"But I would like to join it."
"Very well, but if it is fighting you want, just go in, Colonel, for there is good fighting all along the line."
The battle rages furiously. Five o'clock—six o'clock—half past six—Berry holds them by the swamp, Jameson holds them with his three hundred men on the Williamsburg road; but between Seven Pines and Fair Oaks the tide is drifting on.
Jameson resolves to advance. The Rebels in front of him fall back along the road to Richmond. Thus, while Whiting is pushing east over the Nine-Mile Road, Jameson is marching west towards the Rebel capital, driving all before him.
"Fall back" is the imperative order which he receives. He would a great deal rather go on.
"What would you have done, if you had not been ordered back?" a friend asked.
"I would have been in Richmond or in Heaven before night," was the reply.[27]
But he obeys orders. Yet he cannot go back the way he advanced; the enemy is between him and Seven Pines. He faces south, picks his way through White Oak Swamp, comes round to Seven Pines, and again confronts the enemy.
The day is closing. Darkness is coming on. The Yankees are not yet swept into the Chickahominy. Longstreet has had success, but it is not a great victory. The Union line has been pushed back a mile and a half. It has been broken,—almost disorganized. Berry's brigade is as firm and solid as ever. Jameson's has been divided and sent to different parts of the field. Casey's division has crumbled. Couch's has been broken. A great crowd of stragglers is moving towards Bottom's Bridge. Couch with two regiments and a battery have been pushed north towards Grape Vine Bridge. Such is the position at seven o'clock, as Whiting, fresh and vigorous, brings his brigade down the railroad to finish the work of this day.
But now there is another actor,—General Sumner, who has crossed the Chickahominy at Grape-Vine Bridge, and is pushing on with Sedgwick's gallant division.