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[[File:Gaines's_Mill_1900.png|thumbnail|300px|Map of the Battle of Gaines's Mill.]]
[[File:battlegaines'smilldrawing.jpg|thumbnail|300px|Depiction of the Battle of Gaines's Mill.]]
Admin moved page What Was the Role of Hood's Texas Brigade at the Battle of Gaines's Mill? to What Was the Role of Hood's Texas Brigade at the Battle of Gaines's Mill
==== The Peninsula ====
[[File:peninsula campaign.jpg|thumbnail|250px|left|Battles near Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign.]]
The Peninsula Campaign was waged from April through July 1862. During this time, at the Battle of Seven Pines, General Joseph Johnston, the supreme commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, was seriously wounded. The following day, June 1, 1862, command of the army was given to Robert E. Lee.<ref>Simpson, 107.</ref>General Lee took command a mere three weeks before the most ferocious battles on the peninsula occurred.
From June 25 through July 1, the Seven Days Battles occurred. Nine battles took place during this short span. Under the leadership of General George B. McClellan, the goal of the Federal Army was to push north from the tip of the peninsula and attack Richmond. Hood’s Brigade led General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s Army down the peninsula to prevent the Federal troops from advancing on Richmond. The Union Army was approximately ten miles from the Confederate capital. General McClellan, imagining the Confederates had a far greater number of troops than they actually did, ordered General Fitz John Porter to fall back and establish a defensive position for a strong rearguard. Porter entrenched his men just to the southeast of a mill owned by Dr. William F. Gaines. His position was ideal for maintaining a strong defense as his troops were positioned on a plateau behind Boatswain’s Creek. Additionally, on their retreat to this position, the Federal troops felled trees and created as many obstacles as possible to detain the Rebels on their attack.
==== Lee's Strategy ====
[[File:Gaines's_Mill_1900.png|thumbnail|250px|left|Map of the Battle of Gaines's Mill.]]
General Lee had planned this attack to be the largest of the war. He amassed 57,000 troops; however, Jackson was late to arrive with his army, which included the Texas Brigade. As a result, Lee could not carry out his strategy of a full attack of the center and both flanks of the entrenched Yankees. By being late with his men, Jackson afforded General Porter the time needed to establish his supreme defensive position, thus denying Lee the opportunity to execute his plan.
Generals Hill and Longstreet were charging the Union line throughout June 27, 1862, but were unable to penetrate as the terrain was deadly for the offensive troops. To break Porter’s line, the Confederate soldiers were tasked with crossing an open plain of 700-800 yards below the hill on which Porter was entrenched. Following the open plain, the South soldiers were forced to wade through Boatswain’s Creek, which was a shallow stream approximately ten feet wide that was bordered by steep and unfriendly banks. All of this was to be attempted while Porter’s group of 25,000 troops, a cavalry battalion, and an artillery battery that consisted of eighteen guns, looked down on the advancing Confederates.<ref>Simpson, 114-15.</ref>Generals Longstreet and A.P. Hill attempted the advance throughout the day but were unable to attain ground any closer to the Union line than that of the banks of Boatswain’s Creek. On the morning of June 27, Hood’s Texas Brigade reached the Gaines’s Mill battlefield and was organized in a battle line.
Hood ordered the 4th infantry to be held in reserve. Simultaneously, the 1st and 5th Texas regiments attacked the center with the 18th Georgia directed toward the enemy’s right flank, and the South Carolina troops attacked the left. At this time, Hood’s Brigade, along with the brigade of General Evander Law, composed the small division commanded by General Whiting. Although he was the brigade leader, General Hood took command of his old regiment, the 4th Texas. In a letter to his wife, the brigade historian described the actions of Hood that led the regiment to their most acclaimed achievement:
== The Texas Brigade in Action ==
[[File:battlegaines'smilldrawing.jpg|thumbnail|250px|left|Depiction of the Battle of Gaines's Mill.]]
Dismounted, Hood effectively replaced Colonel John Marshal as the leader of the 4th Texas on June 27. Hood led the 500 men of the regiment on a march toward the Union left flank. Initially, Law’s Brigade was on Hood’s right in the battle line, but Hood ordered his men past Law’s on the Confederate right flank. The regiment was under constant fire from the well-positioned Union artillery. As they continued across the open field, the Federal enfilade grew to include sharp-shooters and infantry fire. Colonel Marshal was shot in the neck and fell from his horse. The wound was mortal.<ref>Nicholas A. Davis, ''Chaplain Davis and Hood’s Texas Brigade,'' ed. Donald E. Everett (San Antonio: Principa Press of Trinity University, 1962), 88.</ref>The troops continued forward and obeyed Hood’s order to hold fire until he gave the command. The Federal position allowed for constant shell and shot to be pelted on the Confederate Texans, and “half way across the field, men began to drop, wounded or dead, from the ranks.”<ref>Polley, ''Letters,'' 54.</ref>
When Hood’s men reached the top of a rise in the terrain, approximately 150 yards from Boatswain’s Creek, they came upon numerous troops clinging to the ground who would go no further. It was at this point that Longstreet’s and A.P. Hill’s men were halted. The lieutenants of the companies the 4th encountered, thought to be Virginia troops, urged the Texans not to proceed further. Hood and his men ignored the warning and started down the other side of the rise toward the creek. Once the continued march began, there was an immediate eruption of Union firepower. Hood maintained the order to hold fire and urged his men forward.<ref>Simpson, 118-19.</ref>
When the 4th Texas got to within one hundred yards of Porter’s line, Hood ordered to fix bayonets while on the move. Once that task was complete, Hood ordered the 4th Texas to charge at the double-quick.<ref>Davis, 88.</ref>With the gleaming steel of the bayonets and a Rebel Yell that rivaled the sound of the artillery, the 4th Texas reached the first Union entrenchment on the hill. It unnerved Porter’s men to the point that they “fled panic-stricken.”<ref>United States War Department, ''War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,'' 128 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1888),series I, vol. 11, part II, 291. Hereinafter cited as ''OR.''</ref>According to Chaplain Davis, “it seemed as if every ball found a victim, so great was the slaughter.”<ref>Davis, 83</ref>
