New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-08-24

tory in the Peninsula would have
elected Wadsworth. said BRYANT; and
/ Rhodes in his History agrees. But
! Fate had ordered otherwise. and
/ therefore it was that Wadsworth re-
NAMED with the army, and the rad
opened before him TO Charlottesville,
10 Gettysburg, and then to the Wilder
ness where he was 10 die.
After Burnside's defeat. Wadsworth
was given the command of the First
Division Of the First Corps. What sort
Of q soldier he had become or was by
nature. may he seen 10y the way he
dealt with a Mutiny in a New York
regiment Taking with him 20 the
mutineers camp his Iron Brigade,
which he ordered to load and come TO
the ready. pc said 10 the New Workers:
New York is ashamed Of you. Tn
less YOU obey the command 10 march
hv the Almighty | will bury you here"
They Obeyed.
Fitzhugh's crossing was another
proof and many more were 20 follow.
do not undertake TO summarize the
story either Of Gettysburg or Of the
Wilderness or Of General Wads-
worths share in those deadly battles.
They cannot be condensed into these
limits. II is enough to say that through
them all this Genesee farmer handled
his division like n soldier and like a
soldier bore his part Of that Gettysburg
council OF war which. against his re-
monstrance and amid his tears, suffered
Lee 10 escape across the Potomac. The
Wilderness. even with Grant in com
mand. was a welter. What was eX-
acted then OF division commander
as Of a corps commander, was quick
eve for an emergency and, above all
other things. self-reliance. Wadsworth
had both. and to follow him through
those perplexing days is to see that
with whatever deficiencies Of technical
training his was the stun that soldiers
are made Of.
In the dense WOODS his brigades were
not and could not be at all times In
his control. nor were regiments always
under the eye Of their brigadier. When
Lees master stroke was dealt II fell
upon the Unionist left rear, and on
both tanks almost AT once. Wads-
worth, mounted, was trying 10 wheel
what regiments ne had TO meet those
attacks The troops broke under the
weight OF the Rebel volley. The bullet
which struck their General IN the head
was fired from only few yards away.
He was on the enemy's ground the
battle swept over his body. one oil
Lees STAFF found him, living but un-
conscious. He was taken 10 field hos
initial cared for and the end soon came.
"One fighter such az he, said Gen
eral Grant. was worth a whole bri-
gade'
That is a piece OF testimony which
NAV stand by itself. but 10 be bra 'keted
with il is the fact that General Sedg-
wick. General Hancock and General
Warren. the three commanders oil the
Third Corps OF the Army Of the Poto-
mac before the Wilderness, had each
asked for Wadsworth as division
general He was assigned to Warren.
His family. remembering Gettysburg,
felt that his days were numbered. That
Grant never meant TO fight In the VIII
derness but expected 10 get beyond II
before meeting Lee is known. Lee,
ever.a good tactician, but never a great
s.rateeist. forcstalled him, and so IT
happened that Wadsworth fell as he did.
Whether in the open fields Of Gettys-
hure or in the tangled thickets Of the
wilderness. his idea Of war was to get
AT the enemy and crush him. The pos
sjble cost to himself he never counted.
lie lies buried al Geneseo. Few men.
said General Meade, mad such an in
Auence over the soldiers" Few men.
We must all say, have left a nobler
example as a heritage to their country
men. " W. o.