Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1897-09-09
BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.


u wss . Unique Engagement. Bays GsA
Horace Porter.
The losses were found 10 be: Killed.
2,246; wounded, i2,O37: missing, 1888;
total, 1866. The damage inflicted upon
the enemy is not known, but us he was
the assaulting party as often as The
union army, there is reason TO believe
that the losses on the two sides were
about equal. Taking "a hours as the
time actually occupied in fighting, and
counting the casualties in both armies.
II will be found that on that bloody Held
every minute recorded the loss Of Is
men.
As the staff officers threw themselves
upon the ground that night, sleep came
to them without coaxing. They had
been on the move since dawn, galloping
over bad roads, struggling about
through forest openings, Jumping rivu-
let's, wading swamps, helping to rally
troops, lodging bullets and scorching
for commanding officers in all sorts Of
unknown places. Their horses had been
crippled and they themselves were we'll
nigh exhausted For the small part
had been able to perform in the engage
ment, the general recommended me for
the breyet rank Of major in the regular
army "for gallant and meritorious serv-
ices" His recommendation was after
ward approved by the president. This
promotion was especially gratifying for
the reason that il was conferred for con-
duct in the first battle in which had
served under. the command Of the gen.
eral 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
a death grapple, confronted at each step
with almost every obstacle ,y which ma
ture could bar their path, ard cropping
their way through tangled forest the
impen strable gloom Of which could be
likencd only to the shadow of death
The underground stayed Their progress,
the upper growth shut cut'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 q
change of position often presented an
operation more like problem of ocean
navigation than question of military
maneuvers. 1t was the sense Of sound
and touch rather than the sense of sight
which guided the movements. 1t was
q battle fought with the ear and not
with the eye.
All circumstances seemed to combine
to make the scene one IF unutternble
horror. At times the wind howlcd
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 ter
ror to battle. Forest fires ragged; am
munition trains eyploded; the dead
were roasted in the conilagration; 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 ravages'
of the flames; and every bush seemed
hung with shretls Of blood-stained cloth
ing. 1t wasas though Christian men had
turned to- fiends. and hell itself had
usurped the place of earth.-Gen' llor-
ace Porter, i'm Century.