The Confederate troops at once advanced, but were repulsed with great loss. Again they charged up the hill, and gained the crest only to be driven back by the storm of shot and shell.
Longstreet was now ordered to make a move on the right towards Gaines’s Mill, where the Federals were massed in a strong position. In the meanwhile General Lee ordered General Jackson to advance to the help of Hill. About five o’clock P. M. the sound of guns was heard to the left, and soon Jackson’s corps was in the thickest of the fight.
Before them were a swamp, a deep stream, masses of felled timber, and a wood filled with armed men, and cannon belching forth shot and shell. The work was hard, but when Jackson gave the order, his men swept forward with wild cheers and a roar of musketry, while above the clang arose the cry of Jackson! Jackson! Jackson!
The men rushed on through the swamp, across the creek, and up into the wood, and drove the enemy from point to point until they gained the top of the hill.
On the right of the line, Hood’s Texas brigade charged with a yell, leaped ditch and stream, and drove the foe pell-mell before them. In this charge they lost one thousand men, but took fourteen cannon and nearly a regiment of prisoners.
General J. B. Hood.
The enemy now retreated in wild disorder all along the line, and the battle of Old Cold Harbor was won by the Confederates. The very name of Jackson had struck terror to the foe!
The next morning, the 29th of June, Jackson was ordered to move on the rear of McClellan’s army.
At Savage Station, the Confederates, under General Magruder, had a fierce fight with the rear guard of the Federals. At nightfall the latter again gave way, leaving behind vast stores and a number of wounded men. While the battle at Savage Station had been going on, the main body of the Federal army passed over the bridge at White Oak swamp, destroyed it, and were for awhile safe, for the Confederates could not pass over the marshy stream under the fire of the Federals, who were massed on the opposite bank.