The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1886-07-25
WAR MEMORIES.
THE BATTLE or THE WILDERNESS.
ny PRANK wILxgsoN.

THE BATTLE or TIE WILDERNESS.
| ny FRANK WILKINSON.
tFrom the New York start
| PART II.
Early the next morning, long before sun
rise, l had my breakfast. and having seen
SUFFICIENT Of the fighting done by infantry,
and strongly impressed with the truth that a
light artilleryman had better stay close to
his guns, babe my acquaintance good bye,
and walked of, intent on getting TO my gun
and comparative comfort and safety. But
hung on TO my rife and belt. They we're to
be trophies of the battle, and meant to ex-
cite the envy of my comrades by displaying
them. Stepping into the road walked
along briskly, and saw many other un
wounded men rearward bound. A sentinel
with rifle at the carry, halted me, and de-
manded to see blood. could show none. I
assured him that belonged TO the light ar
tillery, and that had gone to the front the
previous day just TO see the battle.
He SAID "You have rifle; you have a
belt and a cartridge box. Your mouth Is
powder blackened. You have been fighting
as an infautryman, and you shall so con-
tinue to fight. You go back, or will arrest
you. and then you will be sent back"
To say that was amazed and disguised
would but faulty express my feelings.
There stood the big lubber Of provost
guard, who would not let me 20 home to my
battery. / longed TO kill him-longed TO
show the Army Of the Potomac one dead pro.
vOst guard; but | was afraid to shoot him,
for fear that his comrades might see me do
II. So turned and FASTENED back to the
front. determined to fight that day, aud
go home to the battery the succeeding night.
I did not believe that the line Of guards ex
tended far into the woods, and even II they
did knew that could pass through the
lines in the night. Before I rejoiued the in
fantry, who were on the battle line,
equipped myself with plug of tobacco and
two canteens filed with water-never mind
where | got them.
| Away of to the right, toward the Rapidan,
the battle rose with the sun. In our front,
the Second Corps, there was little movement
discernible. But 30 dense was the cover that
we could see but little at q distance of two
hundred yards. saw that the soldiers had
thrown up slight intrenchment during tho
previous night. About O'Clock we were
ordered to advance, and pushed ahead,
Sighting as We went, and forced Hills men
back, killing many, wouuding more, and
taking scores Of prisoners. We crossed a
road, which wounded Confederate told me
was the Brock road. saw many dead Con-
fsderates during this advance. They were
poorly clad. Their blankets were In rolls,
hanging diagonally from the left shoulder
to the right side, where the ends were tied
with string or strap. Their canvas haver-
sacks contained plenty of cornmeal and some
bacon. saw no coffee, no sugar, no hard
bread in any of the Confederate haversacks
l looked into. But there was tobacco in
plugs on almost all the dead Confsderates.
Their arms were not as good as ours. They
were poorly shod. The direful poverty of
the Confederacy was plainly indicated by it's
dead soldiers. But they fought Yes, like
Infatuated devils, or rather like men of
purely American blood. We had charged,
and charged, and charged again, and had
gone wild with battle fever. Wehad gained
about two miles Of ground. We were doing
| splendidly. cast my eyes upward to see
the sun, 80 as to Judge of the time. as was
hungry and wanted to eat, and saw that it
was still low above the trees. The Con-
federates seemed to be- fighting more stub.
bornly, fighting as though their battle line
was being fed with fresh troops. They hung
| on to the ground they occupied tenaciously,
and resolutely refused to fall back further.
Then came swish Of bullets aud fierce,
sxultant yell, as Of thousands of Infatuated
tigers. Our men fell by scores. Great gaps
were struck in our lines. There was a lull
for an instant, and then Longstreet's men
sprang to the charge. II was swiftly and
bravely made, and was within an ace of be.
Ing successful. There was great confusion in
our line. The men wavered badly. They
fred wildly. They hesitated. feared the
line would break-fsared that we were
whipped. The line was fed with
troops from the reserve. The regimen
tai officers held their men as we'll as
they could. We could hear them close lie.
hind us, or in line with US, saying, and how
taintly their voices sounded: "Stsady, men,
| steady, steady, steady" as one speaks to
frightened aud excited horses. The Confsd
crate fire resembled the fury of hell in in
tensity, and was deadly accurate. Their
bullets swished by In swarms. II seemed to
me that could have caught pot full of
them II had had a strong iron vessel rugged
on pole rs butterfly net. Again our line
became wavy and badly confused, and 1t was
| rapidly being shot into sktrmish-like order
Of formation. Speedily a portion of the
Ninth CUrps-the men OF the much photo
graphed Burnside-came to our assistance,
| and they came none too soon. They steadied
the line and we ragained heart. During
this critical time, when tho fate OF the Sec
ond Corps was trembling in the balance,
| many officers rushed to and fro behind us,
but saw no major generals among them;
but then l had sufficient to do to look ahead
and fall back without falling down, and they
may have bsen on the battle line and be
| having with their accustomed gallautry as
pictured in the magazines, only did not ses
them, neither did my comrades. The Con-
federates got couple of batteries into action,
and they added to the deafening din. The
| shot and she'll from these guns cut great
limbs off of tha trees, and these occasionally
fell near the battle line, and several men
we're knocked down by them. Our line
strengthened, We, in ou- turn, pushed ahead,
and Longstreet's men gave ground slowly
before us, fighting savagsly for every foot.
The dead, blue aud gray, lay side by side.
The wounded lay together. l saw, in the
the heat of this fight, wounded men Of the
opposing forces aiding each other to reach
the protective shelter of trees and logs, and.
as We advanced, I saw Confederate and a
Union soldier drinking in turn out Of Union
| canteen, as they lay behind tres.
There was another lull, and then the
charging line of gray again rushed to the
| assault with inoonoeivsble fury. We fred
aud fired and fired, aud fell back fighting
| stubbornly. We tore cartridges until our
teeth aohed. But We could not check the
| Confederate advance, and they forced us
| back and back, and back until we were be-
hind the slight intrsnohments along tue
Brock road. A better charge, or more de-
termined, never saw. We fought ssvagely
at the earthworks. AT SOME points the
timber used In the earthworks was fred, and
our men had to stand back out OF the line OF
flame aud shoot through It at the COME erates,
who were fighting In front Of the works,
And the woods, through which we had
fallen back, were set on fire, and many
wounded soldiers were burned to death.
We beat of the Confederates, and they, with
the exception Of the picket line, disappeared.
Our line was staraish.snsd' reserves , were
troops were relieved. We had half an
hours rest, during which time many Of us
ate and smoked aud drank from our can