In his formal report Grant explained the Federal operations
of 12 May in three sentences. In closing he complimented, unintentionally
perhaps, the Army of Northern Virginia by stating that the resistance offered
by its soldiers on that day "was so obstinate that the advantage pined did not
prove decisive." He then said that "the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th
were consumed in maneuvering and awaiting the arrival of re-enforcements
from Washington." ¹ This extremely general description of events was to
mean, of course, different things to different people.

For example, Colonel Edwards's three regiments were relieved as prom-
ised by General Russell in person, at the head of one of his brigades, at 6:30
A.M. Edwards led his New Englanders back to the vicinity of the Landrum
house, where they stacked their arms and, to a man, lay down. They immedi-
ately fell asleep without even thinking about making coffee or eating. Their
colonel recorded that they lay motionless in the mud and rain into the early
afternoon, looking like lines of dead men awaiting burial. As the afternoon
progressed, small groups would arise, boil coffee, drink it, and immediately
return to their beds of mud. Not until just before dark did they pitch their
tents in preparation for a night of more sleep, protected from the rain. They
had occupied their position in front of the works to the east of the west angle
for nearly twenty-four hours and had been exposed to enemy fire for three-
quarters of the time. They had earned their rest and their thirteen dollars pay
for the month. ²

In a letter written home, a member of the Sixth Corps's New Jersey
brigade used a phrase that was perhaps representative of the feelings of
disappointment and the grudging admiration they felt for their counterparts
in the Army of Northern Virginia during this phase of the campaign. After
describing the role that his regiment, the First New Jersey, played in the
operations of 12 May, during which the unit lost 175 enlisted men and all but
three of its officers, he offered his opinion that, "I think the enemy has got
the worst off the Bargain but they seam to stick to us yet." ³

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