the Federal artillery was captured,
their line driven from the hill, and in other parts of the field a
similar success followed the attack. As night fell, their line gave
way in all parts, and the remnants of General Porter's command
retreated to the bridges over the Chickahominy.

The first important passage of arms between General McClellan and
General Lee--and it may be added the really decisive one--had
terminated in a great success on the side of the Confederates.

IV.

THE RETREAT.

The battle of Cold Harbor--or, as General Lee styles it in his report,
the "battle of the Chickahominy"--was the decisive struggle between
the great adversaries, and determined the fate of General McClellan's
campaign against Richmond.

This view is not held by writers on the Northern side, who represent
the battle in question as only the first of a series of engagements,
all of pretty nearly equal importance, and mere incidents attending
General McClellan's change of base to the shores of the James River.
Such a theory seems unfounded. If the battle at Cold Harbor had
resulted in a Federal victory, General McClellan would have advanced
straight on Richmond, and the capture of the city would inevitably
have followed. But at Cold Harbor he sustained a decisive defeat.
His whole campaign was reversed, and came to naught, from the events
occurring between noon and nightfall on the 27th of June. The result
of that obstinate encounter was not a Federal success, leading to the
fall of Richmond, but a Federal defeat, which led to the retreat to
the James River, and the failure of the whole campaign against the
Confederate capital.

It is conceded that General McClellan really intended to change his
base; but after the battle of Cold Harbor every thing had changed.
He no longer had under him a high-spirited army, moving to take up
a stronger position, but a weary and dispirited multitude of human
beings, hurrying along to gain the shelter of the gunboats on the
James River, with the enemy pursuing closely, and worrying them at
every step. To the condition of the Federal army one of their own
officers testifies, and his expressions are so strong as wellnigh
to move the susceptibilities of an opponent. "We were ordered to
retreat," says General Hooker, "and it was like the retreat of a
whipped army. We retreated like a parcel of sheep; everybody on the
road at the same time; and a few shots from the rebels would have
panic-stric