The National tribune., 1910-03-10
FREE TRIAL COUPON.
THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN
CONTINUED from page one.)

were soon to number them with their
comrades resting so quietly under the
dogWoods or from which they would
limp and suffer thru life. An equal
number of butternut uniforms had been
similarly stricken with disabling wounds
by Yankee bullets. About 5000 Union
veterans had been caught in the tangle
of bushes or in the swift flank move
ments, and were now on their way to
Andersonville to slowly perish by starv-
alton Quite as many Confederates,
caught in like manner, were also on
their way to Point Lookout, Elmira and
other prisons in the North. AS near as
may be found out about 10000 men on
either side We're killed, wounded or
captured in these awful two days.
Everywhere the losses must have been
nearly equal, since the troops on both
sides had precisely the same expert
ences The Southern historians have
Iabored hard to prove that Lee inflicted
a terrible loss on Grant, while suffering
comparatively little himself, and this
has been extended and magnified by
those who did not like Grant. The old
coterie of higher officers in the Army OF
the Potomac. which still followed Me-
Clellan and resented the appointment
of a Western officer to command, were
only too willing to support the idea that
Grant was butcher and wantOnly
wasted his men. Nothing can be fur
thcr from the truth, and this is appar-
ent to anyone who studies the battle
| 1t was fought on astonishingly even
| terms, and it seems unlikely that a
Yankee life was lost without being COM
pensated for by a similar loss in the
Confederate ranks. Every incident ir
the battle. shows this. The Yankees
| would charge across q swampy ravine Il
meet with n bloody repulse from then
| enemies standing on bluff beyond
They would fall back to their own line
of bluffs. when they would in turn bs
Iattacked by the men who had just re-
pulsed them. and would repay them ir
the bitter coin they had received. There
were surprising flank movements an(
destructive enfilade fires on both sides
as one or the other would suddenly fine
| himself ON the flank of the enemy. NJ
rapulse during the whole battle wa.
blOodior or more destructive than tn,
staggering blow received by Lee in hi.
last desperate effort to break thru Han
cocks line and secure possession of tn,
Brock road.
| IL Hancock and his men could hav,
seen, as at Gettysburg. the demoraliza
tiOa of the sEcrpy resulting from theil
| terrible repulSe. the whole left wing OF
the army could have been sent forward
on the heels of the disheartened enemy
IarG Lees ruin accomplished then anC
there. Hills and LongstreetS men haC
tsufercd as fr; ghtfully as Picketts a.
Gettysburg. and went to the rear in fal
more disorder. Their d Sorganized fiigh
VAS screened by tho tangle into which
they disappeared, and Hancock and hi.
men were unconscious of the extent OF
| their success.
| Ice rallied his broken regiments or
| the farther bank of the gorge three.
quarters of mile from Hancock's blaZ.
ing front, set them to work fortifyine
the line, and there they remained or
the defensive.
Historians generally say that Grant
was frustrated in his attempts to gel
thru the WILDERNESS without a fight
| This statement IS open to criticism
since Grant had expected to fight IRON
the moment that he crossed the Rap.
| idan. II would be far nearer the truth
to say that Lee was defeated in his des
perate efforts to arrest Grants march
by getting possession of the Brock road
the highway by which that General had
planned TO march to Spotsylvania.
| Lee rallied his broken regiments cr
the farther bank of the gorge, three.
fourths of a mile from HancOck's blaZ.
| ing front, and set them to work fortify.
ing the line, where they remained or
the defensive.
Even the bright, genial May day sur