The
oncoming Confederate hosts learned this to their sorrow again and again
in the five terrible days which followed.
On July 1st, McClellan reached the shelter of his gunboats and
intrenched himself on the heights of Malvern Hill. On its summit he
placed tier after tier of batteries swung in crescent line, commanding
every approach. Surmounting those on the highest point he planted seven
of his great siege guns. His army surrounded this hill, its left flank
resting on the James and covered by his gunboats.
It was late in the afternoon before Lee ordered a general attack. The
grey army was floundering in the mud in a vain effort to reach its
fleeing enemy in force. At noon they were still burying the dead on the
blood-soaked field of Glendale where McClellan's gallant rear guard had
stood until the last wagon train had safely arrived at Malvern Hill.
Ned Vaughan's company had been hurried from the West to the defense of
Richmond, and reached the field on the night of the 30th, too late for
the battle of Glendale, but in time to walk over its scarred soil in the
soft moonlight and get his first glimpse of war. He was yet to see a
battle.
A group of grey schoolboy comrades were burying one of their number
beneath a tall pine in the edge of an old field. He joined the circle
and watched them.
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