RETREAT TO HARRISONS LANDING.
In less than two hours after the roar of artillery had died away, the
entire Federal army was stealing away from its enemy, and at midnight
it presented all the confusion of a fleeing and routed army; and
although the distance to Harrisons Landing was but seven miles, the
rear of that broken and dispirited army did not reach its destination
until noon of the next day. The mud was in many places more than
ankle-deep. This prevented the Confederates from bringing up their
artillery, and this fact alone, doubtless, saved McClellan's army from
complete destruction.
On the 8th of July the Confederates returned to Richmond, and the
Federals lay at Harrisons Landing until the 4th of August, when, as
we shall see, it became necessary for them to move again. The terrible
seven days were past and the Peninsular Campaign ended; and what
were the results? McClellan reached the banks of the Chickahominy
with 159,500 men, and ten days later, when he reached Harrisons
Landing, he telegraphed to the Secretary of War that he presumed he
had not "over 50,000 men left with his colors;" but on the 7th of July,
when President Lincoln visited the camp, he found 86,000 men on the
field, thus showing a loss of 73,500 men in ten days. General Lee, in
his report to the Confederate Secretary of War, said:
"The siege of Richmond has been raised, and the object of a campaign,
which had been prosecuted after months of preparation at an
enormous expenditure of men and money, is completely frustrated.
More than 10,000 prisoners, including officers of rank, fifty-two pieces
of artillery, and more than 35,000 stand of small arms were captured.
The stores and supplies of every description which fell into our hands
were great in amount and value, but small in comparison with those
destroyed by the enemy. His losses in battle exceeded our own, as
attested by the thousands of dead and wounded left on every field,
while his subsequent inaction shows in what condition the survivors
reached the protection to which they fled."
As before mentioned, on the 4th of August McClellan received orders
from Washington to remove his army to Acquia creek to aid in repelling
the Confederate movement toward the National Capital. The bulk
of his army removed to Fortress Monroe, which place it left on the 23d
of August, and reached Acquia creek the next day.
