The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1911-03-02
NEW BOOK.
New Orleans Picayune.j

THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. BY
Morris Schaff, Author of "The Spirit of
Old West Point" with Maps and Plans.
Pp. 345. Boston and New York: Hough-
ton Company. 1910.
Much light has been thrown on the
Wilderness campaign by military critics on
both sides of the Atlantic. Even quite re-
Gently, papers discussing it have appeared
in the annual report Of the American His
torical Association.
The subject of great interest. Lee had
baffled all the efforts Of Mcclellan, Pope,
Burnside, Hooker and Meade. He was
now to meet Grant and that policy of his
of steady hammering which in the end
wore out the heroic Army of Northern
Virginia.
The Confederacy had lost much in losing
the certainty of supplies and reinforce
ments from beyond the Mississippi and the
chance of supplies from Kentucky and
Tennessee. When it lost Vicksburg and
Chattanooga, it lost not only these, but
also strategetic bases of no small impor-
lance. The check Lee had received at
Gettysburg had virtually confined his ac-
tivity to the defense of Richmond.
On the other hand, in spite of these re-
cent successes, the Federal Government
was almost in despair at the seeming
strength of the South, even after the check
at Gettysburg and the surrender of Vicks-
burg. The Confederate cruisers had driven
the commerce of the North from the seas,
the national debt was enormous, the arbi-
trary measures of the government had
embittered many, strong peace party had
been formed, the staggering blow delivered
Hooker at Charlottesville, the fact that
after Gettysburg Meade refrained from at
lacking Lee, and, when reinvested with
command, his cautious withdrawal beyond
the Rapidan-all these political and mill
tary discouragements made it evident that,
unless his successor, Grant, could win a
decisive victory, there might be an irresist-
ible demand at home for such change of
policy as would end in negotiations for
peece. There was even possibility that
decisive Federal defeat might be followed
by the capture of Washington.
1t was critical moment for both sides.
Lieutenant Schaff shows the sanity of
the true soldier and the unprecedented OBJ
server when he sets forth the reasons for
rejecting the usual assumption that the
result of the three days battle at Gettys-
burg sealed the fate of the Confederacy.
Grants objective was Lees army and
the factories, founderies and the military
stores at Richmond. The defeat of Lees
army would give him possession of Rich
mond. The failure to defeat Lee so near
the Rappahannock would make it impossi-
BILE for him to join to his own vast army
the force commanded by Butler below him
aud the heavy garrison at Washington
above him.
To prevent this swelling of his antago-
nist's force from 10000 to $4,000 and to
keep him from getting even closer to his
base of supplies, the navy and the sea, il
was imperative that Lee should fight him
as far from Richmond as possible. To dc
so effectively-to check the advance Of
100 900 men with force certainly below
Ct, OO-he chose the wilderness as the field
of battle, and forced the fight by attacking
the enemy.
TWAS through the faulty arrangement by
which Grants army was so divided as te
hamper him in his plans that Lee was enablec
to repeat his policy of the year before ano
compel his antagonist to fight him again il
the woods. Again the Federals we're forced
to choose another route and fight othel
battles. But again, also, in consequence
of the fall of Lees chief lieutenant by thu
fire of his own men, the Confederates los
their opportunity for reaping the full re.
suits of victory. Longstreet's wound
though not mortal as Jackson's had been
delayed the advance which would unques
tionably have ended in disabling, if no
utterly routing, the now veteran Fedora
army.
/ The skill with which Lee confronted
Grants advance forced him to fight OF
ground of his choosing, and inflicted on hin
a blow that compelled him to change hi
plans of campaign, has elected the especia
admiration of European military critics
This Judgment confirmed by all student
of military science in this country. Col
Livermore says of the outcome:
''This time Lees opponent was no
Hooker, nor yet was he Napoleon. Lei