RETURN TO SEVEN PINES - Part 2 of 3+

[Pvt. Sam Dile]

RETURN TO SEVEN PINES - Part 2 of 3+
A Reprieve for Wessell's Brigade and Casey's Division
A closer look at Casey's division and the first 3 1/2 hours of the battle.

Part 2 - "The Battle"

At approximately 12:30 general Garland advanced his confederate brigade consisting of the 2nd Fla., 38th Va., 23rd NC., 24th Va. toward the federal lines with the 2nd Miss as skirmishers North of the Williamsburg road. He was flollowed by the brigade of G.B. Anderson consisting of the 4th NC., 49th Va., 27th Ga., and the 28th Ga. on the South side of the Williamsburg road. 15 minutes behind Garland was the brigade of General Rodes consisting of the 5th Ala., 12th Ala., 12th Miss., 4th Va. Bn., and the 6th Ala. as skirmishers. Behind rodes was the brigade of general Rains consisting of the 6th Ga., 26th Ala., 23rd Ga., and the 13th Ala. The Va. Artillery of Capt. Thomas Carter and the Ala. Battery of Capt. J.W. Bondurant were in the center on the Williamsburg road.


In the mean time, General Casey ordered Capt. Sprat (with only a four gun battery) forward of the line of works approximately 400 yards. To support these guns General Casey ordered the following regiments forward to form the first line of defense. The 11th Maine, consisting of only three companies was to form 30 yards to the right of the battery near a fence. Immediately to the right of the 11th Maine the 104th Pa consisting of seven companies was to form after moving from their camp along nine mile road. Immediately to the left of the battery and South of the Williamsburg road the 100th NY was to form. To their left was the 92nd NY and on the far left and some distance away the 81st NY was protecting that flank.


Immediately to the right of the 81st NY was the 98th NY. They were protecting the gap between the 92nd and 81st NY. A little to the rear of the 98th NY was the 96th NY and two companies of the 103rd PA. Casey posted his remaining three regiments to the right and left of the redoubt which formed his second and last line of defense. On the left of the redoubt was the 85th NY and in the redoube was the six gun battery of Capt. Bates. On the right of the redoubt and extending across the Williamsburg road was the 85th PA. On the right of the 85th and extending into the woods was the 101st PA which numbered only 387 officers and men.

To the right rear of the redoubt Casey placed the six gun battery of Capt. Fitch who placed one section South and two North of the Williamsburg road. Capt. Regan's battery was posted to the rear of the 101st but was masked by the 101st and was unable to fire for most of the battle.


Casey's picket line and it's supports at the williamsburg rd. consisting of 5 companies of the 103rd PA were initially able to stall the advance of the skirmish line of the 2nd Miss. Garlands supporting regiments quickly flanked the five companies of the 103rd PA driving them and the pickets back through the woods toward Casey's first line.

During the time the pickets were being driven in, the 104th PA, 11th Me, 100th NY, and the 92nd NY moved up to the edge of the abatis slightly in advance of Sprats Battery. During this move the 104th had to cross a worm fence which split it's line diagonally. Upon exiting the woods and the abatis remnants of the 103rd PA, (approx. 100 men) formed on the left of the 11th Me.

As the skirmishers of the 2nd Miss. came out of the woods Casey's advance regiments opened a deadly fire on them stalling their advance. The 2nd Fla. and part of the 23rd NC continued to push forward almost reaching the fence in fornt of Sprat's battery. At the same time, approx. 1:30PM South of the Williamsburg rd. the skirmishers of Rodes Brigade were also reaching the edge of the woods.

South of the road a charge by the 100th NY stalled the advance of Rodes skirmishers of the 6th Ala. Rodes' supporting regiments were quickly moved up into line outflanking the 100th and 92nd NY. Gen. Rains' brigade was ordered to sweep wide and attempt to get on the flank and rear of Casey's line at the twin houses. To assist Gen Rains, Gen. Hill ordered Capt. Carter's battery to follow this flanking movement. Back North of the road G.B Anderson's brigade of 1,865 men had quickly moved up and passed through Garland's men and smashed into Casey's 10 companies of the 104th PA and 11th Me. both together totaling 493 men who had charged into the woods.

Seeing that they were about to be flanked the 104th PA started to fall back as did the rest of the advanced regiments stopping only long enough to fire another volley into the rapidly advancing confederates. It was now approximately 2 PM and General Keyes (4th Corps Commander) sent a dispatch to Couch asking for support and another dispatch to Heintzelman. Both dispatches would apparently be ignored because as Heintzelman would later state "I was not alarmed because we had it before."

Shortly after Anderson's men hit Casey's line, Gen. Hill ordered them to shift left thereby extending the line and outflanking Casey's line to the North. Some of the regiments did move left and some did not. While Anderson was reforming North of the Road, Rodes was also reforming his brigade to the South of the road in the edge of the woods. Rodes recalled the 12th Miss. who had advanced with the 6th Ala. through the abitis ahead of the rest of the brigade in pursuit of the 100th NY. He then placed the 12th Miss. on the right of his newly formed line. Rodes then resumed his advance with the entire brigade of six regiments in a single line.

The artillery battery of Capt, Bondurant was posted on the Williamsburg rd on Rodes' left to engage Fitch's advanced battery and the guns in the redoubt. General Rains' brigade now on line poured a withering volley into the 81st and 98th NY from the edge of the woods and then advanced into the open toward the NY regiments. The 23rd Ga who was still advancing in the woods saw that they had now flanked the 81st NY wheeled to the left and poured another volley into the flank of the 81st. Captain Carter's battery moving with Rains was almost ready to move his guns into battery on the flank of Casey's main line at the twin houses.

Two companies of the 103rd PA which were in the rear of a gap between the 98th and 92nd NY, advanced a few yards to meet the confederate push but the 96th NY who was standing with them did not advance. Now being reformed, Anderson's men resumed the drive and were out flanking Casey's line to the North by several hundred yards. Sprat's battery was playing havoc with the confederats advancing on the Williamsburg rd. but seeing that his advancing line was being pushed back and that the guns were in danger of being overrun, Gen. Casey ordered the battery to fall back. Due to heavy loss of both horses and men Sprat was forced to abandon one gun.

The 104th PA and the 11th Me. were contestiong every yard of ground but were steadily being pushed back by ever increasing numbers in theri front and on both flanks. Bondurants artillery was now at the edge of the woods on the road and on the left of Rodes' line and was firing on the guns in ther redoubt. The time was now approximately 2:45PM and Jenkins with several SC regiments had come up and was moving ****her to the North and to the rear of Anderson's brigade. They had orders to sweep the area South of the railroad at Fair Oks station which ran East and West and was located just North of Casey's position and then drive down Nine Mile rd. toward the union position at Seven Pines.

Just as the 104th PA and the 11th Me were being pushed back across a worm fence on of Anderson's regiments, the 4th NC thought there was an opportunity and made a right oblique movement and charged toward the redoubt several hundred yards away and to their right front. After sustaining heavy losses in men and officers and seeing that they were alone and 200 yards infront of everyone else in their brigade, they were forced to fall back beyond the point they had charged from. Jenkins' regiments now formed with two of Anderson's, the 27th and 28th Ga and pushed toward Nine Mile rd. driving one of Casey's picket supports, the 56th NY before them.

The time was now approximately 3:15 PM and Casey's first line was badly flanked and, collapsing and falling back through Casey's camps. Some of the first line regiments reformed on the other side of casey's camps and others did not stop until they reached Gen. Couch's position 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile to the rear. The battle had now been raging for almost 3 hours, no support had been sent dispite Heintzelman's assurances that Key's corps / Casey's Division would be quickly supported.