"On Thursday, June 26th, the powerful and thoroughly equipped army of the enemy was intrenched in works vast in extent and most formidable in charIacter, within sight of our capital. to the Army of the Potomac." You have reached this new base complete in organization and unimpaired in spirit. The enemy may at any time attack you -we are prepared to meet them. have personally established your lines. Let them come, and we will convert their repulse into a final defeat. "Your government is strengthening you with the resources of a great people. On this, our nation's birthday, we declare to our foes-who are rebels against the best interests of mankindthat this army shall enter the capital of the so-called Confederacy; that our national constitution shall prevail; and that the Union, which can alone insure internal peace and external security to each State, must and shall be preserved -cost what it may in time, treasure, and blood. 666 GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, "Major-General Commanding.' "This narrative cannot be better concluded than by the reproduction of the following general orders of General Lee in reference to the battle. These orders give an official and probably the most trustworthy summary of the results that can now be had, and afford a striking contrast to the address of Gen. McClellan: แ "To-day the remains of that confident and threatening host lie upon the banks of the James River, thirty miles from Richmond, seeking to recover, under the protection of their gun-boats, from the effects of a series of disastrous defeats. "The battle beginning on the afternoon of the 26th June, above Mechanicsville, continued until the night of July 1st, with only such intervals as were necessary to pursue and overtake the flying foe. Their strong intrenchments and obstinate resistance were overcome, and our army swept resistlessly down the north side of the Chickahominy, until it reached the rear of the enemy and broke their communication with the York, сарturing or causing the destruction of many valuable stores, and by the decisive battle of Friday, forcing the enemy from their line of powerful fortifications on the south side of the Chickahominy and driving them to a precipitate retreat. This victorious army pursued as rapidly as the obstructions placed by the enemy overtaking their flying column, and as in their rear would permit, three times. often driving them with slaughter from the field, leaving their numerous dead and wounded in our hands in every conflict. "The immediate fruits of our success are the relief of Richmond from a state of siege, the rout of the great army that so long menaced its safety, many thousand prisoners, including officers of high rank, the capture or destruction of stores to the value of millions, and the acquisition of thousands of arms and fifty-one pieces of superior artillery. "The service rendered to the country in this short but eventful period can scarcely be estimated, and the General commanding cannot adequately express his admiration of the courage, endurance, and soldierly conduct of the officers and men engaged. "These brilliant results have cost us many brave men; but while we mourn the loss of our gallant dead, let us not forget that they died nobly in defence of their country's freedom, and have linked their memory with an event that will live forever in the hearts of a grateful people. propose to do this in a historical spirit, without reference to the mean objects of personal compliment or personal detraction, anxious only to interpret with justice and intelligence the events of the past week, and to define the result of one of the gravest incidents that has yet occurred in the history of the war. "The general estimation of the battle of Richmond, expressed in a spirit of candor, would be that it was a most excellent plan, indifferently executed in the field. The work of the closet was good. The design was comprehensive and sagacious, and calculations upon which it was based were nicely arranged; but its execution, unfortunately, was full of flaws, which, to some degree, have marred the results of our victory, or reduced them below public expectation. Reviewing the situation of the two armies at the commencement of the action, the advantage was entirely our own, the fact being that the plan of McClellan was as defective as our own was excellent. He had divided his army on the two sides of the Chickahom"R. H. CHILTON, A. A. General.'" iny, and operating apparently with the REVIEW OF THE BATTLE AND ITS RESULTS. design of half circumvallating Richmond The following clear and impartial re--which was exceedingly foolish, considview of the conduct and results of the ering the size and situation of this citybattles is taken from the columns of the he had spread out his forces to an exRichmond Examiner of Tuesday, July tent that impaired the facility of concen8th: tration, and had made a weak and dangerous extension of his lines. "Soldiers! your country will thank you for the heroic conduct you have displayed-conduct worthy of men engaged in a cause so just and sacred, and deserving a nation's gratitude and praise. "By command of General Lee. "We have now reached a period at which we may calculate the value of the result of the great battle of Richmond, and make a summary review of the grand diorama of events that has so recently passed before our eyes. We "It will be observed that the attack was made on our side by a rear and flank movement at the same time, intending to crush the enemy successively along the whole extent of his lines, from AN IMPARTIAL REVIEW. Mechanicsville to his batteries on the south side of the Chickahominy, and on that side of the river to fall upon him with the whole weight of our forces, with the expectation of putting him to a general rout. "A most remarkable feature of all the battles which attended the general line of movement we have described is, that at no time were more than 20,000 Confederates actually engaged with the enemy. After the first demonstration in force on the enemy's extreme right, he retired from Mechanicsville, and we pursued. When, by this retiring movement, he had concentrated, as he supposed, sufficient troops to contest a decisive field with us, we fell upon him with one division at a time. The consequence of imperfect attack was that the enemy was never crushed, though he was always defeated. It is not unreasonable to suppose, in view of what was accomplished by piecemeal, that if, at any critical time, several divisions had been thrown upon the enemy, he would have been routed, demoralization would have ensued, and the result of our victory been fully and summarily accomplished. "By the desperate valor of our troops and the conspicuous exertions of General Ambrose P. Hill, whose division was in the extreme advance, and was engaged successively at Ellyson's Mills, Cold Harbor, and Frazier's Farm, each of the fields was signalized by the success of our arms. But with the remarkable and hard-fought field at Frazier's Farm our congratulations must 341 stop. The brilliant chain of victories is broken here. After all that had been achieved, and all that had been expended in the toil and blood of three days' fighting, we had failed to cut off the enemy's retreat to the river, and to accomplish the most important condition for the completion of our victory. The whole army of McClellan had passed along our right wing, and had been permitted, as it were, to slip through our fingers. There is nothing in the subsequent operations of our forces to repair the effect of this fatal blunder. At Malvern Hill the result to us was deplorable in the amount of our loss, and negative as to any advantage gained over the enemy. "We are unwilling, however, to dwell with any pertinacity upon errors which have diminished the fruits of our victory, or even upon such staring and enormous blunders as gave to a defeated enemy open egress to the strongest places of refuge he could have desired, as long as we may congratulate ourselves that the result of the battle of Richmond, as a whole, was a success to the Confederacy, and a most grateful relief to the long pent-up anxieties of the people of the South. We have raised, at least for a time, the siege of Richmond; we have the moral effect of at least three distinct victories; and we have taken from the defeated enemy a rich and splendid prize, in stores, artillery, and prisoners. So far, the result of the battle of Richmond is pleasing and grateful to the country. The mixture of disappointment is in the undeniable fact that |