Description
A painting illustrating an event that occurred during the battle of Gaines’ Mill.
It was late in the day on June 27, 1862, the third of the Seven Days Battles of the American Civil War. Near Gaines Mill in Virginia, Union and Confederate forces have been locked in a fierce battle for seven hours. At about 7 pm, Robert E. Lee launches an attack, consisting of 32,000 men in 16 brigades. Among them was Confederate Major John Haskell, attempting to rally a wavering regiment with battle flag in hand. During the fighting, his mount is shot and falls dead, leaving the Major pinned beneath his horse.
A captain of a New York regiment ran up to the Major, grabbed the flagstaff and shouted “You damned little rebel, surrender.” A brief tug-of-war then ensued between the Captain and the Confederate Major, both determined to possess the flag. Haskell swung at his foe with his sword, while the Union officer responded in kind with his pistol. Eventually, Haskell was able to free himself from underneath his horse, catch up to the fleeing Captain, and run him through with his sword.
At the end of the terrible day, the Union forces begin the retreat to the James river. Gaines’ Mill was the only clear-cut Confederate victory of the Peninsula Campaign, and the bloodiest. Major Haskell survived the battle and the war, dying in 1906 at age 64.
Print of an original 18″ x 24″ oil on canvas painting.
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