"I was compelled," says General Magruder, "to place in Gloucester Point, Yorktown, and Mulberry Island, fixed garrisons, amounting to six thousand men, my whole force being eleven thousand; so that it will be seen that the balance of the line, embracing a length of thirteen miles, was defended by about five thousand men. On the 5th of April the enemy's columns appeared along the whole front of my line. I have no accurate data upon which to base an exact statement of his force; but, from various sources of information, I was satisfied that I had before me the enemy's Army of the Potomac, with the exception of the two _corps d'armée_ of Banks and McDowell, forming an aggregate number certainly of not less than one hundred thousand, since ascertained to have been one hundred and twenty thousand.... Thus with five thousand men, exclusive of the garrisons, we stopped and held in check over one hundred thousand of the enemy. Every preparation was made in anticipation of another attack. The men slept in the trenches and under arms, but to my utter surprise he permitted day after day to elapse without an assault."[17] [Footnote 17: Confederate Reports, Official, p. 516.] Siege operations commenced,--spades, picks, and shovels were given to the troops, and they began to throw up the breastworks. It was a slow, tedious, laborious undertaking. The mud was very deep, the ground soft, and it rained nearly every day. The woods were very dense. There were new roads made. The brooks were bridged. Some of the soldiers made gabions, or baskets of wicker-work, for the batteries. The teams floundered through the mud axle-deep. Thousands of horses gave out from sheer exhaustion. When the breastworks were ready, the heavy guns, their carriages, and the ammunition had to be hauled. It was almost impossible to accomplish the work. The horses could not do it, and regiments of men were detailed to drag the cannon through the mud. The soldiers worked faithfully and enthusiastically day and night, through drenching rains, lying down to sleep in their wet garments, upon the water-soaked ground. Fever made its appearance, and thousands were sent to the hospitals, worn down by their hard labor and exposure. The bullets of the enemy killed very few of those noble men, but thousands sickened and died. While the batteries were getting ready, there was a spirited affair at Lee's Mills on the 16th of April. General McClellan decided to make a reconnaissance at that point, and, if everything was favorable, to throw a portion of his force across the Warwick River, and gain a foothold upon the western shore. There was an old field on the east side of the stream, which was overgrown with young pines and oaks. A line of skirmishers, under cover of a heavy artillery fire, crept down through the pines to the edge of the stream. The Rebel battery upon the other side answered the Union artillery with solid shot and shells.