History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates.

1862 BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS. 409
and Lieutenants Moylan, Scott, Pollock, and Rhodes were among the killed,
and Lieutenant Colonel Spear and Major Smith were wounded and taken
prisoners.
Without a field officer, the remnant of the regiment, in command of Captain
Robert L. Orr, fought in the second position until it was too dark to see the
enemy. On the following day, the fighting was resumed by Sumner's Corps
and the ground which had been lost was regained. The regiment remained
in camp, near the old battle ground, engaged in picket duty, participating in
occasional skirmishes, until the night of June 28th, when it was ordered to the
extreme right of the line, which had been attacked and beaten back to the
Chickahominy, but arrived too late to be of much avail. At three o'clock A.M.,
of June 29th, it was ordered to start on the retreat from the Chickahominy to
the James, the special duty assigned to the division being to open and to hold
the roads leading to Charles City, which was accomplished after much fatigue,
but with little loss. The pickets of the regiment were attacked at Charles
City Cross Roads, by a force of cavalry, but which had seen no field service,
and was quickly put to flight. Resuming the march, it reached the James
River on the morning of the 30th of June. After two hours rest, it again
moved inland, and participated in the action at Turkey Bend, preliminary to
the sanguinary battle of Malvern Hill. The loss in the regiment here was but
slight. On the morning of July 1st, upon the opening of the final struggle of
the campaign, it was again called into action, and during the entire day and
until after dark it was hotly engaged; but, owing to its sheltered position,
suffered comparatively small loss, being but two officers and thirty-two men.
Captain Dawson and Lieutenant Rhodes were among the wounded.
Taking up the line of march at one P. M. of the 2d, in the midst of a driving rain, it reached Harrison's Landing on the following morning in a state of
complete exhaustion. In the afternoon a ration of whisky was issued-a ration
which will doubtless be long remembered by the men, who, from prostration,
were in need of stimulants. On the morning of July 4th the army began to
assume an organized form, and the Sixty-first was moved into position, near to
the James River facing Malvern Hill, and ordered to build breast-works. The
pioneers soon had the wilderness cleared, and in twenty-four hours a substantial work, of sufficient strength to withstand the action of artillery, was completed. With the exception of a reconnoissance to the old battle ground at
Malvern Hill, the regiment remained in camp at this place until the 16th of
August, when orders were received to march, which were well understood to
mean evacuate. The heavy material and the knapsacks of the men had previously been shipped by transports, and, leaving without regret the scene of
this severe but unfortunate campaign, the regiment proceeded through Charles
City and Williamsburg to Yorktown. The division was here for some time
engaged in levelling the old besieging works of the previous April. Rumors
of Lee's northward march were now rife, and soon the division was ordered to
move by transports to Alexandria where, upon its arrival, it received orders
from General M'Clellan "to debark immediately and march to Centreville,
where further orders would be given." At daylight of September 2d, the regiment marched to Chantilly, where the enemy under Jackson was reported to
be in force, but arrived on the field too late to be engaged, and there, for the
first time, got definite intelligence of the discomfiture of the Union Army at
Bull Run, and of the death of Generals Kearney and Stevens in the severe