llantly. The 122d and 126th Ohio and
138th Pennsylvania lost very heavily.

"About 2 P.M. Brigadier-General Shaler's brigade, of the First
Division, Sixth Army Corps, took position upon the right of this
brigade, and became the extreme right of the army.

"Skirmishing continued until about sunset, when the enemy turned
the right of the army and made an attack upon its flank and rear,
causing the troops to give way rapidly, and compelling them to fall
back for some distance before they were reformed. So rapid was
the enemy's advance upon the flank and rear, that time was not
given to change front to meet him, and some confusion occurred in
the retreat. Few prisoners were lost in the brigade. The lines
were soon re-established and the progress of the enemy stopped.
An attack was made by the enemy upon the re-established line about
8 P.M., but was handsomely repulsed.

"Unfounded reports were circulated that the troops of this brigade
were the first to give way, when the first attack of the enemy was
made.

"It is not improper to state here that no charges of bad conduct
are made against the troops upon its right, but that this brigade
remained at its post and successfully resisted a simultaneous attack
from the front, until the troops upon its right were doubled back
and were retreating in disorder through and along its lines."

The presence of a general officer in authority, or an intelligent
staff officer representing him, would have averted the useless
slaughter of the evening of the 5th, and the disaster of the evening
of the 6th, which, for a time, threatened the safety of the whole
army. A brigade or more of troops thrown on the enemy's left by
a little _detour_ on either evening would have doubled it back and
given us, with little loss, that part of the field and a free swing
for the next day.

The success in gaining ground on the 5th left our right in the air,
bent to the front, with the enemy on its flank, thus inviting the
attack made the next day by General J. B. Gordon, which drove back
the main part of the Sixth Corps on the Union centre. Gordon's
attack was a repetition of Stonewall Jackson's flank movement at
Chancellorsville, and it should have been so far anticipated as to
cause its disastrous failure.

In field-hospital, on seeing a staff officer of mine (Captain Thomas
J. Black, who was having a wounded hand dressed), I discussed the
situation, and predicted the enemy would seize the fav