Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-08-16
4 Strange Battlefield.

1t is there to-day as it was in 1864 :
though even more sombre and grue,
scme-that strangest of all battlefields
of the war, the Wilderness" When
Hooker swung his army around to-
wards Charlottesville, he was in the
edge of that dark, derse and silent for
est, which extends from that point to
Nine Run and beyond. 1t is strip OF
country from three to seven miles long,
which is penetrated here and there by
roads, but whose depths furnish safe
rotreat for the wildcat, the owl, the
serpent and the fox. 1t is a lonely ride
along even the best travelled highway
in time of peace. The hoot of the owl
is heard from the dark thickets at
MONDAY, and the deadly moccasin
snake leaves his trail in the dust as he
crosses the highway to plunge into a
dense swamp There is not spot on
the main highway where one could see
the length of a regiment on the march,
and he who would hide from the whole
world has but to take twenty steps
to right or left.
In days gone by the slaves in rila. !.
part of Virginia had horror Of this
wilderness. Runaways sought its cover.
and were safe from master and dog; but
as they sllirted the swamps the deadly
serpent reared its head aud struck them
with death. Murdcrers have been
driven in there by hot pursuit, never to
be heard Of again, and men have made
ciearings here and there, only to be
driven out by the sterile, unyielding
soil aud the strange lonesomeness Of the
woods. War would have avoided it,
but war was dragged there. Every
acre of the dark pines, every acre OF
the tangled thickets, every dismal
swamp and barren knoll echoed the
shrieks and eroans of wounded men
and the travail of fierce battle. His
tory may tell you that it is a singular
spot for Il grappie of enemies lhirsting
for carnage, but history will not paint
the weirdnesS Of even a peaceful ride
through that desolatc tract.
In the first grapplc between Grant
and Lee in this dense tangle 10000
men fought for five hours, and at the
going down Of the sun G,000 lay dead
and wounded. In the seven miles o
front occupied by the two armies there
were not half dozen spots where q
single battery could be massed to sweep
an acre of clear ground. There was
not spot where brigade commander
could stand and overlook his four regi,
ments as they stood in line OF battle.
There was at one point Oh the righ' "a
cleared spot of about two acres in eX-
tent, and q Federal battery, which was
dragged through the forest, was placed
in position there about o'clock in the
morning of the second day. In ten
minutes three of the guns were silenced
by the musketry fire, and ii charge was
made by the CoDfeGerates to capture
the whole. Here two regiments Crap
pied and fought until 800 men encum-
bered the ground. Again the battery
opened and again it was charged, and
when the Confederates retired the dead
had to be corded up to get them outl of
the way. Again and again fresh ar
tillerists were brou ught up aud free fire
o. ened, and again and again the Con-
federates charged and added scorces
and hundreds to that awful pyramid of
dead. Grant had not advanced on his
right. Lee had not advanced on his
left. Where the dead fell in the gray
of morning there was the battle line
when night shuddered at the sight it
MD from view.
The fighting on the second day was
to save that narrow and tortuous high
way known as the Brock road to the
Federals. 1t was the path into and out
of that great forest. Along it must
move every man, horse, gun and wagon.
1t is dark and lonely highway as you
ride over it to-day, and every foot of it
has story of blood. The burial parties
found hundreds who had crawled into
the thickets and swamps and died, and
years after the government contractors,
who were removing the dead to nation
al cemeteries, found scores of skeletons
which had never been buried at all.
When night came again the Federals
had secured possession of the road, and
under the pines were thousands of dead
thousands of MANNED and crippled
and Us twilight faded into darkness
along that front of seven miles, stretch
ing over swamp and thicket, there arose
direful souni. 1t was murmur at
first. Then it swelled to steady cry
not one shout or groan or shrek, but
thousands of them mingled together
and quivering over thicket and rising
over the pines like the wall of q gather
ing tempest. 1t was the piteous cry O
the wounded and helpless as night ad
ded to the irightful horrors of thai
sombre wilderness.-Ph Philadelphia Teic
gram.
IHAvE bcin troubled with chronic catarrl
for years. Ely's Cream Balm is the only rem
edy among the many that / have used tina
affords me relief. Z. II. Willard, Druggist
Joliet, lis.
| HAVE been troubled with catarrh for tel
years aud have tried number of remedies
l but found 10 relief until purchased bott
of Ely's Cream Balm. / consider it the mos
} reliable preparation fr catarrh and cold il
the hcad.-Geo. Z. Crandal P. NJ, Quon
/ ochawnu,Tg, L. |.
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: ti:ul styles. at