1862 July 1 before Richmond, Va.

[from the diary of Jonathan B. Hager of the 14th U.S. Regulars as copied and annotated by him at a later date.]


July 1   This morning about 1-0 o clock heavy cannon-
            ading commenced. The shells from the enemy
            came thick into our camp.  We were under arms
            & in line of battle all day.  During the morning
            a wagon had been sent to us with rations. While
            unloading several shells hit near the wagon
            & the teamster became exceedingly nervous, &
            he had good reason to feel so, for during his
            trip to us a shell had taken off the fore
            part of his wagon bed & he begged of us most
            piteously to hurry & let him off  At this time
            rations were rations & we were not going to
            suffer him to take any away, but we un-
            loaded that wagon complete, & distributed to each
            man and officer his hard bread & pork under fire
            Towards evening we received orders to march to the
            front where the battle was raging.  We got there
            in time to participate before it ended--Indeed
            we closed the battle.  It was dark before we
            were fairly in.  It was not too dark however for
            the rifle balls to find us & we lost quite a
            number of men here--We could only see where to
            fire by the flash of the enemys guns.  Our first
            volley brought down a Colonel of Louisiana tigers
            whose regiment was advancing to seize one of our
            batteries, the second volley broke the regiment and
            soon the battle was over.  We slept upon the field
            that night.  It was an agonizing night--The groans
            of the dying & the distressing cries of the wounded
            for water, which we could not furnish.  An hospital
            hastily improvised, not far from us, filled with
            men undergoing amputation whose shrieks were
            heartrending.  Lanterns dodging here & there upon
            the field seeking out the wounded, all made it a
            night memorable for its terrors--This was the battle
            of "Malvern Hill" --the result was a great victory
            for our arms & was the closing battle of the 'seven
            days fights" before Richmond--Notwithstanding the terrors
            of the night we lay down to sleep exhausted with
            the sufferings of the past week. During the
            night a most singular incident occurred------
            I was laying under a rubber blanket with Capt.
            Smedburg[?] of ours when we were awaked from
            our light sleep by the discharge of a musket
            very near us.  We raised our heads about two
            feet from us in the dark could distinguish the
            outlines of the figure of a mule.  Seeing no other
            disturbance we again laid down--This was perhaps
            about 1 or 2 o clock in the night--In the morning it
            appeared that this mule had threaded his way
            over & through more than a score of men without
            awaking any of them, until he came to this
            Sergeant of Capt. Smedburg's Company.  He tread
            upon the hammer of this musket & it was dis-
            charged, taking off some of the fingers of this man.
            No one knew when the mule escaped.  Non knew
            how he escaped.  some declared there was a mule,
            I & Capt. Smedburg certainly saw him.  Others
            again declared most positively there was none,
            for they were not only awake but standing near
            when the gun went off.  It was a mystery which
            was not solved & which afforded us talk for some
            time.


MSS 9044