The National tribune., 1910-04-14
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN
CONTINUED from page one.)


they began falling they seemed to take
absolute possession of everything,
clinging around every movement. baf-
fling, retarding. Elsewhere rains ap-
pear to be more fitful and less compact
in volume. There are intervals in the
downpour thru which one can march
and move. A rain in Virginia, on the
other hand, is a solid, continuous body
without an instants break anywhere.
The difference between the two is that
between marching thru the open woods
and thru thicketS. In the midst of this
drenching, beating, obstructing rain the
staff officers galloped-or, rather, tried
to gallop. for the downpour was too
solid and continuous to admit of a real
gallop-in carrying vitally important
orders to the troops lowering over their
little smoking fires of green pine. Drip
ping Generals and Colonels, covering
the precious papers with their hats and
cloaks to prevent their being blurred,
sought shelter under which to carefully
read and study what was being required
of them. Everyone was saturated,
soaked and impeded by the incessant
drench, and from the lips of officers
and men frequent expressions of dis
gust. oftimes clothed in the picturesque
language which profanity lends to
speech. were heard on every hand
testy, boisterous wind. with, the
chill breath of the North. came up to
add to the discomforts of the declining
day. After all. however, the storm
helped the Union army more than it
hindered. since the rain beat just as
severely upon the enemy in the salient.
numbing their watchfulness as to what
was going on in front of them.
The Order of Battle.
The intention was to make the at
tack repetition of Gen. Motifs move
ment of the 10th. but on much great
er scale. Gen Wright had carefully
studied the ground in front of the Sixth
Corps and also to the left and it was
largely due to his advice that the as
sault was made at that point. Gen.
Hancock was ordered to mcve his three
divisions at dark to the vicinity of the
Brown House. where Motifs Division
had been. and which was made the
base of the attack. The large white
house inside the enemy's line. against
which the attack was to be directed, is
called in the reports the "McCool
House"
Gen. Warren was directed to hold
the position vacated by the Second
Corps in addition to his own. and Col.
Kitching's heavy artillery brigade was
assigned to help in this duty. At that
time the Fifth Corps was in very con-
centrated formation, which it was not
and Sixth Corps were both held close to
the enemys lines to take advantage of
anything that might happen, either to
assault on their fronts or to move to
the assistance of Hancock. In the Sixth
Corps Ricketts's Division was deployed
to hold the intrenchments. while Rus
sells and Wheaton's Divisions stood
ready behind works to move in any
direction required. Gen. Burnside was
directed to attack with the Ninth Corps
in conjunction with Hancock and as
sault the left face of the V.
The Beginning of the March.
The movement of Hancock's troops
was ordered to begin at nightfall, so as
not to be detected by the enemy. The
men who during the day had been skir-
mishing and building works stopped
both intrcnching and fighting under the
beating of the rain. and those not on
picket gathered around the @puttcring
fires that struggled with the sappy
green Virginia pine and the storm for
feeble existence. With the exception of
green elm or sycamore there is nothing
more difficult to burn than the scrub
pine of Virginia when green The
warmth from these fires was totally in
sufficient to temper greatly the icy chill
of the wind which had sprung up, and
everywhere the men gathered, with
their tents stretched about their shoul-
ders. Others rolled themselves up and
lay almost on the simmering logs them
selves, in their endeavor to get dry and
warm 1t was disheartening work, in
deed. attempting to coax the fires into
a state sufficiently hot to boil the coffee;
but the soldiers knew that hard work
was ahead of them, and that their first
duty was the preparation for this by a
full meal of the inevitable pork and
hardtack and great drafts of the brac-
ing, hot coffee.
The Wounded
While these preparations for the as
sault on the following morning were
going on, large train of wounded was
organized under the pelting rain and
started for Fredericksburg. Altho the
hospitals in the field were well supplied
with ice, lemons, canned peaches, jel-
lies and hospital clothing, and every
thing done by the hard-worked Sur
geons to relieve the terrible suffering of
the men, it was impossible to give to all
the attention they should receive, and
as quickly as train could be sent to
the rear with the wounded it was done.
The train which started OH the after
noon of the 11th was four miles long
and consisted of 256 ambu,ances and
1914 wagons and carried 2.4i7 manned
and suffering men, the largest number
being members of the Second Corps
The greatest care was taken to make
the journey as endurahle as possible
for the wounded. The ambulances were
used for the most serious cases, and the
wagons rendered as comfortable as they
could be by covering their bottoms with
straw and tender evergreen boughs and
then spreading over this mattresslike
blankets and shelter tents
In spite of these alleviating measures
however, the awful suffering of the poor
fellows was most distressing to the Sur
geons and their attendants who accom-
panied the train. Nearly every wagon,
which contained from three to five men,
was a hive of means which rose to a
Shrek of agony whenever il went over
a rock or rut in the road. The icy-cold
wind and the driving rain added greatly
10 their sufferings, and 20 poor fellows
expired on the road. The train did not
reach Fredericksburg until o'clock on
the morning of the 18th. being halted
when within four miles of its destina-
ton and compelled to wait four hours
until a guard could be sent. The town
accomm odation, and only 900 of the
most serious cases were left there, while
the remainder went on to Belle Plain |
Nothing could bring out more impress
sively the horrors of war than the aw-
ful spectacles presented by the wound
ed. Large piles of human legs and
arms bearing the most sinister resem-
blance TO piles of stove wood could fire.
quently be seen outside the operating
tents, while inside the Surgeons their
bare arms splashed with human blood,
welded the cruel-looking knives on the
torn and mangled bodies of the wound