. History of the American Civil War . ickahominy. orders came from Washington to burn the bridges thathad been seized. The principal bridge burnt was thatover the South Anna. On the 29th Porter returned tohis original camp. The national army, advancing toward Richmond, foundthat the bridges over the Chickahominy hadbeen destroyed by the Confederates in theirretreat. The stream flows through a swampy and wood-ed country, liable to be overflowed when freshets corps crossed it about the 24th of May, having re-paired Bottoms Bridge. Caseys division of this corpsadvanced as far as Fair
. History of the American Civil War . ickahominy. orders came from Washington to burn the bridges thathad been seized. The principal bridge burnt was thatover the South Anna. On the 29th Porter returned tohis original camp. The national army, advancing toward Richmond, foundthat the bridges over the Chickahominy hadbeen destroyed by the Confederates in theirretreat. The stream flows through a swampy and wood-ed country, liable to be overflowed when freshets corps crossed it about the 24th of May, having re-paired Bottoms Bridge. Caseys division of this corpsadvanced as far as Fair Oaks Station; Couchs Liy atSeven Pines; and Heintzelmans corps, following Keyessover the river, took up a position in its rear. His leftrested on Whiteoak Swamj^. The strength of these twocorps was about 30,000 men. Sumners corps was onthe other side of the Chickahominy. At this moment McClellans army was in a most dan-position geious position. One of its wings was onthe rioht, the other on the left of the creek Dnngerousof the army. BATTLE OF FAIE OAKS AXD SEVEN TIXES. Chap. LIV.] POSITION OF THE NATIONAL ARMY. 335 —creek it could hardly be called, for it was about to beswollen to the dimensions of a river. The only availa-ble connection was at Bottoms Bridge. The position ofthe army was like the letter V, Bottoms Bridge being atthe point. The left wing, in four divisions, lay in eche-lon alons: the York River Railroad. It answered to theleft branch of the V. The right wing, consisting of fivedivisions, and the reserves, answered to the other the extremity of one wing to that of the other, byway of Bottoms Bridge, was a distance of more thantwelve miles,though by an air-line they were not very farapart. Through the midst of the V flowed the Chicka-hominy. The outposts of the left wing were, as juststated, at Fair Oaks Station, on the York River Railroad,and at Seven Pines, on the Williamsburg Road. Undersuch circumstances, the Confederates could of course as-sai
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