The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-12-02

IOul NfOnOlhl AlOldOO l. OlbSl "a
tremely interesting sketches, in the
Century, of his "Campaiginng with
Grant," we make the following extracts:
BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.
The losses were found to be: Killed,
2,246; wounded, 12,037; missing, 1888:
total, 1866, The damage inflicted
upon the enemy is not known, but as
he was the assaultng party as often as
the Union army, there is reason to be-
lieve that the losses on the two sides
were about equal. Taking twenty-four
hours as the time actually occupied in
fighting, and counting the casualties in
both armies, it will be found that on
that bloody field every minute recorded
the loss of twenty-five men.
AS the staff-of1icers threw themselves
upon the ground that night, sleep came
to them without coaxing They had
been on the move since dawn, gallop-
ing over bad roads, struggling about
Though forest openings, jumping rivu-
let's, wading swamps, helping to rally
troops, lodging bullets, and searching
for commanding officers in all sorts of
unknown places. Their horses had
been crippled, and they themselves
were well-nigh exhausted. For the
small part | had been able to perform
in the engagement, the general recon-
jor in the regular army g. for gallant
and meritorious services" His recon-
mendation was afterward approved by
the president. This promotion was es-
pecially gratifying for the reason that
it was conferred for conduct in the first
battle in which l had served under the
command of the general-in-chief.
There were features of the battle
which have never been matched in the
annals of warfare. For two days nearly
100000 veteran troops had struggled in
photographic, confronted at each
step with almost every obstacle by
which nature could bar their path, and
cropping their way through tangled
forest, the impenetrable gloom of which
could be likened only to the shadow of
death. The underground stayed their
progress, the upper growth shut out the
light of heaven. Officers could rarely
see their troops for any considerable
distance, for smoke clouded the vision,
and heavy sky obscured the sun.
Directions were ascertained and lines
established by means of the pocket
compass, and change of position often
presented an operation more like
problem of ocean navigation than a
question of military maneuvers. 1t
was the sense of sound and of touch
rather than the sense of sight which
guided the movements. 1t was bat
tie fought with the ear, and not with
the eye.
All circumstances seemed to COM
bine to make the scene one of unutter-
able horror. At times the wind howled
through the treetops, mingling its
means with the groans of the dying,
and heavy branches were cut off by the
fire of the artillery, and fell crashing
upon the heads of the men, adding
new terror to battle. Forest fires ragged;
ammunition-trains exploded; the dead
were roasted in the confagration; the
wounded, reused by its hot breath,
dragged themselves along with their
torn and mangled limbs, in the mad
energy of despair, to escape the rava-
ges of the flames; and every bush
seemed hung with shreds of blood
stained clothing. 1t was as though
Christian men had turned to fiends,
and hell itself had usurped the place
of earth.
HE SMOKED CIGARS AND WHITFIELD
STICKS DURING THE CONFLICT.
AS the general felt that he could be
found more readily, and could issue his
orders more promptly, from the central
point which he had chosen for his head
quarters, he remained there almost the
entire day. He would at times walk
slowly up and down, but most Of the
day he sat upon the stump of tree, or
on the ground, with his back leaning
against tree. The thread gloves re-
NAMED on his hands, lighted cigar
was in his mouth almost constantly,
and his penknife was kept in active use
whiting sticks. He would pick up
one small twig after another, and some
times holding the small end away from
him would rapidly shave it down to a
point; at other times he would turn the
point toward him and work on it as if
sharpening lead-pencil; then he
would girdle it, cut it in two, throw it
away and begin on another. We had
long been accused of being nation OF
whittlers, and this practice on the part
of such conspicuous representative
American seemed to give color to the
charge. He seldom INDUCED in this
habit in subsequent battles.
The occupation played sad havoc
with the thread gloves, and before
nightfall several holes had been worn
in them, from which his finger nails
protruded. After that day the gloves
disappeared, and the general thereafter
went without them in camp, and wore
the usual buckskin gauntlet when OF
horseback. 1t was not till the Appomat
tox campaign that another pair O
thread gloves was donned. There wa
mystery about the use of those glove
which was never entirely solved. TIT
impression was that Mrs. Grant hat
purchased them, and handed them t.