June 29, 1862 (Sunday)

Classic Magruder!

Word had come into General Robert E. Lee’s headquarters that the Union trenches were empty. His suspicion that they were retreating was correct, and he quickly devised a plan of pursuit. The three divisions north of the Chickahominy River, commanded by Generals Longstreet, A.P. Hill and Jackson (who now commanded D.H. Hill’s men as well), were ordered to cross, but only Jackson was given a key role to play. Longstreet and A.P. Hill were too far away to be of any use, though they were also crossed.

Lee’s other divisions, under Generals Magruder and Huger, held the line opposite the main Federal entrenchments. Both, like Jackson, were expected to hit the enemy in a simultaneous attack. Jackson would descend upon them from the north, while Magruder hit the center and Huger fell in on the right. Lee hoped to catch General McClellan and his Army of the Potomac in White Oak Swamp the following day, figuring that it would take the Federals at least that long to cross.¹

As before the battles of Beaver Dam Creek and Gaines’s Mill, very little went as planned. In General McClellan’s mind, Lee, whom he believed outnumbered him nearly two to one, left him little choice but to claw his way out through the swamps. His destination was the James River, near Malvern Hill, where he would find the protection of the gunboats.

One known road led through the swamp, until General Erasmus Keyes found an abandoned one that served well its original purpose. Leaving a strong rear guard at Savage’s Station, McClellan picked up his headquarters and moved it south, across the swamp. While he left the corps of Generals Sumner, Heintzelman, and Franklin, he left no overall commander.²

General Lee had joined General Magruder on Nine Mile Road, near Fair Oaks Station, to personally discuss the plans for the day. Magruder, however, was in no shape to fight a battle. Suffering from acute indigestion and prescribed a cocktail of morphine to subdue its effects, Magruder was himself subdued. Though Lee’s main plan was to trap the Federals the following day in White Oak Swamp, he drove home the importance of hitting their rear guard to slow them down.

As Magruder understood it, he was to command the attack, moving his force east along the Williamsburg Road. General Huger, he believed, would be snug on his right as support on the Charles City Road. Magruder was mistaken. Lee intended Huger to move along the more southerly Darby Town Road, which would take him out of range for support. Believing that Jackson would soon appear on his left and that Huger would be on his right, Magruder began his march.³

Savage Station in 2008

Most of the Federal rear guard had pulled back to Savage’s Station. General Sumner, however, pulled back only to the Allen Farm, along the Williamsburg Road, two miles west of Savage’s. And there is where Magruder found him at 9am. It was a minor, but sharp skirmish, pitting two Georgia regiments against two from Pennsylvania, but it managed to cloud General Magruder’s already cloudy mind. At the end of the two hour fray, Magruder was convinced that the Federals were about to attack him.

By this time, Magruder had realized that Huger was not on his left, and sent a plea to General Lee to order Huger to come to his aid. No doubt feeling the day already getting away from him, Lee concurred, plucking two brigades from Huger’s Division for Magruder to use until 2pm. Meanwhile, Magruder learned that Jackson would be delayed due to a bridge that needed to be rebuilt before he crossed it. Rather than attacking, he decided to wait for Huger and Jackson to arrive.

Map of battlefield. Notice the interstate exit that completely destroyed the ground.

During the lull, Union General Heintzelman decided that there were enough Federals at Savage’s Station to hold off whatever attack Sumner believed to be imminent. Without even whispering a word to Sumner, Heintzelman and his men slipped away, and no one was the wiser.⁴

General Huger, wanting little to do with Magruder’s indefinite waiting, decided to go back to his original plans of marching east down the Darby Town Road. As Magruder started his Division forward, he learned of Huger’s egress and received Jackson’s répondez, s’il vous plaît, which stated that he would not be joining in on Magruder’s attack, as he had been ordered to “other important duty.” In truth, while it may have been in Lee’s mind to order Jackson to make an attack, he never actually ordered it. The fact is that near this point in the day, Jackson received an early morning order from Lee to stay along the Chickahominy River, guarding its bridges in case McClellan was retreating along that route.

Battle of Savage's Station

Jackson, as usual, obeyed the strange orders, relaying a message to Magruder that he had “other important duty” to perform.⁵

Magruder decided to press forward along Williamsburg Road, accompanied by the world’s first railroad battery. In early June, General Lee had thought up plans to place a 32lbs naval gun on a flat car. Pushed by an engine, this would give the piece speed, though would only be useful if the enemy stayed in front of it, along the tracks.⁶

Railroad Battery used at Savage's Station

This was all discovered when Union General Franklin decided to check on the recently-vanished Heintzelman. Instead of friends in blue, however, he found the enemy in gray. Quickly the Federal line was plugged, though had Huger’s troops stuck around for the assault, the Federals would have been in much more trouble.

As it happened, Magruder broke down, ordering his brigades to “attack the enemy in whatever force or works he might be found.” This was no battle plan, and soon the Rebel attack fell to pieces. Two brigades (under Kershaw and Semmes) pressed forward, but the brigade north of the railroad (Cobbs) did nothing. Without a plan or even communication between each other, Kershaw’s Brigade charged in a fury, piercing the Union line.

The Federals hurried in reinforcements, and beat back the attack, which devolved into a stand up fight. On Kershaw’s right, Semmes pitched in, but on the left, Cobb’s brigade did nothing. On Semmes’ front, a Union Vermont Brigade made a vicious charge, hoping to turn the flank and the tide, but were beaten back with appalling losses.

The slowness of the advance and the pitched battle stretched on until darkness fell across the field, bringing an end to the fighting. The Federals had not budged.⁷

General Lee was furious with Magruder. “I regret much that you have made so little progress today in the pursuit of the enemy,” reprimanded the commanding General. “In order to reap the fruits of our victory the pursuit should be most vigorous. I must urge you, then, again to press on his rear rapidly and steadily. We must lose no more time or he will escape us entirely.”

In a post script, Lee tried to clear up some of the confusion over Jackson’s “other important duty” order. “On the contrary,” corrected Lee, “he has been directed to do so, and to push the pursuit vigorously.”⁸

Finally, well after midnight, Jackson received instructions from Lee, and rode through a violent thunderstorm to Magruder’s headquarters. He assured the nervous Magruder that his men would be up at dawn and on his left soon after.

General Lee, however, had other ideas.⁹

Savage Station Battlefield as seen from the interstate overpass.

1. To the Gates of Richmond by Stephen Sears, Mariner Books, 1992. [↩]
2. George B. McClellan by Steven Sears, Da Capo Press, 1988. [↩]
3. The Seven Days by Clifford Dowdey, University of Nebraska, 1964. [↩]
4. To the Gates of Richmond by Stephen Sears, Mariner Books, 1992. [↩]
5. Stonewall Jackson by James I. Robertson, MacMillan, 1997. Robertson make a lot of excuses for Jackson in his book, and this might just be another. [↩]
6. To the Gates of Richmond by Stephen Sears, Mariner Books, 1992. [↩]
7. The Seven Days by Clifford Dowdey, University of Nebraska, 1964. [↩]
8. Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 11, Part 2, p687. [↩]
9. Stonewall Jackson by James I. Robertson, MacMillan, 1997. [↩]

Related posts:

The Incredibly Ill-Conceived Battle of Williamsburg

No Battle Expected at the Battle of McDowell

Another Obstacle in the Path of Stonewall Jackson; Confederate Tucson Falls

Confederate Blunders at Seven Pines; Union Blunders in the Valley

Battle of Gaines’s Mill – The Federal Wave Crests

This entry was posted by Eric on Friday, June 29th, 2012 at 1:00 am and is filed under 1862 Campaigns, Armies, Army of Northern Virginia, Army of the Potomac, Battles, Campaigns & Raids, Confederate Armies, Stonewall Jackson's Army, The Peninsula '62, US Armies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.