Summary:
Brigadier General Jubal A. Early commanded the Fourth Brigade of the 52nd
Virginia Infantry which is in the Army of Northern Virginia. Gen. Early tells
about trying to rally retreating men, and, upon arriving at the battlefield,
discovering "an appalling spectacle."
Capt. G. CAMPBELL BROWN, Assistant Adjutant-Gen., Third Division.
August 2, 1862
I submit the following report of the operations of this brigade at or near Malvern Hill on the 1st ultimo:
On that morning I was ordered by Gen. Lee to report to Maj.-Gen. Jackson for temporary duty with one of the brigades of his command, and was by him assigned to the command of the brigade lately commanded by Brig.-Gen. Elzey, in the division of Maj.-Gen. Ewell. Of this brigade I assumed command about midday on the road leading from White Oak Swamp to Willis' Church.
In the afternoon of the same day the brigade, consisting of fragments of the Thirteenth, Twenty-fifth, Thirty-first, Forty-fourth, Fifty-second, and Fifty-eighth Virginia Regt.'s, and the Twelfth Georgia Regt., numbering in all about 1,050 men present, was formed, by order of Gen. Ewell, in line of battle in the woods on the left of the road leading from Willis' Chuch to Malvern Hill, where it remained until very late in the afternoon during a heavy cannonading between the enemy's artillery and our own, an occasional shell falling near the brigade doing no damage however, except the killing by the same shot of a private in the Forty-fourth Virginia Regt., and a young gentleman named Field, who was a volunteer on the staff of Col. Walker, of the Thirteenth Virginia Regt.
About sunset an order was received by Gen. Ewell, in my presence from Gen. Jackson, through a staff officer, to send my brigade to the right to the support of Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill and the brigade was immediately put in motion and marched, under the guidance of an officer sent for the purpose, across the road and through the woods, passing along the side of a ravine covered with trees and thick undergrowth, until the head of it reached a small road leading across an open bottom on a creek. Here the brigade was halted for a few minutes until the guide could ascertain the route to be pursued, when it was again put in motion, and as the head of it arrived in the open bottom, by the guide's direction the brigade was started across the bottom, and Gen. Ewell and myself, with my staff officers, were directed to cross by a detour to the right over an old dam, as the only practicable way for horses. On arriving at the point where it was expected to meet the head of the brigade nothing could be seen of it, a thick brush-wood excluding it from view.
In the mean time a large number of men, retreating from the battle-field, began to pass along the road into which we had then got, and filled the brush-wood mentioned, producing great confusion and rendering in impossible for me to ascertain whether the brigade was passing through this brush-wood. After many fruitless efforts to ascertain this fact I rode toward the route over which the brigade was started as far as I could, and found a very deep ditch filled with skulkers from the battle-field, over which it was impossible for me to pass with my horse. I then rode around to a point where I could get a view of the place at which I separated from the brigade, and seeing none of it passing, I rode forward on the road leading to the battle-field with the hope of finding the brigade emerging from the woods farther on. It was then getting dark, and I found the road filled with a large number of men retreating in confusion, being mostly from Gen. Toombs' Georgia Brigade. These troops, aided by my assistant adjutant-general, Capt. Gardner, I endeavored to rally, but found it very difficult to do so.
During my exertions to rally these men the Twelfth Georgia Regt., of my own brigade, came up, under the command of Capt. James G. Rodgers, and I marched it off, accompanied by Col. Benning, with a few men from his regiment, of Toombs' brigade. These men were formed in line by direction of Gen. Ewell, who had preceded me with some men rallied by him in a field over which a considerable body of our troops had charged in the early part of the engagement and in rear of some regiments then engaged with the enemy. Here I was soon joined by the Thirty-first and Twenty-fifth Virginia Regt.'s, which were brought up by my aide, Capt. S. H. Early who had gone to the rear to look for the brigade. With these regiments I remained on the field during the night in the position designated by Gen. Ewell, Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill being present at the time they were posted and for some time thereafter.
During the march the brigade was exposed to a terrific cannonading and shells were constantly bursting over and around it. For some time the regiments, with me on the field, which were ordered to lie down, were exposed to the fiercest artillery fire that I have ever witnessed. About the close of this fire Brig.-Gen. Ransom, with a portion of his command, retired to the rear past my position, leaving none of our troops in front of me. A short time after the cessation of the fire we heard very distinctly the rumbling of wheels, indicating a movement of the enemy's artillery, and a large number of lights were seen moving about over the field in immediate proximity to the enemy's position, which were doubtless borne by persons from the enemy's lines in search of their wounded.
As soon as it was light enough next morning an appalling spectacle was presented to our view in front. The field from some distance from the enemy's position was literally strewn with the dead and wounded, and arms were lying in every direction. It was apparent that the enemy's main body with his artillery had retired, but a body of his cavalry, supported by infantry, was soon discovered on the field. To the right, near the top of a steep hill leading up toward the enemy's position, we saw a body of our own troops, some distance off, lying down, which proved to be a small body under Brig.-Gen.'s Mahone and Wright.
In the mean time parties of our men were going to the front in search of the wounded, and after a demonstration by the enemy's cavalry, which was abandoned on the firing of a few shots by the Maryland regiment posted in the woods some distance to my left, the parties from both armies in search of the dead and wounded gradually approached each other and continued their mournful work without molestation on either side, being apparently appalled for the moment into a cessation from all hostile purposes by the terrible spectacle presented to their view.
About 10 a.m the last of the enemy's forces retired and left the field of battle to our occupation. The other regiments of the brigade, which on the march were in front of those who got with me on the field, not being able to find any practicable way for marching over the route designated by the guide across the bottom mentioned, in their effort to discover one reached the battle-field at a different point from that at which I had arrived and got very near to the enemy; but as it had become very dark, and amid the confusion it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe, they retired, and went back that night to the position at which the brigade was first drawn up in line of battle. This separation of the brigade was caused by the impracticable character of the route over which it was marched the confusion produced by the immense number of men retiring in disorder from the field, and the attempt of the guide to send the brigade over a nearer route than that taken by Gen. Ewell and myself. The men with me did not get under a musketry fire, and were only exposed to the fire from the enemy's artillery within the range for the round shot and shell.
I was favorably impressed with the deportment of the officers and men of the brigade so far as it came under my own observation, and was particularly struck with that of Capt. James G. Rodgers, in command of the Twelfth Georgia Regt., who led the regiment through a large body of disorganized men who were giving the most disheartening accounts of the state of things in front, he all the time encouraging his own men and endeavoring to induce the fugitives to fall into his ranks and return to the battle-field.
Subjoined is a list of killed and wounded.[1]
[1] Embodied in returns, pp. 608, 974.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. A. EARLY
Brig.-Gen., Cmdg. Brigade.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I. Vol. 11. Part II, Reports, Etc. Serial No. 13, Pages 612-613, Broadfoot Publishing Company, , .
