The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-10-21
Battle of the Wilderness.
SOME VIVID AND CHASTITY RECOLLEC.
TONS OF THE FIELD OF SLAUGHTER.
lhe Unburied Dead One of the Awful
Features of the Great Conflict
uray and Blue Lay Side by Side or
Athwart the Other in Great Heaps.
So (New York Evening Post }

Athwart the Other in Great Heaps.
(New York Evening Post.)
81 have no time to bury my dead
and can give you none," was Grants
famous reply to Lee, when, under
nag OF truce, cessation of hostilities
was requested long enough to bury
the dead. Thus one great and awful
feature OF the battle of the Wilderness
was the unburied dead, that lay for
days and weeks all over the blood
stained fields, one of the most horrible
and ghastly sights ever exposed to
human vision. Probably no battle
field of the civil war afforded such an
opportunity for inspection as this.
Ordinarily, after a fight, burying
parties were detailed, and the long
deep trench, a common grave, was
dug, and the dead were at least cov-
cred, but not so here. Grant could
not stop, and the long stretch of coun-
try, overrun with Mosby's guerillas,
that intervened between the Pappahan-
mock river and the nearest union lines,
prevented aid from that direction in
burying the thousands that were slain
in the Wilderness and in the fight at
Spottsylvania Court House.
sat on my horse looking over the
portion of the field where the fierce
and deadly fighting of May and s,
1864, occurred. 1t was four or five
days after the fight, about the 9th or
10th of May. A small detachment of
our regiment had been sent as an es-
cort to train of ambulances, to gather
in the wounded who had been tempor-
arlly cared for in barns and farm
houses near the battle field, and l
thus had an opportunity to view this
historic scene. During the thirty-three
years since it has been an open ques-
ton whether to be glad or sorry that l
visited this battlefield. 1t could not
be more wildly impressed upon me
had l seen it yesterday. 1t has been a
nightmare and a horrid day dream all
these years. Often have prayed that
visions of those up-turned faces, black
ened and distorted, of the staring,
glazed eye balls, of the stifened, out
stretched hands, seemingly still grasp
ing for support, those ragged forms
wrapped in blue and gray, that had
fought their last battle and now lay
side by side in that great charnal field
might be blotted forever from my rec
objection. Then, again, 1 have been
glad knew SO we'll how that battle
field appeared and how barbarous,
brutal and inhuman it made war seem
glad that l know how 10000 dead
heroes looked, who had faced and me,
death amid the wild, frenzied scene:
of one of the greatest battles in the
history Of the world.
One of the most striking features to
US that day, and the one most thor
oughly fixed in our memories, was
that all over the battlefield, or at least
that part we visited, there lay three
boys in blue to one in gray. 1t will
be remembered that all through the
Wilderness fight that Confederate:
were protected by system of earth
works and hastily constructed fortifi
cations and abatises, while the Unior
troops were compelled to fight largely
in the open, and assail the Conteder
ates in their strongholds. From these
it was utterly impossible to dislodgt
the enemy except by the mastery Sc
ries of flank movements SO successfully
executed by General Grant.
We saw in one place where the mer
in lines of battle had taken off thel
knapsacks and laid them in a long
row, evidently to be prepared to make
a charge upon one of these earth*ork
of the Confederates some little dis
tance in front. These knapsacks re
NAMED almost undisturbed, while the
men lay, some in heaps, some here
and there in front of the fortiicatlon
they had charged upon. At this poin
the Union dead lay thickest. be
lieve | could have dismounted an(
walked distance as great as two Cit,
blocks and never once have stepped
upon the ground-walking on deao
bodies all the way. Indeed had l un
dertaken the CHASTITY journey, | woul'
have been compelled in some place
to climb over heaps of the dead.
There was a slight growth of under
brush at this point, with few trees re
naming. | made careful examlna
ton and could not see limb or twl
or bush that was not marked by oui
let, and some of them in several places
The wonder seemed not that ther
were so many dead, but that any lived
Officers and privates all made com
mon cause here, for among the dea'
we noticed the shining shoulder strap
of the commissioned officers mlngle
with the ordinary blue uniform OF tn
common soldier. The trees were tor
and shattered, the fearful work OF she
) and shell. being shown on every siu'
Muskets, canteens, haversacks, knaI
sacks-in fact nearly all that make
I'D the accoutrements OF the soldier
were scattered in all directions. Nes
the road, evidently smashed by a soil
shot, was the broken calsson OF an a
tillery wagon, while the gun lay IN
ditch with dead soldier lying fat
downward across 1t.
None Of US felt like performing an
r act of ghoulish vandalism, though as
saw a letter extending from the pock
; of dead Confederate soldier l dI
mounted, and, some Of the boys gait
ering around We looked 1t over.
S was worn and partly illeglble, but
+ made out that 1t was from the town
Hamlet, in the State of North Car