tion of the
firing, at the point where A.P. Hill and his adversary had so long
kept up, Jackson and D.H. Hill undertook to relieve him. Longstreet,
too, near nightfall, who had been held in reserve all day, now broke
from his place of inaction and rushed into the fray like an uncaged
lion, and placed himself between A.P. Hill and the river. For a few
moments the earth trembled with the tread of struggling thousands, and
the dreadful recoil of the heavy batteries that lined the crest of the
hill from right to left. The air was filled with the shrieking shells
as they sizzled through the air or plowed their way through the ranks
of the battling masses. Charges were met by charges, and the terrible
"Rebel Yell" could be heard above the din and roar of battle, as the
Confederates swept over field or through the forest, either to capture
a battery or to force a line of infantry back by the point of the
bayonet. While the battle was yet trembling in the balance, the
Confederates making frantic efforts to pierce the enemy's lines,
and they, with equal courage and persistency, determined on holding,
Pickett and Anderson, of Longstreet's Division, and Hood and Whiting,
of Jackson's, threw their strength and weight to the aid of Hill's
depleted ranks. The enemy could stand no longer. The line is broken
at one point, then another, and as the Confederates closed in on them
from all sides, they break in disorder and leave the field. It looked
at one time as if there would be a rout, but Porter in this emergency,
put in practice one of Napoleon's favorite tactics. He called up his
cavalry, and threatened the weakened ranks of the Confederates with a
formidable front of his best troopers. These could not be of service
in the weight of battle, but protected the broken columns and fleeing
fugitives of Porter's Army.

South Carolina will be ever proud of the men whom she had on that
memorable field who consecrated the earth at Gaines' Mill with
their blood, as well as of such leaders as Gregg, McGowan, McCrady,
Marshall, Simpson, Haskell, and Hamilton, and hosts of others, who
have ever shed lustre and glory equal to those of any of the thousands
who have made the Palmetto State renowned the world over.

McClellan was now in sore straits. He could not weaken his lines on
the south side of the Chickahominy to re-enforce Fitz John Porter,
for fear Magruder, Holmes, and Huger, who were watching his every
movements in their front, should f