28th.—This morning opened brightly and beautifully; the elements calm and peaceful—not so the passions of the parties, for we on the right bank, where the enemy attacked us and were repulsed last night, were again attacked in our little fort by Toombs’ Brigade—Toombs in person leading it on. He was repulsed with considerable loss, whilst we suffered but little.
Our army had now abandoned the field on the left bank, leaving the enemy free access to our base, and we were massing our forces on the Richmond side of the river. But whilst our defeat on the left admitted our enemy to our supplies, their repulse on the right did not, as we had hoped, admit us to Richmond. The necessity of a general retreat is now becoming evident to the men, though nothing is heard on the subject from our officers. At 10 A. M. our right (Hancock’s Brigade) moved its quarters about a mile and a half professedly to get out of the reach of the enemy’s shells, which were falling and exploding in the midst of our camp. My opinion is that the real object of the move is the massing of our men preparatory to a general retreat. Our troops to-night are very much worn out. The rejoicing all night of the 26th, at the report of the “thorough whipping” of Stonewall Jackson, repulse on the north side, and the night fight of the south side on the 27th, the morning fight of this day, with the subsequent marching and moving of camps, being all the time on short allowance, is telling sorely on the energies of the men. The losses of yesterday to the two parties cannot have been less than 25,000 to 30,000 men.
