Robert E. Lee had taken
the place of Joseph E. Johnston.
General G. W. Smith, second in command when Johnston fell, had formed
his plan of battle, and the new head of the Confederacy, with his high
sense of courtesy and justice, permitted his subordinate to direct the
conflict for the day.
As the sun rose, red and ominous through the dark pine forest, General
Smith quickly advanced his men at Fair Oaks Station, down the railroad,
and fell with fury on the men in blue, who crouched behind the
embankment. The men were less than fifty yards apart, and muskets blazed
in long level sheets of yellow flame. No longer could the ear catch the
effect of ripping canvas in the fire of small arms. The roar was
endless. For an hour and a half the two blazing lines mowed each other
down in their tracks without pause. The grey at last gave way and fell
back to the shelter of their woods and gathered reinforcements. The
Union lines had been cut to pieces and suddenly ceased firing while
their support advanced.
The roaring hell had died into a strange ominous stillness. John Vaughan
had just dashed up to the embankment with orders from McClellan to hold
this position until Haskin's division arrived. He sprang on the
embankment and looked curiously at the long piles of grey bodies lying
in an endless row as far as the eye could reach.
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