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WILDERNESS
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WILDERNESS , a large See also:forest in See also:Spottsylvania See also:county, See also:Virginia, U.S.A.,. on the S. See also:bank of the Rapidan, extending from Mine Run on the E. to See also:Chancellorsville on the W. It is famous in military See also:history for the battles of Chancellorsville (1863) and Wilderness (1864) during the See also:American See also:Civil See also:War.
Chancellorsville.—In May 1863 a three days' See also:battle was foughtat Chancellorsville between the See also:Army of the See also:Potomac, under See also:General J. See also: See also:Howard, XII. See also:Slocum). General Lee counted only 45,000 men of all arms effective. Hooker detached ro,000 cavalry under See also:Stoneman and Sedgwick's corps (30,000) to demonstrate on his flanks along the Rapidan and at Fredericksburg, while with the See also:remainder he moved up the Rappahannock and crossed that See also:river and after-wards the Rapidan and on the 3oth of See also:April fixed his See also:head-quarters at Chancellorsville, a farmhouse in the Wilderness. Lee's cavalry under See also:Stuart had duly reported the Federal movements and Lee called up " Stonewall " See also:Jackson's four divisions from below the Massaponax as soon as Sedgwick's corps crossed the river at Fredericksburg. At Chancellorsville See also: Next See also:day the attack was resumed under the direction of Stuart, who was reinforced by Anderson, while McLaws now threatened the See also:left flank of the Federals and Fitz Lee's cavalry brigade operated against their See also:line of See also:retreat. Hooker finally gained the shelter of an inner line of See also:works covering the See also:ford by which he must retreat. Meanwhile, Early had checked Sedgwick, but when at last the Federal corps was about to overwhelm the Confederate division Lee came to succour it. Then Sedgwick was assailed by Early, McLaws and Anderson, and driven over the Rappahannock to join the re--minder of Hooker's beaten army, which had recrossed the Rapidan on the 5th of May and marched back to See also:Falmouth. Phisterer's See also:Record states that the Federal loss was 16,000 and that of the Confederates 12,000 men. See A. C. See also:Hamlin, Chancellorsville; G. F. R. See also:Henderson, Stonewall Jackson; A. See also:Doubleday, Chancellorsville and See also:Gettysburg, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War and See also:Official Records of the War of See also:Secession. (G. W. R.)
See also: The See also:crossing of the Rapidan was made at Germanna and See also:Ely's Fords, out of reach of Lee's interference, and in a few See also:hours the two ieading corps had reached their halting-places--V., Wilderness See also:Tavern; and II., Chancellorsville. The VI. followed the V. arid halted south of Germanna Ford. Two of the three divisions of cavalry preceded the See also: Of the other cavalry divisions, Gregg's went towards Fredericksburg (near where the Confederate cavalry corps had been reported) and Torbert's (which had acted as rearguard and watched the upper Rapidan during the first day's march) was not yet across the river. his corps on the ground (Hill on the Plank Road, Ewell on the, Pike), and did not See also:desire to force a decision until Longstreet's distant corps should arrive. Meanwhile Warren had been slowly forming 'up his attacking line with See also:great difficulty in the See also:woods. Grant appears to have used See also:bitter words to Meade on the subject of Warren's delays, and Meade passed these on to Warren, who in turn forced his subordinates into premature See also:action. In the end, about See also:noon, See also:Griffin's division of Warren's corps attacked directly along the Pike and crushed the enemy's first line, but, unsupported by the VI. corps on the right and Wadsworth's division (V. corps) on the left, both of which See also:units were still groping their way for-ward in the woods, was forced back with heavy losses. Wads-See also:worth took a wrong direction in the woods and presented himself as an easy victim to Ewell's right, soon after Griffin's repulse. The VI. corps advanced later in the day on Warren's right, but was only partially engaged. The result of the attack on Ewell was thus completely unsatisfactory, and for the See also:rest of the battle the V. and VI. corps were used principally as reservoirs to find supports for the offensive wing under Hancock, who arrived on the Plank Road about 2 P.M. iIa,tcock's divisions, as they came up, entrenched themselves along theBrock Road. In the afternoon he was ordered to attack whatever force of the enemy was on the Plank Road in front of him, but was unwilling to do so until he had his forces well in See also:hand. Finally Getty was ordered to attack " whether Hancock was ready or not." This may have been an See also:attempt to force Hancock's hand by an See also:appeal to his soldierly See also:honour, and as a feet he did not leave Getty unsupported. But the disjointed attacks of the II. corps on Hill's entrenchments, while forcing the Confederates to the See also:verge of ruin, were not as successful as the preponderance of force on the Union See also:side ought to have ensured. For four hours the two lines of battle were fighting 5o yds. apart, until at nightfall the contest was given up through mutual exhaustion. The battle of the 6th was timed to begin at 5 A.M. and Grant's attack was wholly directed on Parker's Store, with the See also:object of crushing Hill before Longstreet could assist him. If Longstreet, instead of helping Hill, were to attack the extreme Union left, so much the better; but the far more probable course for him to take was to support Hill on or north of the Plank Road, and Grant not only ordered Hancock with six of the eleven divisions of _Meade's army to attack towards Parker's Store, but sent his own " See also:mass of manoeuvre " (the IX. corps) thither in such a way as to strike Hill's left. The cavalry was See also:drawn back for the See also:protection of the trains,' for " every See also:musket " was required in the ranks of the infantry. Warren and Sedgwick were to hold Ewell occupied on the Pike by vigorous attacks. At 5 o'See also:clock Hancock advanced, drove back and See also:broke up Hill's divisions, and on his right Wadsworth attacked their left rear. But after an See also:hour's See also:wood fighting the Union attack came to a standstill, and at this moment, the See also:critical moment for the action of the IX. corps, Burnside was still more than a mile away, having scarcely passed through Warren's lines into the woods. Then Longstreet's corps, pushing its way in two columns of fours through Hill's retreating See also:groups, attacked Hancock with the greatest fury, and forced him back some hundreds of yards. But the woods broke the force of this attack too, and by 7.30 he battle had become a stationary See also:fire-fight. After an See also:interval in which both sides rallied their confused masses, Longstreet attacked again and gained more ground. Persistent rumours came into the Union headquarters of a Confederate advance against the Union left rear, and when Grant realized the situation he broke off one of Burnside's divisions from the IX. corps See also:column and sent it to the cross roads as See also:direct reserve to Hancock. At this moment the battle took a very unfavourable turn on the Plank Road. Longstreet had sent four brigades of infantry by a detour through the woods south of the Plank Road to attack Hancock's left. This was very effective, and the Union troops were hustled back to the cross-roads. But Longstreet, like Jackson a See also:year before in these woods, was wounded by his own men at the critical moment and the battle again came to a standstill (2-2.30 P.M.). Burnside's corps, arriving shortly before 10 A.M. near Chewn- ' Wilson's division, in its movement on Shady Grove Church on the 5th, had been cut off by the enemy's advance on the Plank Road and attacked by some Confederate cavalry. But it extricated itself and joined Gregg, who had been sent to assist him, at Todd's Tavern.See also:ing's house, the position whence it was to have attacked Hill's left in the early See also:morning, was about to attack, in See also:ignorance of Hancock's repulse, when fortunately an See also:order reached it to suspend the advance and to make its way through the woods towards Hancock's right. This dangerous flank march, screened by the woods, was completed by 2 P.M., and General Burnside began an attack upon the left of Longstreet's command (R. H. Anderson's fresh division of Hill's corps). But Hancock being in no See also:condition to support the IX. corps, the whole attack was, at 3 P.M., postponed by Grant's order until 6 P.M. Thus there was a See also:long See also:respite for both sides, varied only by a little skirmishing. But Lee was determined, as always, to have the last word, and about 4.15—4.30 a fierce See also:assault was delivered amidst the burning woods upon Hancock's entrenchments along the Brock Road. For a moment, aided by the dense See also:smoke, the See also:Con-federates seized and held the first line of works, but a See also:counter-stroke dislodged them. Burnside, though not expecting to have to attack before 6, put into the fight such of his troops as were ready, and at 5.30 or thereabouts the assaulting line receded into the woods. Grant cancelled his order to attack at 6, and at the decisive point the battle was at an end. But on the extreme right of the Union army a sudden attack was delivered at sunset upon the hitherto unmolested VI. corps, by See also:Gordon, one of Ewell's brigadiers. This carried off two generals and several See also:hundred prisoners, and a panic ensued which affected all the Union forces on the Pike, and was not quieted until after nightfall. Lee, therefore, had the last word on both flanks, but in spite of this and of the very heavy losses,' Grant had already resolved to go on, instead of going back like his various predecessors. To him, indeed, the battle of the Wilderness was a victory, an indecisive victory indeed, but one that had given him a moral superiority which he did not intend to forfeit. His See also:scheme, drafted early on the morning of the 7th, was for the army to march to Spottsylvania on the See also:night of the 7th—8th, to assemble there on the 8th, and thence to undertake a fresh manoeuvre against Lee's right rear on the 9th. This movement required the trains with the fighting line to be cleared away from the roads needed for the troops at once, and Lee promptly discovered that a movement was in progress. He mistook its object, however, and assuming that Grant was falling back on Fredericksburg, he prepared to shift his own forces to the south of that See also:place so as to See also:bar the Richmond road. This led to a See also:race for Spottsylvania, which was decided more by accidents to either side than by the See also:measures of the two commanding generals. On the Union side Warren was to move to the line Spottsylvania Court House—Todd's Tavern, followed by Hancock; Sedgwick was to take a roundabout route and to come in between the V. and II. corps; Burnside to follow Sedgwick. The cavalry was ordered to See also:watch the approaches towards the right of the army. The movement began promptly after nightfall on the 7th. But ere long the head of Warren's column, passing in rear of Han-See also:cock's line of battle, was blocked by the headquarters escort of Grant and Meade. Next, the head of the V. corps was again checked at Todd's Tavern by two cavalry divisions which had been sent by See also:Sheridan to regain the ground at Todd's Tavern,3 given up on the 6th, and after fighting the action of Todd's Tavern had received no further orders from him. Meade, greatly irritated, ordered Gregg's division out towards Corbin's See also:Bridge and See also:Merritt's (Torbert's) to Spottsylvania. On the latter road the Union cavalry found themselves opposed by Fitz Lee's cavalry, and after some hours of disheartening See also:work in the woods, Merritt asked Warren to send forward infantry to drive the enemy. This Warren did, although he was just preparing to rest and to feed his men after their exhausting night-march. See also:Robinson's division at the head of the corps deployed and swiftly drove in Fitz Lee. A little beyond See also:Alsop's, however, Robinson found his path barred by entrenched infantry. This was See also:part The Union losses in the battle were 18,000, the Confederates at least 11,500. In consequence of a mistaken order that the trains which he was protecting were to move forward to Piney See also:Branch Church. - of Anderson's (Longstreet's) corps. That officer had been ordered to draw out of his (Wilderness) works, and to See also:bivouac, preparatory to marching at 3 A.M. to the Court House, but, finding no See also:good resting place, he had moved on at once. His route took him to the Catharpin Road (Hampton's cavalry protecting him towards Todd's Tavern), and thence over Corbin's Bridge to See also:Block House Bridge. At or near Block House Bridge the corps halted to rest, but Stuart (who was with Fitz Lee) called upon Anderson for assistance and the march was resumed at full See also:speed. Sheridan's new orders to Gregg and Merritt did not arrive until Meade had given these See also:officers other instructions, but Wilson's cavalry division, which was out of the line of march of the infantry, acted in accordance with Sheridan's plan of occupying the See also:bridges in front of the army's intended position at Spottsylvania Court House, and seized that place, inflicting a See also:smart See also:blow upon a brigade of Stuart's force that was met there. The situation about 9 A.M. on the 8th was therefore curious. Warren, facing E., and opposed by part of Anderson's corps, was seeking to fight his way to Spottsylvania Court House by the Brock Road. Wilson, facing S., was holding the Court House and See also:driving Fitz Lee's cavalry partly westward on to the hacks of the infantry opposing Warren, partly towards Block House Bridge, whence the rest of Anderson's infantry was approaching. All the troops were weary and hungry, and Sheridan ordered Wilson to evacuate the Court House and to fall back over the Ny. Warren fruitlessly attacked the Con-federate infantry at Spindler's, General Robinson being severely wounded, and his division disorganized. The other divisions came up by degrees, and another attack was made about rr. It was pressed See also:close up to, and in some places over, the Con-federate See also:log-works, but it ended in failure like the first. A third attempt in the evening dwindled down to a See also:reconnaissance in force. Anderson was no longer isolated. Early's division observed Hancock's corps at Todd's Tavern, but the rest of Ewell's and all Hill's corps went to Spottsyivania and prolonged Anderson's line northward towards the Ny. Thus the re-grouping of the Union army for manoeuvre, and even the See also:running fight or strategic pursuit imagined by Grant when he found Anderson at Spottsyivania, were given up, and on the 9th both armies rested. On this day General Sedgwick was killed by a long-range shot from a Confederate See also:rifle. His place was taken by General H. G. See also:Wright. On this day also a violent See also:quarrel between Meade and Sheridan led to the departure of the cavalry corps on an independent See also:mission. This was the so-called Richmond See also:raid, in which Sheridan defeated Stuart at Yellow Tavern (where Stuart was killed) and captured the outworks of Richmond, but, having started with empty See also:forage wagons,' had then to make his way down the See also:Chickahominy to the nearest See also:supply depots of the Army of the See also: Consequently it was missed, and the IX. corps went on to See also:Gale's or Gayle's house, where the enemy's skirmishers were driven in .2 The See also:news of an enemy opposing Burnside at " Gate," which Grant still supposed to be the position of the IX. corps, at once radically altered the plan of battle. Lee was presumed
' Owing to the circumstances of his departure, the angry army staff told him to move out at once with the forage that he had, and Sheridan, though the army reserve supplies were at hand, made no attempt to fill up from them.
2 A further source of confusion, for the historian at least, is that on the survey maps made in 1867 this " Gayle " is called " See also:Beverly " (see See also:map II.).to be moving north towards Fredericksburg, and Grant saw an opportunity of a great and decisive success. The IX. corps was ordered to hold its position at all See also:costs, and the others were to follow up the enemy as he concentrated upon Burnside. Hancock was called in from Todd's Tavern, sent down to force the fords of the Po at and below See also:Tinder's See also: But for want of support this attack too was fruitless, though Upton held the captured works for an hour and brought off See also:loot) prisoners. Burnside, receiving Grant's new orders to attack from GayIe's towards Spottsyivania, sent for further orders as to the method of attack, and his advance was thus made too See also:late in the day to be of use. Lee had again averted disaster, this time by his magnificent handling of his only reserve, Hill's (now Early's) corps, which he used first against Hancock and then against Burnside with the greatest effect.
This was the See also:fourth battle since the evening of the 4th of May. On the morning of the See also:ruth Grant sent his famous See also:message to See also:Washington, " I purpose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." The 12th was to be the fifth and, Grant hoped, the decisive battle. A See also:maze of useful and useless entrenchments had been constructed on both sides, especially on the Union side, from mere force of See also:habit. Grant, seeing from the experience of the loth that his corps commanders were See also:manning these entrenchments so strongly that they had only feeble forces disposable for the attack, ordered all superfluous defences to be given up. Three corps were formed in a connected line (from right to left, V., VI., IX.) during the rrth, and that night the I.I. corps moved silently to a position between Wright and Burnside and formed up in the open field at See also: In addition, Burnside's advance had caused Early's corps to entrench Spottsylvania and the church to the south of it, facing E. Between these two sections were woods. The connexion made between them gave the loop around McCool's the appearance from which it derives its historic name of The Salient. Upon the northern face of this Salient Hancock's attack was delivered. On the rrth the See also:abandonment of Burnside's threatening advance on his rear and other indices had disquieted Lee as to his left or Block House flank, and he had drawn off practically all Ewell's artillery from the McCool works to aid in that See also:quarter. The infantry that manned the Salient was what remained of Stonewall Jackson's " See also:foot cavalry," veterans of See also:Antietam Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. But at 4.35, in the mist Hancock's mass swept over their works at the first rush See also:ant swarmed in the interior of the Salient, gathering thousands o prisoners and seizing the field batteries that Lee had sent back just too late. The thronging and excited Federals were completely disordered by success, and the counter-attack of one or two Con-federate brigades in good order drove them back to the line of the captured works. Then, about 6, there began one of the most remarkable struggles in history. While Early, swiftly drawing back from Block House, checked Burnside's attack from the east, and Anderson, attacked again and again by parts of the V. corps,' was fully occupied in preserving his own front, Lee, with Ewell's corps and the few thousand men whom the othertime came, Lee succeeded so well that after twenty hours' bitter fighting the new line was ready and the Confederates gave up the barren See also:prize to Hancock. Lee had lost 4000 prisoners as well as 4500 killed and wounded, as against 7000 in the Army of the Potomac and the IX. corps. There were other battles in front of Spottsylvania, but that of the 12th was the See also:climax. From the 13th to the 20th the Federals gradually worked round from See also:west to east, delivering a few partial attacks in the vain hope of discovering a weak point. Lee's position, now semicircular, enabled him to concentrate on interior lines on each occasion. In the end the From The Wilderness and Cold Harbor, by permission of Hugh Rees, Limited. generals could spare, delivered all day a See also:series of fierce counter-strokes against Hancock. Nearly all Wright's corps and even part of Warren's (in the end 45,000 men) were drawn into the fight at the Salient, for Grant and Meade well knew that Lee was struggling to gain time for the construction of a See also:retrenchment across the See also:base of it. If the counter-attacks failed to gain this respite, the Confederates would have to retreat as best they could, pressed in front and flank. But the initial superiority of the Federals was neutralized by their disorder, and, keeping the fight alive by successive brigade attacks, while the troops not actually employed were held out of danger till their ' The tension was so great that, after threatening to deprive Warren of his command, Meade sent General See also:Humphreys, his See also:chief of staff, to direct the V. corps' attack. Federals were entrenched facing E. between Beverly's house (Burnside's old " Gayle ") and Quisenberry's, Lee facing W. from the new works south of See also:Harrison's through the Court House to See also:Snell's Bridge on the Po. In the See also:fork of the Po and the Ny, with woods and marshes to obstruct every movement, Grant knew that nothing could be done, and he prepared to execute a new manoeuvre. But here, as in the Wilderness, Lee managed to have the last word. While.the Union army was resting in See also:camp for the first time since leaving Culpeper, Ewell's corps suddenly attacked its baggage-train near See also:Harris's house. The Confederates were driven off, but Grant had to defer his intended manoeuvre for two days. When the armies left Spottsylvania, little more than a fortnight after breaking up from winter quarters, the casualties had reached the totals of 35,000 out of an See also:original See also:total of 120,000 for the Union army, 26,000 out of 70,000 for the Confederates. The next manoeuvre attempted by Grant to bring Lee's army to action " outside works " was of an unusual See also:character, though it had been foreshadowed in the improvised plan of crushing Lee against Burnside's corps on the 9th. Hancock was now (20th) ordered to move off under See also:cover of night to See also:Milford; thence he was to march south-west as far as possible along the Richmond and Fredericksburg railroad, and to attack whatever force of the enemy he met. It was hoped that this bold stroke by an isolated corps would draw Lee's army upon it, and the rest of the Army of the Potomac would, if this hope were realized, drive down upon Lee's rear while Hancock held him up in front. Supposing, however, that Lee did not take the bait, the See also:man-oeuvre would resolve itself into a turning movement with the object of compelling Lee to come out of his Spottsylvania lines on See also:pain of being surrounded. The II. corps started on the night of the loth-21st. The alarm was soon given. At Milford, where he forced the passage of the Mattapony, Hancock found himself in the presence of hostile infantry from Richmond and heard that more hadarrived at See also:Hanover Junction, both from Richmond and from the See also:Shenandoah Valley. He therefore suspended his advance and entrenched. The See also:main army began to move off, after giving Lee time to turn against Hancock, at ro a.m. on the 21st, and marched to Catlett's, a place a few See also:miles S.W. of See also:Guinea's bridge, Warren leading, Burnside and Wright following. But no news came in from Hancock until late in the evening, and the development of the manoeuvre was consequently delayed, so that on the night of the 21st-22nd Lee's army slipped across Warren's front en route for Hanover Junction. The other Confederate forces that had opposed Hancock likewise See also:fell back. Grant's manoeuvre had failed. Its See also:principal aim was to induce Lee to attack the II. corps at Milford, its secondary and alternative purpose was, by dislodging Lee from Spottsylvania, to force on an en-counter battle in open ground. But he was only offered the bait—not compelled to take it, as he would have been if Hancock with two corps had been placed directly athwart the road between Spottsylvania and Hanover Junction--and, having unimpaired freedom of action, he See also:chose to retreat to the Junction. The four Union corps, therefore, could only pursue him to the North Anna, at which river they arrived on the morning of the 23rd, Warren on the right, Hancock ' on the left, Wright and Burnside being well to the rear in second line. The same afternoon Warren seized See also:Jericho Ford, brought over the V. corps to the south side, and repulsed a very See also:sharp counter-stroke made by one of Lee's corps. Hancock at the same time stormed a Confederate re-doubt which covered the See also:Telegraph Road bridge over the river. Wright and Burnside closed up. It seemed as if a battle was at hand, but in the night reports came in that Lee had fallen back to the South Anna, and as these were more or less confirmed by the fact that Warren met with no further opposition, and by the enemy's retirement from the river bank on Hancock's front, the Union generals gave orders, about midday on the 24th, for what was practically a general pursuit. This led incidentally to an attempt to drive Lee's rearguard away from the pcint of passage, between Warren's and Hancock's, required for Burnside, and in the course of this it became apparent that Lee's army had not fallen back, but was posted in a semicircle to which the North Anna formed a tangent. On the morning of the 25th this position was reconnoitred, and found to be more formidable than that of Spottsylvania. Moreover, it divided the two halves of the Union army that had crossed above and below. Grant gave up the See also:game as drawn and planned a new move. This had as its See also:objects, first, the seizure of a point of passage
From The Wilderness and Cold harbor, by permission of Hugh Rees, Limited.
on the Pamunkey; secondly, the deployment of the Army of the Potomac and of a contingent expected from the Army of the James, and thirdly, the prevention of Lee's further retirement, which was not desired by the Union commanders, owing to the proximity of the Richmond defences and the consequent want of See also:room to manoeuvre. On the 27th Sheridan's cavalry and a See also:light division of infantry passed the Pamunkey at Hanover See also:Town, and the two divided wings of the Army of the Potomac were withdrawn over the North Anna without mishap—thanks to exactitude in arrangement and punctuality in See also:execution. On the 28th the Army of the Potomac had arrived near Hanover Town, while at See also:Hawes's See also:Shop, on the road to Richmond, Sheridan
and See also:anvil battle was again taken up, the " anvil " being See also: Lee had actually ordered his corps commanders to attack, but was too See also:ill to enforce his wishes, and in the evening Wright and Smith themselves assaulted the Confederate front opposite Cold Harbor. The assault, though delivered by tired men, was successful. The enemy's first or skirmish line was everywhere stormed, and parts of the VI. corps even penetrated the main line. Nearly 800 prisoners were taken, and Grant at once pre-pared to renew the attack, as at Spottsylvania, with larger forces, bringing Hancock over from the right of the line on the night of the 1st, and ordering Hancock, Wright and Smith to assault on the next morning. But Lee had by now moved more forces down, and his line extended from the Totopotomoy to the Chickahominy. Hancock's corps, very greatly fatigued by its night march, did not See also:form up until after midday, and meanwhile Smith, whose corps, originally but ro,000 strong, had been severely tried by its hard marching and fighting on the 1st, refused to consider the idea of renewing the attack. The passive resistance thus encountered dominated Grant's fighting See also:instinct for a moment. But after reconsidering the problem he again ordered the attack to be made by Wright, Smith and Hancock at 5 p.m. A last modification was made when, during the afternoon, Lee's far distant left wing attacked Burnside and Warren. This, showing that Lee had still a considerable force to the northward, and being, not very inaccurately, read to mean that the 6 m. of Confederate entrenchments were equally —i.e. equally thinly—guarded at all points, led to the order being given to all five Union corps to attack at 4.3o a.m. on the 3rd of June. The See also:resolution to make this See also:plain, unvarnished frontal assault on entrenchments has been as severely criticized as any action of any commander in the Civil War, and Grant himself subsequently expressed his regret at having formed it. But such criticisms derive all their force from the event, not from the conditions in which, beforehand, the resolution was made. The risks of failure were deliberately accepted, and the battle---if it can he called a battle—was fought as ordered. The assault was made at the time arranged and was repulsed at all points, with a loss to the assailants of about 8000 men. Thereafter the two armies lay for ten days less than a hundred yards apart. There was more or less severe fighting at times, and an almost ceaseless bickering of skirmishers. Owing to Grant's refusal to See also:sue for permission to remove his dead and wounded in the terms demanded, Lee turned back the Federal See also:ambulance parties, and many wounded were left to See also:die between the lines. It was only on the 7th that Grant pocketed his feelings and the dead were buried. This is one of the many incidents of Cold Harbor that must always rouse painful memories—though to blame Lee or Grant supposes that these great generals were infinitely more inhuman here than at any other occasion in their lives, and takes no See also:account of the consequences of admitting a defeat at this critical moment, when the causes for which the Union army and See also:people contended were about to be put to the See also:hazard, of a presidential See also:election. The Federal army lost, in this See also:month of almost incessant campaigning, about 50,000 men, the Confederates about 32,000. Though the aggregate of the Union losses awed both contemporaries and historians of a later See also:generation, proportionately the losses of the South were heavier (46 % of the original strength as compared with 41% on the Union side), and whereas within a few See also:weeks Grant was able to replace nearly every man he had lost by a new, recruit, the Confederate See also:government was almost at the end of its resources. See A. A. Humphreys, The Campaign of Virginia, 1864-65 (New See also:York, 1882) ; Military History Society of See also:Massachusetts, The Wilderness Campaign ; Official Records of the See also:Rebellion, serial numbers 67, 68 and 69; and C. F. See also:Atkinson, The Wilderness and Cold Harbor (See also:London, 1908). (C. F. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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