Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1878-02-08
The Wilderness.

The wilderness.
A CONFEDERATE VICTORY GENERAL
GRANTS IGNORANCE OF T P9"RAPHY.
General c. NJ. Wilcox In the ! nilade..
pbia WeeGly Times
Such was the battle Of the wilder.
ness. The impression has been made
that the Federals attacked the Confed-
crates in a position ;areiully selected ;
the latter had no Q vantage Of position,
as il has been seen IN: the two armies
fought where the ne. On The plank
road the Conledclaies had no cover
save that Of the woods until the 7h
the battle ceased on the 9Th. And this
was common with the two armies. II
was different on this road with the
Federals. On the old pike the Federals
were covered by works, the ConIeder-
ates, il at all, slightly so. II would
have shown but little enterprise on the
part Of the former, with their superb
Ority of numbers, 10 have allowed the
latter to intrench in their immediate
presence. 1t has been seen that the
C~Jnfederates acted on the offensive in
tue battle as often as the Federals ii
The latter attacked on the old pike and
plank road on the 5!h and renewed the
attack on the morning Of the Gth on
the latter, the COnledera;es began the
battle of the 9Th by attacking the
euemy's right, and on the plank road
Longatreet made a vigorous attack,
and in the midst OF success was wound
Ell seriously. Later in the day tue A.
tack vas renewed on the plank road
and intrenchments carried, and yet
later the Federal right attacked. The
battle OF the Wilderness was a COnled-
crate victory. General Gran. had
crossed the Radidan below the right
flank of General Lee, and purposed TO
pass through The Wilderness toward
Gordonsville, sad down tie railroad
10 RichmOnu he hoped TO have a
battle to the t. nth Of Richmond, after
having made '.s way through the
wilderness. General Meade was fear.
lsl the North Auna would be reached
by the Confederates and fortified, and
was also anxious lest they would get
back 70 Mine run, ten miles in rear Of
where the Wilderness battle was
fought.
About 5 a.m. on the IN OF May
Generals Grant and Meade rode up 10
me old Wilderness tavern. This was
The first appearance Of the former 10
what Is called the Wilderness BY ciii-
zsns OF Orange and Spot'sylvania
counties, Va. lie was personally
wholly ignorant Of this section Of
Virginia, with ius peculiar features.
That he was not familiar with its
topography, the following extract from
his official report Of this battle will
show: Early on 49, oh, the advance,
the fifth corps, n II Gen. &. X. War
rem commandinE net the enemy out
side his intrencI tents near Mine rum"
And after giving details Of the battle
says: "On the morning Of the 7lh re-
connoissances showed that the enemy
had fallen behind his %intrenched line,
with pickets to the front covering q
part OF the battle. field" Mine run, oil
the date OF the battle Of the Wilder
ness, was well known North as the
place we're Generals Lee and MesdG
confronted each other for q week the
Winter previous, and it is also well
known that the latter retired without
a battle, and upon the grounds that the
Mine run line was n OF great
strength. Gen. Grants statement thai
the enemy were met outside his en-
trenchments near Mine run carries
with it the inference that ii was 10 lht
immediate vicinity OF this e%ntrenched
position that Gen. Lee was met and
The further statement, reconnaissance
made on the morning Of the 7h show
ed they had fallen behind their en-
trenched line, with pickets GOVERNS
a part of the battlefield" makes tht
impression that Gen. Lee had sough
the protection Of the Mine run line
Gen. Meade and the army OF tn
: Potomac knew Mine run was ten o.
twelve miles in rear OF the WILDERNESS,
battle lid he aud hi- army had pass
ed an entire week neal this run, mad
generally known to the cIunIry ~ hi
army retiring from it without lighting
, The country about aud near it was a
=, we'll known 10 his army as to tina
commanded by Gen. Lee the Nintl
Corps only were strangers 10 this sec