men were ordered forward once more to occupy
the ground they had once taken and surrendered.

This time there was less resistance. The rebels steadily gave way,
giving up their rifle pits and yielding the whole of the open field.
Under cover of the forest beyond the field they made another stand, and
late in the afternoon a brigade charged upon our lines; but they were
bravely met by men of Grover's brigade, and driven back, leaving three
hundred of their dead on the field.

By the action of this day, our line was advanced on the left nearly a
mile. The victory, such as it was, cost us six hundred and forty men in
killed and wounded. The men remained under arms all night, in readiness
to meet the frequent sorties of the enemy, who intended nothing more
serious than preventing reinforcements from being sent to the right of
our line.

Little did General Lee heed these operations on our left. It was all the
better for his plan that the attention of our army should be engaged in
this direction. He was ready now to execute his plan of raising the
siege of Richmond; and a tremendous force had been massed against our
right, ready to advance upon it and our rear, with the hope of cutting
the Union army off from its supplies, and placing it in the greatest
jeopardy.

Let us, for a moment, recall the position of our army, which, since the
first battle of Fair Oaks, has been somewhat changed. Porter's corps,
consisting of McCall's, Morrell's and Sykes' divisions, still held the
right, on the north bank of the Chickahominy, at Gaines' Farm and
Mechanicsville. The several bridges which had been constructed since the
1st of June, formed avenues of communication between the two portions of
the army separated by the river. Next, near the river, and opposite
Porter's corps, was our own Sixth corps, Slocum's and Smith's divisions,
Smith's nearest the stream. Then, on our left was Sumner's corps,
Sedgwick's and Richardson's divisions; and finally, on the left of all,
was Heintzelman, with his divisions under Hooker and Kearney, and
Couch's division, of Keyes' corps. Casey's shattered division was in the
rear, guarding Bottom's Bridge and the road to the White House.

The line stretched from Mechanicsville across the river to Golden's
Farm, and thence to Fair Oaks.

The whole of this extensive line was protected by earthworks of
marvelous magnitude, and whole forests of timber slashed in front of
some parts of the line formed almos