th
Jackson and Lee as they expired.

Associated with him in the battles of the Chickahominy, and to the
end, was the able and resolute Longstreet--an officer of low and
powerful stature, with a heavy, brown beard reaching to his breast,
a manner marked by unalterable composure, and a countenance whose
expression of phlegmatic tranquillity never varied in the hottest
hours of battle. Longstreet was as famous for his bull-dog obstinacy,
as Hill for his dash and enthusiasm. General Lee styled him his "old
war-horse," and depended upon him, as will be seen, in some of the
most critical operations of the war.

Of the young and ardent Virginian, General Magruder, the brave
and resolute North-Carolinian, D.H. Hill, and other officers who
subsequently acquired great reputations in the army, we have no space
at present to speak. All were to cooeperate in the assault on General
McClellan, and do their part.

On the night of the 25th of June, all was ready for the important
movement, and the troops rested on their arms, ready for the coming
battle.

II.

LEE'S PLAN OF ASSAULT.

General Lee had been hitherto regarded as a soldier of too great
caution, but his plan for the assault on General McClellan indicated
the possession of a nerve approaching audacity.

Fully comprehending his enemy's strength and position, and aware that
a large portion of the Federal army had crossed the Chickahominy, and
was directly in his front, he had resolved to pass to the north
bank of the stream with the bulk of his force, leaving only about
twenty-five thousand men to protect the city, and deliver battle where
defeat would prove ruinous. This plan indicated nothing less than
audacity, as we have already said; but, like the audacity of the flank
movement at Chancellorsville afterward, and the daring march, in
disregard of General Hooker, to Pennsylvania in 1864, it was founded
on profound military insight, and indicated the qualities of a great
soldier.

Lee's design was to attack the Federal right wing with a part of his
force, while Jackson, advancing still farther to the left, came in on
their communications with the White House, and assailed them on their
right and rear. Meanwhile Richmond was to be protected by General
Magruder with his twenty-five thousand men, on the south bank; if
McClellan fell back down the Peninsula, this force was to cross and
unite with the rest; thus the Federal army would be driven from all
its pos