McClellan finally met face-to-face with Porter as he rode his horse into Savage Station shortly after 3 PM. The army commander had spent a long day trying to direct his forces towards Richmond while hearing a major battle taking place just to his south. Rumors abounded of multiple repulses but he had yet to hear from any of his major generals on that part of the field. Porter’s report confirmed his worst fears. A total repulse south of Richmond with heavy losses. There was now little that the Army of the Potomac could do to regain the initiative. Sumner was in full retreat north of the Chickahominy while the three corps on the left, the I, III, and V, were all repositioning closer to the center to consolidate their lines with the VI Corps.

 

McClellan dared to hope that Lee might attack his own heavily defended embankments but scouts confirmed that Lee’s men were entrenching around Richmond with little movement beyond their lines. McClellan also considered a renewed offensive using the I Corps to cross the Chickahominy and counterattack AP Hill’s Division north of the river. But as the evening wore on it became more clear that the army’s losses were too heavy to overcome and the danger too great to continue the battle without resting and refitting the army.

 

The day was lost. By 6:20 PM, with the sun getting ready to set, McClellan ordered his corps commanders to retreat back down the Peninsula towards the James River and Haxall’s Landing. McClellan’s second grand adventure on the Peninsula had ended exactly as his first had – in failure. Riding his horse through the gathering darkness McClellan was already contemplating how he would explain the campaign’s failure to Lincoln. He’d be willing to try it again, of course, once Lincoln reinforced him with enough men to properly get the job done. Convinced his men were repulsed by a larger force than his own McClellan rode away from Richmond confident he had saved his army from destruction to fight another day.