to change the fortunes of the
day. We did check the advancing and exalting Rebels, who supposed a
large part of the Union army had come to the rescue. Forming our lines
on top of the hill (Gain's) with an Irish cheer we went down the
northern side of the hill pell-mell for the enemy. The pursuers were now
the pursued. The Rebels broke and fled before Irish steel. To advance in
the darkness would be madness. The regiments were brought to a halt. So
as to deceive the Confederates as to the number of reinforcements, the
position of each regiment was constantly changed. In one of these
movements, the right of the Sixty-Third struck a rebel battalion, halted
in the darkness, and for a time there was temporary confusion. The grey
coats were brushed aside instantly, getting a volley from the right wing
of the Sixty-Third as a reminder that we meant business.

Fitz John Porter pays this tribute to the brigade as to the part it
took on this occasion: "French and Meagher's brigades of Sumner's corps,
all that the corps commanders deemed they could part with, were sent
forward by the commanding general.... All soon rallied in rear of the
Adams House behind Sykes and the brigades of French and Meagher sent to
our aid, and who now with hearty cheers greeted our battalions as they
retired and reformed."

While resting on our arms the dead and wounded were thick all
around--friend and foe. Alas! not a few were our brothers of the Ninth
Massachusetts. They told us in whispers how they repelled the enemy all
day, and not until they were flanked by the Rebels did they give way
before their repeated charges. The remnant of the regiment I
subsequently saw next morning, in the rear, few in numbers, but with its
spirit unbroken.

Having held the enemy in check to permit our broken battalions and the
wounded to recross the Chickahominy, the two brigades silently left the
field before dawn the next morning, blowing up the bridge behind us,
thus stopping the pursuit. The two brigades occupied their old places
behind the breastwork, at four the next morning, completely exhausted,
but gratified that we were instrumental in checking the enemy, and
saving from capture a large part of the army.

Four days later, July 1st, the bloody conflict of Malvern Hill was
fought--the last of the Seven Days' Battles. Meagher's brigade, at that
time consisting of the Sixty-Third, Eighty-Eighth, and Sixty-Ninth New
York and one regiment from Massachusetts (Tw