ng to be feared. After
witnessing the opening of the attack, the Federal commander, leaving
the control of the field to Porter, had ridden off to Harrison's
Landing, eight miles down the James, whither his trains, escorted by
the Fourth Army Corps, had been directed, and where he had determined
to await reinforcements. The Federal troops, moreover, although they
had withstood the charge of the Confederate infantry with unbroken
ranks, had not fought with the same spirit as they had displayed at
Gaines' Mill. General Hunt, McClellan's chief of artillery, to whose
admirable disposition of the batteries the victory was largely due,
wrote that "the battle was desperately contested, and frequently
trembled in the balance. The last attack...was nearly successful; but
we won from the fact that we had kept our reserves in hand."* (*
Three horse-batteries and eight 32-pr. howitzers were "brought up to
the decisive point at the close of the day, thus bringing every gun
of this large artillery force (the artillery reserve) into the most
active and decisive use. Not a gun remained unemployed: not one could
have been safely spared." (Hunt's Report, O.R. volume 11 part 2 page
239.)) Nor had McClellan much confidence in his army. "My men," he
wrote to Washington on the morning of the battle, "are completely
exhausted, and I dread the result if we are attacked to-day by fresh
troops. If possible, I shall retire to-night to Harrison's Landing,
where the gunboats can render more aid in covering our position.
Permit me to urge that not an hour should be lost in sending me fresh
troops. More gunboats are much needed...I now pray for time. My men
have proved themselves the equals of any troops in the world, but
they are worn out. Our losses have been very great, we have failed to
win only because overpowered by superior numbers."* (* O.R. volume 11
part 3 page 282.)

Surely a more despairing appeal was never uttered. The general, whose
only thought was "more gunboats and fresh troops," whatever may have
been the condition of his men, had reached the last stage of
demoralisation.

The condition to which McClellan was reduced seems to have been
realised by Jackson. The crushing defeat of his own troops failed to
disturb his judgment. Whilst the night still covered the
battle-field, his divisional generals came to report the condition of
their men and to receive instructions. "Every representation," says
Dabney, "which they made was gloomy.