery fire. It was indeed a cruel and bloody sight, but after it was all over, many of us felt that we were avenged for what had happened at Gaines' Mills. ”

“ I may digress here for a moment, and say that on the crest of the hill of which I have spoken and which we passed, lying between the Fourth and the Third Regiments, was a battery of seven machine guns, the first that were ever tried in battle, I believe, and the only ones I think at that time in any army of the world. They were called the "Union Coffee Mill Guns" and consisted of a single rifle barrel with an arrangement like a hopper at the butt of the barrel, into which cartridges were put, and the turning of a crank did the rest. ”

“ An account of this curious incident was published in the Freehold papers the following day.
As the brigade retreated from the woods we saw a melancholy sight of our guns of the artillery of our division being captured, and we also had a glimpse of the rushing to and fro of a small body of cavalry which is known to be Rush's Lancers, Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry. Twenty-one of those guns were lost right there, and I wish to say that our brigade was not at any time placed in support of these guns directly. ”

“ As we know now that the enemy were in the sunken road which passed through the woods parallel with the line of the brigade and where undoubtedly our line of battle should have been formed in the morning. This sunken road was deep enough to cover a man to his arm pits and therefore only the head and shoulders of the enemy were above the level of the ground, and the enemy was distant only about forty-five yards when what I am speaking of occurred. ”

“ There is no question that our brigade and others would have fought on that last line, but I think that it would have been a forlorn hope. The battle was totally lost and every man knew it.
The enemy did not advance, and after dark the troops commenced to retire across the bridges in our rear. These bridges were small, frail things not much wider than four men could march abreast.
In the rear of the entire left of the new line of which I spoke, there was only one of them. The orders to withdraw our brigade came to General Taylor about quarter of nine o'clock. ”

“ General Taylor called to me as I passed him: "Keep ahead of them and keep them from going too far. The enemy's line is in the woods right in front of our guns." Captain Moore, who was talking to him, had probably told him this. The guns that had been captured were not more than three hundred yards from us, a little advanced to the west of the road. I had noticed that they were not gone when I passed along on my ride to General Slocum's but the melee was so confused that I have not and never had a very clear idea of it. ”

“ Cox was entirely innocent. He was a perfectly loyal and true man. He was one of the very best surgeons in the army at that time and almost certainly would have had a brilliant career. His military life was cut short, and probably his actual life also from having talked too much. He told me himself, that, in the interview in General Johnson's tent he had purposely given him all the false information that he could think of, and that he had purposely stated Montgomery's troops to be twice their actual strength. ”

“ The General was standing on the porch, mounting our horses we rode off towards camp, I riding, of course, a horse's length behind the General. After going about two or three hundred yards, he checked his horse and said: "Ride up along side of me." Which I did. He then said: "Did you notice that I did not have my sword when I went to General McClellan's headquarters?" I said: "I did, sir, I noticed that you had neither sword nor belt." He said: "You see I have got them now." I said: "I do, sir." He said: "Well, I got them at General McClellan's headquarters." ”

“ I think there are only one or two occasions in the history of the world in which such peculiar conditions of the atmosphere existed at the time of battle. About three o'clock one of General Slocum's aides came to General Taylor with orders to cross the bridge at once, we moved down and crossed, and were directed to move obliquely to the left and take position in a large field which was a clover field, in echelon. The battalions were closed in mass on the centre with intervals of one hundred and twenty paces between the battalions. The Fourth Regiment was the left rear echelon ”

“ About two o'clock in the afternoon we had not yet crossed the bridge. It will be remembered that one of the names of this battle of Gaines' Mills, is the "noiseless battle." A four o'clock in the afternoon there were nearly sixty thousand men engaged, having [Pg 8] a great number of cannon, firing an immense number of cartridges, (of course at that time loaded with black noisy powder) and it is a fact that persons within two miles of that battle never heard a sound of it. Ordinarily the noise of that battle would easily have been heard for fifty miles. ”

“ As the brigade was marching in to the great wheat field at Berkley where the army was then commencing to encamp, suddenly and without any idea that the enemy was in the vicinity, several shells came in and exploded among the wagon trains which were in the road along side of which our men were marching. My [Pg 26] recollection is that not more than a dozen shells came. A regiment of Zouaves, which I think were the 55th of New York, went back in double-quick, and I understood captured two guns which the enemy had run up close to our encampment without any supports whatever. ”

“ The men were lying down along the edge of the pine woods and so far as I saw, there was no rifle pit or attempt of any shelter of that kind, I rode along for certainly the length of the entire division and got a fair idea of the lay of the land, and I saw a place which has considerable to do with my account of this battle. It was a swale or shallow ravine possibly, where it came through the pine woods, about six feet deep and one hundred feet wide. ”

“ I got over the fence and climbed up a tree dropping my sword and belt in the clover at the foot of the tree as I went up, I broke off a good many branches and proceeded to fill myself as quickly as possible. A scouting party of some of our cavalry came by going toward the hill and an officer told the General that there were some Rebel scouts not very far behind him, upon which the General recalled me from the tree, and we proceeded to rejoin the brigade which had gone up Malvern Hill. ”

“ When the brigade reached the first bridge from the White Oak Swamp it was halted and General Taylor was told by an aid of General Slocum's that we were to be the rear division of the army, and that he must keep himself in touch with Division Headquarters wherever they were. This order caused me to ride a great many miles, for I had two horses and they were both kept pretty busy. As we reached the bridge head, of course it was a very small bridge, there was a very heavy cannonade apparently across our front about [Pg 17] half a mile away. ”

“ In a few moments a very great many wounded men began to come back from the woods, some being carried, some being assisted, and some limping back themselves; and before very long an aide of General Slocum's came to General Taylor and ordered him to put his brigade in line of battle and advance. ”

“ The first and only order that General Taylor gave me after I joined him in the woods was given within two or three minutes after I came up to him and after my report of the Fourth Regiment which I have detailed above. He said: "Those men are not firing at anything. It is too thick to see. Go to the regiments and give the order to cease firing and let the smoke rise." I went along the line, gave the order to every officer whom I saw—captains, lieutenants, and field officers. ”

“ In about fifteen minutes the enemy opened with about sixty pieces of artillery, firing across [Pg 19] the road in front of us and gradually increasing the rapidity of the firing until it was the most tremendous cannonade I had ever heard. No enemy was visible to us anywhere, the smoke of those guns came over the edge of the woods probably eight hundred yards from the road, and a few hundred yards further along the right of the brigade. None of those shells came across where we were. ”

“ Now it will be seen that our brigade being in column of four right in front under the old tactics to have formed a line of battle the order would have been given front, and all the men would have turned to the left which would have brought their backs to the enemy, as the enemy was on our right or west side. ”

“ Our camp was about a quarter of a mile back from the river, the long roll was beaten throughout the army and the brigade turned out and stood in line. I do not think there were any casualties in the brigade though there were some in our division from its shells. One man I remember as Dr. Oakley asked me to go and see a man in the field hospital who had his entire stomach carried away by shells and lived four days afterwards. ”

“ Many of the men would be ailing and there was an occasional gun-shot wound that would have to be looked after. Dr. Cox rode a very handsome cream-colored mule, and Patrick had an army horse, Patrick carried the knap-sack of medical stores and surgical instruments strapped on his back. ”

“ I remember that one of the shells exploded within a few feet of General Taylor's horse.
Some incidents of interest occurred during our encampment at Malvern Hill. It was hot and uncomfortable and sorrowful, for there were many deaths and bands playing the Dead March were continually heard through the day. Deaths from sickness and many wounded. ”

“ He said: "Never mind, sonny, I will fix it up for you." So we went together and Colonel Torbert arranged the brigade that night. Some of the companies of the Second were mixed up with the Third, and some of the Third were mixed up with the First until we straightened them out. The men were lying down, some of them asleep, all of them cross, and it was no easy job to shift them around, but we finally got it done about eleven o'clock. ”

“ Presently our line of skirmishers appeared facing the southwest and at that time the head of our column was facing the east, so the position was very much mixed. The skirmishers advanced towards the Rebel batteries very rapidly, and while I was looking on the batteries withdrew. I went back and reported to General Taylor and drew a diagram of what I had seen and gave it to him, and told him I was utterly unable to understand the positions, but that these were facts. ”

“ There were a few [Pg 15] pieces of artillery in this line on the left and some few cavalry. The enemy came out of the woods immediately after the brigade retreated through the woods, a very solid, good formation, but after taking the guns which I have spoken of, for some extraordinary reason they did not come on any farther, and why I have never been able to ascertain from any account of this battle that I have ever read. There was no military reason that any one can see why a charge by the enemy along the line, or at any part of it, after Gen. ”

“ He was a young man probably about twenty-five or six years of age. I do not think that he said anything to me as we were riding, but I do remember that his horse shied at a dead man who lay in our way and very nearly threw him over his head. ”