.. I am in hopes that the enemy is as completely worn
out as we are...The roads are now very bad; for these reasons I hope
we shall have enough breathing space to reorganise and rest the men,
and get them into position before the enemy can attack again.. It is
of course impossible to estimate as yet our losses, but I doubt
whether there are to-day more than 50,000 men with the colours."* (*
O.R. volume 11 part 1 pages 291, 292.)
As his army of 105,000 men, during the whole of the Seven Days, lost
only 16,000, the last admission, if accurate, is most significant.
Nearly half the men must either have been sick or straggling.
It was not because the Confederates were also worn out that the
Federals were given time to reorganise and to establish themselves in
a strong position. Jackson, the moment it was light, rode through the
rain to the front. Learning that the enemy had evacuated their
position, he ordered his chief of staff to get the troops under arms,
to form the infantry in three lines of battle, and then to allow the
men to build fires, cook their rations, and dry their clothes. By 11
o'clock the ammunition had been replenished, and his four divisions
were formed up.
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