force by Sumner, who proceeded to intrench himself, while Heintzelman held the Williamsburg road a short distance beyond the Seven Pines, the confederates having gained about half a mile of ground in the two days' fighting. The several engagements are known in the North as the battle of Fair Oaks, and in the South as that of the Seven Pines. The total Union loss was 5,739, beside 10 pieces of artillery and several thousand muskets; that of the confederates, as stated by themselves, did not exceed 4,233, which is evidently an underestimate. They also lost 1,000 prisoners, including Gen. Pettigrew.-The corps of Keyes, Heintzelman, and Sumner being now firmly established on the right bank of the Chickahominy, the siege may be said to have commenced. The ground occupied by these troops was in wet weather a swamp, and in dry weather a flat plain, dotted at frequent intervals with stagnant pools, the malarious exhalations from which, together with ceaseless labor upon the intrenchments and the numerous roads and bridges which an unprecedentedly wet season rendered necessary, caused unusual sickness and mortality. A perpetual stench of decomposing bodies filled the air, and the water drunk by the troops was in many instances drawn from pools where wounded men had fallen and died, or where the dead had been carelessly thrown by burying parties. Health and spirits alike failed the army engaged under such unfavorable circumstances in conducting the tedious operations of an investment. On June 5, Smith's division of Franklin's corps, previously stationed near New bridge, crossed the Chickahominy and took position next to Sumner on the extreme right of the Union army, where on the 18th of the month it was joined by the remainder of the corps. The besieging lines then presented nearly 4 miles of front to the enemy, the left flank resting on White Oak swamp just S. of Seven Pines, and the right on Golding's farm, an elevated position near the river, about a mile below New bridge. The corps of Fitz John Porter, with the cavalry division of Gen. Stoneman, remained on the left bank of the river throughout the siege, his pickets extending a mile or more beyond Mechanicsville, and his head-quarters being at Gaines's house between Cold Harbor and New bridge. These troops took no part in the immediate operations of the siege, but constituted an army of observation, whose special duty it was to prevent the enemy from turning the Union right wing or getting in their rear and cutting off supplies. On June 18 McCall's division of the Pennsylvania reserve, the only considerable body of reënforcements received by McClellan during the progress of the siege, was added to Porter's command, and took post at Mechanicsville. From the 1st to the 12th of June the operations of the siege went slowly forward, the besiegers gradually lessening the distance between the city and themselves, and preparing to mount the heavy breaching guns in the

trenches. On the 13th, however, the monoto ny of camp life was broken by a daring expedition undertaken by the confederate general Stuart, who, sallying forth from Richmond in the direction of Mechanicsville, with a large force of cavalry and two field pieces, rode completely around the rear of the Union army, his main object being to strike at the supplies collected at White House for transportation to the Chickahominy. At Tunstall's station he fired into a train going toward White House, but could not succeed in stopping it, and the timely alarm given to the small Union force at that place was the means of preserving an immense amount of government stores. Stuart, however, succeeded in destroying several hundred thousand dollars' worth of property at Tunstall's station, and, laden with booty, recrossed the Chickahominy on the 14th, some distance below Bottom's bridge, and returned in safety to Richmond.-The success of this expedition, by demonstrating the ease with which the supplies of the army, which had hitherto been brought wholly by railroad from White House to the Chickahominy, could be cut off, seems to have afforded Gen. McClellan the first intimation of the danger of his position, and of the necessity of strengthening his railroad communications or of adopting another line of operations. About this time also the signal officers reported the daily arrival in Richmond of large reenforcements, a portion of which consisted of the army of Gen. Jackson, which, after driving Gen. Banks down the Shenandoah valley, and baffling the attempts of Gens. Fremont, Shields, and McDowell to capture it, succeeded in entering the beleaguered city. It is supposed also that portions of Beauregard's army from Mississippi arrived there about the same time. Continual skirmishing meanwhile ensued between the armies, the confederates gradually showing a disposition to feel the strength of the Union outposts preparatory to some decisive movement; and on the 25th a severe action, known as the battle of Five Oaks, was fought in front of Heintzelman's position on the left centre for the possession of a swamp between the hostile lines. The victory remained with the Union troops, though at a cost of upward of 600 men, and their lines were advanced to a dry and healthful position beyond the swamp. Already, however, McClellan, seriously alarmed for the safety of his army thus menaced in flank and front by a superior force, and not only cut off for the present from any prospect of reenforcements, but daily depleted by disease and fatigue, had decided to transfer his base of operations by a flank movement through White Oak swamp to the James river; and on the 25th, while the battle of Five Oaks was raging on the left, the troops of Fitz John Porter at Mechanicsville were employed in a series of manoeuvres to entice the enemy upon the left bank of the Chickahominy, under the apprehension that Gen. Lee, who was now in command at Richmond, might endeavor to turn both flanks or crush

the centre of the main body of the Union army. Meanwhile, on the 24th, peremptory orders were sent to White House to stop the landing of stores from the transports, of which nearly 800 were lying in the Pamunkey, and to despatch those already landed with all possible rapidity to the Union left wing in front of Richmond. The transports which had not yet begun to unload were at the same time directed to proceed to City Point on the James river, 34 m. below Richmond; and from the 25th to the evening of the 27th trains were kept running as swiftly as possible to the Chickahominy, laden with munitions of war of every description. On the night of the 27th the last train from the Pamunkey passed safely through, and the last return train arrived at White House on the morning of the 28th. At noon on the latter day the whole fleet of transports were under way for Fortress Monroe, where, convoyed by gunboats, they arrived in safety on the succeeding day. So thorough had been the work of removing the immense stores collected at White House, and of destroying those which could not be removed, that at the departure of the transports nothing but the camp grounds and a quantity of rubbish was left to the enemy. -As a means of drawing the confederates over to the left bank of the Chickahominy, McCall's troops, previously stationed at Mechanicsville, were on the 24th removed to the left bank of Beaver Dam creek, a small affluent of the Chickahominy, and posted at Ellison's mill, about 1 m. S. W. of Mechanicsville, where they were protected by a series of intrenchments and rifle pits. The confederates, either fathoming the intention of McClellan to change his base of operations, or intent upon carrying out some project of their own, busied themselves on the 25th with building two bridges in the vicinity of Mechanicsville, over which by 2 o'clock on the afternoon of the 26th a large body of troops under Gens. Longstreet and A. P. Hill had passed. These marched straight upon the position of Gen. McCall, and so sudden was their attack that the Pennsylvania regiment of "Bucktails" was surprised while on picket duty and several of its companies cut off. Gen. Porter had a few hours previous commenced the movement which was destined to transform the besiegers into a retreating and hard-pressed army, by sending his whole wagon train across the Chickahominy by the Woodbury bridge, a structure communicating with the right wing of the besieging army, nearly opposite Golding's. The confederates then fell furiously upon McCall's troops, but were foiled in every attempt to flank them or pierce the centre of the Union line. Late in the afternoon Morell's division of Fitz John Porter's corps came up to the assistance of McCall, and after a severe action lasting until after dark the enemy were driven back at all points, and both armies rested on their arms. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 27th the confederates, who had been strongly reenforced during the night,

were on the move, and Porter, in accordance with McClellan's orders, began slowly to fall back toward his camp at Gaines's house, to the eastward of which he drew up his troops, com prising about 20,000 men with 60 guns, in a line of battle extending from Cold Harbor to the river, a distance of nearly 24 m. The ene my followed in the traces of the Union troops, and at 1 o'clock P. M. advanced against them in 3 columns, directed respectively against the centre and the two wings. Within an hour the battle became general along the whole line, which was speedily enveloped in dense clouds of smoke from upward of 150 pieces of cannon placed in battery on either side. An attack upon the Union centre shortly after 3 o'clock was repulsed with great slaughter; but the superiority of the enemy in numbers now be came so apparent, that portions of Sumner's and Franklin's corps were sent across the river to the assistance of Porter. Shortly afterward a powerful column moved down the hill on which stands Gaines's house against the Union left wing, where McCall's division was posted. The artillery played with terrible effect upon the dense ranks of the confederates, opening wide chasms at every discharge; but they marched on with an almost incredible resoluteness, and fell with such force upon the exhausted division of McCall that the line was broken and the troops scattered beyond rallying. The right wing at the same time fared equally ill, and the centre was compelled to fall back to avoid being flanked. The confederates, following up their advantage, charged with impetuosity upon the broken ranks of the Union troops, who were soon in full retreat toward Woodbury bridge, over which in the course of the night they all safely crossed to the right bank of the river, destroying the bridge behind them. Their loss in killed and wounded was probably less severe than that of the enemy, but the lat ter secured a number of cannon and small arms, besides many prisoners and all the sick and wounded in the hospitals. In this action, which is known as the battle of Gaines's hill, the confederates are supposed to have numbered 60,000 men, while not more than 35,000 Union troops, including the reenforcements, were under fire, and of these a portion arrived on the ground only in time to cover the retreat. The main object of Gen. Porter in giving battle, however, was to enable the trains on the other side of the river to move off to the James, which was fully accomplished. One of its results was to separate from the main body of the Union army Gen. Stoneman's command, which was absent in the direction of Hanover Court House, and which, after proceeding to White House, marched down the peninsula to Yorktown, and subsequently joined McClellan on the James river. A body of the enemy also proceeded to White House after the battle of Gaines's hill, but found only the debris of the late encampment and smouldering embers of the fires which had destroyed the remaining stores

On the right bank of the Chickahominy, on the 27th, an attack upon Franklin's intrenchments at Golding's farm was brilliantly repulsed by Hancock. The trains also began to leave for the James river, and during the night of the 27th and the morning of the 28th all the bridges were destroyed. Artillery was also posted at the fords to prevent the passage of the confederates, who still remained in force on the left bank. The chief military incident of the 28th was a renewed attack on Franklin's position at Golding's, in which the enemy suffered even more severely than on the previous day, leaving a number of prisoners in the hands of the Union troops. Preparations meanwhile went swiftly on for the departure of the army trains, and all along the lines the troops were employed in destroying such stores as could not be removed. Shortly after noon several thousand wagons, including ambulances loaded with wounded and the siege train, together with 2,500 head of cattle, were on their way to White Oak swamp, through which passes the main road to the James river. An immense number of sick and wounded soldiers, stragglers, and camp followers of all kinds, followed on foot, and the whole train was convoyed by portions of the corps of Fitz John Porter and Keyes. At about 1 o'clock on the morning of the 29th the troops of the besieging army quietly evacuated their earthworks, and marched in the direction of Savage's, a station on the railroad about midway between the bridge and Fair Oaks. Here was the principal hospital of the army, and notwithstanding the large number of its inmates who had crawled away with the departing trains or been removed in ambulances or wagons, the sheds and tents were filled to overflowing with sick and wounded whom exposure and battle had rendered helpless. These it was found necessary to leave in the possession of the confederates. The latter, suspecting the movement of the Union troops, were early on the alert to harass their march, and Sumner's corps had proceeded no further than Peach Orchard station on the railroad, a mile E. of Fair Oaks, when it was threatened at daybreak by a large force advancing from Richmond by the Williamsburg road. The Union line was skilfully drawn up under cover of a wood with the batteries masked, and the confederates were received with a murderous fire of artillery and musketry, which rapidly thinned their ranks. Every attempt to flank the Union line was successfully repelled, and Sumner, having held his position until he supposed the trains were far advanced through White Oak swamp, retired leisurely upon Savage's. This combat, known as the battle of Peach Orchard, was manifestly to the disadvantage of the confederates, who lost probably not fewer than 1,500 in killed and wounded, while the Union loss did not exceed 150. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon Sumner joined Franklin, who was drawn up in line of battle near Savage's, and an hour later the confederates appeared in

force in their front. A severe battle ensued with varied success, and at nightfall the confederates retired with heavy loss, leaving many prisoners in the hands of the Unionists. These, however, as well as the dead and wounded of the Union army, had to be left behind, the exigency of the occasion not admitting of the delay which would be caused by their removal. At midnight the tired troops of Franklin and Sumner resumed the march toward the James river, Franklin covering the retreat; and at daylight of the 30th no Union soldiers, save the inmates of the hospital at Savage's and a few stragglers, remained N. of the Williamsburg road. The route of retreat ran in a S. W. direction through the swamp to White Oak bridge over a small creek of that name, about 6 m. from Savage's, and thence nearly due S. to Turkey island bend on the James river, 6 m. further. At an early hour in the morning the last of Franklin's corps were over the bridge, which was then destroyed, and the exhausted rear guard sought a few moments' rest. The posi tion was too critical, however, to allow them any other than a brief respite. In front of the bridge the confederates were concentrating in heavy force under cover of woods and on the slopes of a steep hill, where their batteries were masked in a favorable position for opening upon Franklin. The Union front under Fitz John Porter was pushing on toward the James river, and along the whole line almost every available foot of ground not occupied by the troops was covered by the wagon trains and by throngs of wounded soldiers and stragglers. In addition to the demonstration of the enemy at White Oak bridge, there was danger of side attacks from the direction of Richmond all along the line, and particularly by the Charles City road, which forks with White Oak swamp road at a place called Charles City cross roads, about 2 m. below the bridge. At the latter position a furious cannonade was commenced by the enemy shortly before noon, under cover of which they made repeated attempts to cross the creek, but were as often driven back with severe loss. So vigorous was the defence of Gen. Smith, whose division bore the brunt of this attack, that at nightfall the enemy's guns were completely silenced, and the rear of the Union army secured from any further serious molestation. On the Charles City road an equally severe contest raged, in which portions of the corps of Porter, Heintzelman, and Sumner bore a part; but by evening the confederates were repulsed at all points, and a safe line of retreat opened to the Union army, which by sunrise of July 1 was concentrated on a vast undulating field called Malvern hills, rising in a gentle slope from the James river, a short distance above Turkey bend. The Union line formed almost a semicircle, Keyes holding the extreme right and Fitz John Porter the extreme left, with Couch on his right. In front the artillery, including many heavy siege guns, was posted so as to sweep the field, and in the rear

lay the Galena and other gunboats in the river, prepared to support the army in any emergency. The position was further strengthened by some hastily erected earthworks. It was not until 4 o'clock in the afternoon that the confederates, commanded on this occasion by Gen. Magruder, began to debouch from the cover of the woods upon the plain in front of the Union lines; and unfortunately for the confederate leader, he directed his attack against the Union left wing, which was the strongest part of the whole line. Column after column was marched up against the troops of Porter and Couch, only to be mowed down in whole ranks by the fire of the artillery and of the gunboats, whose heavy pieces, discharged from a distance of 2 m. by means of signals, could be distinctly heard above the roar of the battle. At one time the left seemed so hard pressed by overpowering masses of the enemy that some troops were sent from the centre to its support. Here the confederates were finally repulsed with frightful loss, losing guns and colors, and leaving their dead piled up in some places breast high. At dusk Magruder drew off his shattered columns from what the prince de Joinville designates a "useless butchery," and the field remained in the possession of the Union army. The position at Malvern hills being considered untenable, Gen. McClellan ordered a further retreat to Harrison's Landing, 7 m. lower down the river and 17 m. from Richmond, and during the whole of the 2d the army was slowly moving in the midst of a cold rain storm toward that point, arriving in safety at nightfall. The transports which had come around from the Pamunkey, and were lying in the stream, awaiting its approach, were at once unloaded, and the sick and wounded, whose sufferings had been very severe during the march, properly cared for. Defensive works were also erected, and by the evening of the 3d, at which time the rain had ceased, the army occupied a strong position, covered by the gunboats, and supplied with abundant resources against any attack. The confederates made a slight demonstration toward the close of the day, but were driven back with the loss of a battery and numerous prisoners. The losses during the retreat are officially stated by Gen. McClellan at 1,565 killed, 7,711 wounded, and 5,958 missing, a total of 15,234; and the entire loss from May 20 to July 3, by the casualties of war and by sickness, discharges, and resignations, amounted probably to 50,000 men, so that the effective strength of the army on the latter date was under 60,000. Of public property destroyed or abandoned no exact estimate can be made, but the amount was inconsiderable in comparison with the difficulties attending its removal. The trains, with the exception of a few wagons which broke down and were abandoned after their contents had been destroyed, arrived at Harrison's Landing by different routes in perfect safety, and all the siege guns but one were brought into camp.

The losses of the confederates, in the absence of any official report, can only be estimated. In killed and wounded they equalled if they did not surpass those of the Union army, the carnage at Malvern hills in particular telling against them. In the number of prisoners taken, however, they had considerably the advantage of their adversaries. On July 4 McClellan reviewed his troops, to whom he issued the following address:

"HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

"CAMP NEAR HARRISON'S LANDING, July 4, 1862. "SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC! - Your achievements of the last ten days have illustrated the valor and endurance of the American soldier. Attacked by supe rior forces and without hope of reenforcements, you have succeeded in changing your base of operations by a flatk movement, always regarded as the most hazardous of milltary expedients. You have saved all your material, all your trains, and all your guns, except a few lost in battle, taking, in return, guns and colors from the enemy. Upon your march you have been assailed day after day with desperate fury, by men of the same race and nation, skilfully massed and led. Under every disadvantage of number, and necessarily of powith enormous slaughter. Your conduct ranks you among sition also, you have in every conflict beaten back your foes the celebrated armies of history. No one will now question that each of you may always with pride say, 'I belong to the army of the Potomac.' You have reached the new base, complete in organization and unimpaired in spirit. The ene my may at any time attack you. We are prepared to meet them. I have personally established your lines. Let them come, and we will convert their repulse into a final defeat. Your government is strengthening you with the resources of a great people. On this, our nation's birthday, we declare to our foes, who are rebels against the best interests of mankind, that this army shall enter the capital of the so-called confederacy; that our national constitution shall prevail, and that the Union, which can alone insure internal pesce and external security to each state, 'must and shall be preserved,' cost what it may in time, treasure, and blood. "GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN."

On the 9th of the month President Lincoln made a visit to Harrison's Landing; and on the 26th Gen. Halleck, then recently appointed general-in-chief, accompanied by Gens. Meigs and Burnside, arrived there and held a long conference with Gen. McClellan, the object of which was to devise a plan for extricating the army from its position. Its condition had not improved since the retreat from Richmond, and such were the inroads which disease was making in its ranks that there was danger, unless it were speedily removed to a more healthful place, that it might be reduced to an enfeebled and ineffective remnant. A retreat down the left bank of the James river to Yorktown and Fortress Monroe was decided upon; and for the purpose of diverting the attention of the enemy from McClellan, Gen. Pope, with all the available force around Washington at the disposal of the government, was ordered to move forward from Washington toward the Rapidan. A reconnoissance in force to Malvern hills by the division of Gen. Hooker on Aug. 5 was the last affair of importance on the peninsula. The confederates were driven away with loss, and the Union troops returned soon after to Harrison's Landing. At the latter place preparations went busily forward for removing or destroying the stores of all descriptions collected there, and on the 14th the advance guard of the retreating army, comprising the corps of Fitz John Porter, started for Yorktown,

where within the next week the whole army arrived in safety, having experienced no molestation on the way. From Yorktown the army, with the exception of Gen. Keyes's command, was conveyed to Alexandria, and the greater portion took part in the important movements of Aug. 25-30 between the Rappahannock and Washington.

CHINCH BUG, a small hemipterous insect, of the family cimicida, and probably of the genus cimex, which during a few years past has frequently appeared in immense numbers in certain portions of the United States, but especially in parts of the southern and southwestern states, upon growing wheat, Indian corn, and other grains, and even upon the grass of meadows and pastures, occasioning wide-spread and often complete destruction of those crops. These bugs, though commonly of different colors, as black, red, or gray, and of somewhat different sizes, even in the same locality or field, are more frequently black with white or light wings; while they are very compact, and both in form and the usual size, as well as in the odor they exhale, bear a close resemblance to the bedbug or chinch (C. lectularius), from which they have taken their lame. They appear to be hardy, and, though capable of flying, seldom take to the wing, but creep or run rapidly on the ground. Upon a crop, they are generally found sticking thickly over the surface of the plants near the ground, though they sometimes cover all parts of the stalks of corn, finding their way even into the bud. They are often so thick upon the stems as completely to blacken the parts they are on; and clustering on the leaves, they bend these by their weight, presenting somewhat the appearance of a swarm of bees. Their action appears to be in the way of sucking out the juices and substance of the plants, so that a stem attacked by numbers of them soon withers, and, if of the small grains, falls to the ground. On following the scythe or reaper in a field which they have infested, they may be seen on the ground in millions, running in all directions to hide themselves. Those about the borders of a field of wheat when thus disturbed escape into and attack the neighboring corn, oats, grass, or other later crop. They have been observed in such cases to advance during 24 hours some 15 to 20 yards into the adjoining crop, destroying it as they proceed. It is said that no attempt thus far made to arrest their attacks has proved successful. Having their wings full-formed from a few hours after being hatched, if ditches are dug round a field they fly over them. It has been suggested that among the earlier grains, in districts they infest, clover or other tender grasses should be sown, so as to keep them in food while the neighboring corn or oats is allowed to mature. Among remedies proposed, have been those of burning the crop they have attacked with them, in order to stop their further devastation; and of digging ditches about the crops not yet

infested, filling with straw on which they collect in passing, and burning this, and repeating once or oftener the same day. It is further declared that these bugs are natives of the forests, and that if occasionally exterminated in their haunts in these, as can be done by collecting and burning the leaves and rubbish of all woods in the vicinity of grain fields, and also the stubble or stalks on which they may remain after removal of a crop, they are thus so far kept down as to be of no real damage for a few years; while if the former precaution be repeated often enough, the district so treated may be effectually rid of these pests. Many articles relating to the chinch bug will be found in Ruffin's "Farmer's Register," especially in the 7th volume.

CHOLESTERINE (Gr. xoλos, bile, and σrepeos, firm, solid), or BILIARY FAT, a non-nitrogenized organic substance, found in the bile and in other fluids or situations in the human body, or that of animals in which the biliary secretion is prominent, this substance when separately obtained having the appearance of spermaceti, and differing from ordinary fats only in the fact that it refuses to form a soap with caustic alkalies, even under the action of prolonged heat. In this respect it agrees with seroline, also found in the blood, and with a few other substances, all of which have been classed by Lehmann under the name of lipoids. Cholesterine is neutral, inodorous, insoluble in water, soluble in ether and hot alcohol. Its composition is usually represented by the formula C2H22O. It burns with a bright flame, and like seroline gives with strong sulphuric acid a peculiar red color. It crystallizes in very thin, colorless, transparent, rhomboidal plates, frequently marked by a cleavage at one corner in a line parallel with the corresponding side, and often forming in layers, the borders of the subjacent plates showing very distinctly through those above. Cholesterine was discovered in 1782, by Poulletier de la Salle, in biliary calculi; its presence in the blood was shown in 1830 by Denis. Seroline, closely related to it, was discovered in the blood by Boudet in 1833. In a condition of health, cholesterine exists in the bile, blood, liver, brain and nerves, and the crystalline lens. It is also found in very large quantity in the meconium, in the fæces of animals hibernating, and by some authorities it is said also in the fæces generally in health. It occurs frequently as a morbid deposit or product. Biliary calculi consist wholly of cholesterine, coloring matter, and mucus. The tablets of cholesterine are found in or obtained from cancerous growths, encysted tumors, and atheromatous deposits in the coats of the arteries, and sometimes as forming distinct deposits or tumors in the substance of the brain. Cholesterine is obtained also from the fluid of hydrocele, of ovarian cysts, of tubercle in the crude state, and from pus. Its quantity in the normal fluids is small, forming, according to Berzelius, 1 part in 1,000