Proximity to the Rebels.—Colonel Taylor fired at by a Sharpshooter.—Picket Skirmishing.—Building a Bridge.—Position of Affairs.—General McClellan Reconnoitring.—He writes to the President.—Lee’s Plans.—Second Battle of Mechanicsville.—Shelling the Thirty-third’s Camp.—Battle of Gaines’ Farm.—A Retreat to the James decided upon.
Soon after reaching “Camp Lincoln,” the Thirty-third was set to work on a formidable redoubt, since known as “Fort Davidson,” and likewise constructed numerous rifle-pits. The enemy daily threw shot and shell at our encampments, apparently for mere pastime, many of them striking among the tents. On one occasion a round shot, passing entirely over the officers’ quarters, killed Dr. Spencer’s Orderly in the rear. Not long after another came whizzing through the air, and carried away the shoulder blade of a reckless cavalryman, who was laughing as he rode along at the manœuvres of the men, declaring that he would not “dodge for their guns.” A member of the Seventy-seventh was killed in hospital close by.
Fort Davidson—Chickahominy Swamps.
The rebels also had a very disagreeable habit of climbing up in the forest trees and firing at us, some times even when sitting in the camp doors. One afternoon, as Colonel Taylor was reclining upon a lounge in the Lieutenant Colonel’s tent, a sharp-shooter deliberately fired at him from a neighboring tree, the ball passing through the lounge and out at the back side of the tent. He immediately ordered out several of his best shots to pick off the impudent rebel.
Not content with constantly annoying us during the daytime, they frequently got up night demonstrations, compelling our “troops” to turn out at very unseasonable hours. The Thirty-third were aroused from their slumbers one night by the bursting of a shell directly over the centre of the encampment. Gorman’s Brigade frequently engaged in these night skirmishes. Colonel Taylor’s command rarely indulged in picket firing, as many of the Regiments did, unless it was provoked by the enemy. This custom, so prevalent at the commencement of the war, has almost wholly ceased, and now, instead of “blazing away” on the slightest pretext, the pickets patrol their beats month after month within speaking distance, without molesting one another.
As the month advanced, the troops were kept busily employed in throwing up breastworks and constructing a new bridge over the Chickahominy, below the point where the lowest of the three previously carried away by the freshet was built. Frequently they were compelled to stand waist deep in the water, while cutting timbers, which were carried to the river on handspikes, many of them requiring sixteen or more men to transport them. This bridge, when completed, was an imposing structure, and afterwards saved the right wing of the army, by furnishing a passage to the opposite side of the river, when the rebel legions were hurled against it with such rapidity and violence.
Nearly three months had now elapsed since the Army of the Potomac landed at Fortress Monroe, and began the Peninsular Campaign. Yorktown had been evacuated, the bloody battles of “Williamsburg,” “West Point,” “Fair Oaks” and “Seven Pines,” besides several lesser engagements, fought, the troops arrived before and around Richmond, and our labors were apparently about to be crowned with success by its capture.