11th Mississippi Monument

Near 6:00 P.M. on June 27, 1862, during the stalled Confederate attack at Gaines’ Mill, Gen. Robert E. Lee ordered a final assault against the Federal line of General Porter’s V Corps above Boatswain’s Creek, sending forward Gen. Whiting’s Division with Gen. Hood’s Texas Brigade and Col. Law’s Third Brigade to the left of Gen. Longstreet’s position. The 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, attached to Law’s Brigade, advanced toward the ravine without firing and, with fixed bayonets, moved against Gen. Morell’s First Division on the rising slope. A soldier of Company K later recalled that the famous yell was raised and the charge broke every line in front of the Confederates. When the attackers halted and fired point blank into the exhausted Federals, the Union line collapsed and retreated toward the plateau near the river. Whiting’s men then captured most of two Union regiments and fourteen pieces of artillery near the Watt House. The following evening, President Jefferson Davis visited the quarters of the 11th Mississippi and praised its conspicuous gallantry. The regiment’s companies came from communities across Mississippi, and many of its men were killed or died of wounds in the action.

Virginia · United States