Following the inconclusive Battle of Beaver Dam Creek (Mechanicsville) the previous day, Confederate General Robert E. Lee renewed his attacks against the right flank of the Union Army, relatively isolated on the northern side of the Chickahominy River.

The arrival of Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's command was delayed, preventing the full concentration of Confederate force before Porter received some reinforcements from the VI Corps.

At dusk, the Confederates finally mounted a coordinated assault that broke Porter's line and drove his men back toward the Chickahominy River.

Lee planned to use Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's force, transported by rail from the Shenandoah Valley, to attack on McClellan's right and rear, while the remainder of his army under Maj. Gens.

(This decision was fatal to McClellan's campaign because by abandoning the railroad that led from the Pamunkey, he would no longer be able to supply his planned siege of Richmond with the necessary heavy artillery.

Magruder assisted in this misapprehension by ordering frequent, noisy movements of small units back and forth and by using groups of slaves with drums to simulate large marching columns.

Langdon Cheves of South Carolina had constructed a multicolored balloon of dress silk obtained from Charleston and Savannah, which sailed aloft tethered to a boxcar on the York River Railroad, manned by Maj. Edward Porter Alexander.

[6] The order to Porter's corps came just before dawn and they did not have adequate time to prepare a strong rear guard for the withdrawal, resulting in numerous men from Brig.

Slocum's division had not crossed the river by the start of the battle, held up by McClellan's concern about an impending attack on Franklin's front.

[8] The first actions of the battle occurred between noon and 1 p.m. on June 27 after D.H. Hill's division reached Old Cold Harbor, where it was scheduled to link up with Stonewall Jackson's command.

Hill was surprised at the level of resistance and also that he seemed to be meeting the front of the Union force, not the expected flank, so he determined to wait for Jackson's arrival before moving further.

The noise from this engagement failed to reach General Lee at his headquarters, the house owned by William Hogan, named "Selwyn".

As they proceeded eastward and approached Gaines' Mill at about the time that D.H. Hill's men were engaged, Porter formally asked McClellan to send Slocum's division across the Chickahominy over Alexander's Bridge to support him.

Hill directed the brigades of Maxcy Gregg and Lawrence O'Bryan Branch to spearhead the assault, as they had not been engaged at Beaver Dam Creek and were well-rested.

By early afternoon, he had run into strong opposition by Porter, deployed along Boatswain's Creek, and the swampy terrain was a major obstacle against the advance.

On the Confederate side, General Lee had been an active participant in the failed assault, rallying his troops too close to the front for their comfort.

After they counter-marched, losing about an hour, Jackson's troops found the road to Old Cold Harbor obstructed by trees felled by the retreating Union army and were harassed by sharpshooters, delaying their arrival.

The first of Jackson's command to reach the battlefield was the division of Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, who was met by Lee's aide, Walter Taylor, and instructed to move into action immediately.

Maj. Roberdeau Wheat, the colorful leader of the Louisiana Tigers Battalion, moved to the front to lead the brigade, but he was also killed with a bullet through his head.

When no one volunteered, he directed Sumner of the II Corps to send two brigades—about one tenth of the army—across the river, but because of the distances involved they would not reach the scene for another three hours.

[13] When Stonewall Jackson finally reached Old Cold Harbor, weary from the marching and counter-marching, he began to arrange his troops and those of D.H. Hill to trap the Federals he expected to be driven east by Longstreet and A.P.

He soon received instructions from General Lee that informed him of the current situation and he began to prepare his command to assault the main Federal line.

Lee met with Jackson on Telegraph Road and expressed his annoyance at the delay in getting to the battlefield by telling him "General, I am glad to see you and I only wish I could have been with you sooner."

The Confederates were not able to advance simultaneously in a neat battle line over the 2.25-mile front, but rushed forward and were repulsed intermittently in smaller unit actions.

On the Confederate left, D.H. Hill sent in his entire division except for Ripley's brigade, which had been badly mauled in the fighting at Beaver Dam Creek the previous day, but they encountered stiff resistance from George Sykes's regulars.

The 20th North Carolina succeeded in overrunning a Union battery, its commander, Col. Alfred Iverson, who would later gain infamy at Gettysburg, was wounded in the assault.

The Confederate right was opposed by the most difficult terrain, a quarter-mile open wheat field that sloped down to Boatswain's Swamp and then faced two lines of Union defenders on higher ground.

A battalion of the 5th U.S. Cavalry under Captain Charles J. Whiting made a desperate charge against the Texas Brigade, but were forced to surrender after heavy losses.

Historian Stephen W. Sears speculates that were it not for Jackson's misdirected march and his poor staff work, the major assault that Lee unleashed at 7 p.m. could have occurred three or four hours earlier.

He quotes Edward Porter Alexander, prominent Confederate artillery officer and postwar historian: "Had Jackson attacked when he first arrived, or during A.P.