The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-10-13
BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.
GhastIy RecoIlectlons of the Field
What the Dead indicated.

II have no time to bury my dead,
and can give you none,' was Grants $
famous reply to Lee, when, under a
flag of truce, a cessation of hostilities
was requested long enough to bury
| the oead. Thus one great and awful
feature of the battle of the Wilnerness
vas the unburied dead, that lay for
days and weeks all over the blood
stained field, one Of the most horrible
and CHASTITY sights ever exposed to
human vision. Probably no battle
field of the civil war offered such an
opportunity for inspiration as this.
Ordinarily, after a fight, burying
hrties were detailed, and the long,
dep trench, common grave, was
! dug, and the dead were at least cover
d, but not so here. Grant could not
Sop, and the long stretch OF country,
oerrun with Mosby's guerrillas, that
iltervened between the Rappahannock
river and the nearest Union lines pre-
vented aid from that direction in bury
irg.tae thousands that were slain IN
the; Wilderness and in the fight at
Spottsylvania Court House.
Ilsat on my horse looking over the
portion of the field where the fierce
and deadly fighting Of May 4 and .,
1864, occurred. 1t was four or hve
days after the fight, about the 9Th or
10th of May. small detachment OF
iour regiment had been sent as an
Iescort to a train Of ambulances to
ssatherin the wounded, who were being
Temporarily cared for in barns ana
Harm houses near the battlefield, and
L thus had an opportunity to view this
,histo.ic scene. During the: 33 years
ysince it has been an open question
whether to be glad or sorry that l
tEisited chat battlefield. 1t could not
,e more vividly impressed upon me
lad I seen it yesterday. 1t has been a
Nightmare and a horrid day dream all
hese years. Often have | prayed
bat visions of those upturned faces,
:. tackened and distorted, Of the staring,
! Eazed eyeballs, of the stiffened, out
{ retched hands, seemingly still grasp
: g for support, those rigid forms wrap
: blue and gray, that had fought
n eir last battle and now lay side by
{ be in that great charnel field, might
y lblotted forever from my recollection.
len, again, have been glad that
:, knew so we'll how that battlefield
|, beared, and how barbarous, brutal
o i iahuman i5 made war seem; glad
e 1t I knew how 10000 dead horses
. . Red, which had faced and met
9TH amid the wild 'frenzied scenes
IS done of the greatest battles in the
q bory of the world.
> Ane of the most striking features to
), that day, and the one most thor
d ohly fixed in our memories. was that
$ abvcr that battlefield, or at least
u Il Dart we visited, there lay three
J, b in blue to one in gray. twill
c Remembered that all through the
d Merness fight the Confederatcs
Vt wi protected by system of earth
C wis and hastily constructed fortl-
ID fdons, and abatises, while the Union
p Is were compelled to fight largely
+ inIe open and assail the Confederates
! leir strongholds. From these it
I watterly impossible to dislodge the
eay except by the masterly series
J. ofsnk movements, SO successfully
Piled by General Grant.
II saw in one place where the men
d inIe of battle had taken off their
y kHacks and laid them III long
Is rosvideutly to be prepared to make
'' Ecc upon one of these carthworks
of} Confcdcrates, some little dis
y (tabin front. These knapSacks re-
II mM almost undisturbcd, while the
,t ,t hn9 y. some in heaps, some here and
- Ghdsn front Of the fortiGca5ioms they
VI had 4rgcd upon. At this point the
in UnIblcad lay th;cl;est. | believe |
cod Nave dismounted and walked a
:, dish as great as two ordinary city
IS IS 6!oind never once have stepped
rpohc gronnd-wali,img on dead
we boIA.ll the way Indeed, had l
~ uud4:ea the giaStly Journey, |
IS Won have been compelled in some
nd ,,iyrb climb over heaps Of the dead.