The Washington herald., 1914-05-13
THE WAR DAY BY DAY
Fifty Years Ago.
May l3 lSeFeds and Confedates Spona Were Easassd
Bung Dead and Sueesrg he Wounded Left he Field at s
.Beody Ansle" from Which Lee Had Wthdswn 1t Mdisht
written Expressly for The Herald.

Written Expressl!
Fifty years ago today Federals and
| Confederates at Spottsylvania were en-
gagged in burying the dead and succoring
the wounded. 30 far as they were able
without the use of q flag Of truce. on
the field at the Bloody Angle" where
thousands had fallen the day before.
At midnight the Confederates had with
drawn from the breastworks the Fed
erals had captured by assault, and from
which they had been driven by fierce
counterstroke, delivered at moment
when they were disorganized by their
victory.
All day Lee had concentrated his
forces on this angle in his lines. deter
mined to hold it at all cost until he
could erect new works in its rear. The
safety of his army had depended on his
holding the angle until these new works
were done. The spade, no less than the
musket, was piled with desperate energy
that day to save Lees forces and the
Confederacy. When. in the darkness of
rainy night, the word was passed that
the works were ready, Lees men at the
Angle had silently withdrawn from the
disputed point. leaving their dead. and
many of their wounded, on the sodden
battle-ground.
The sight that met the eyes of the
Federals with the return of light, as
they gazed at the scene OK conflict
where the flercest fighting of the war
had taken place-made even the hardened
veterans of many campaigns turn sick.
Inspection of the field was but a null
tiplication of horrors. Death, awful on
any field. here was rendered the more
terrible by the stains OF earth and bat
tie, as the men lay in heaps or singly.
under the cold downpour of a driving
storm.
The ground was kneaded by many feet
into plastic mud, that lay in the rain
like lethean pools, amidst which rested
the mangled. distorted and mudcoated
bodies of men.
Battle Lines of Dead.
An early visitor to the field was
Charles A. Dunn. Assistant Secretary of
War. As he was gazing at one Of these
sickening pools he saw a hand emerge
from the mud. 1t was the hand of a
living man, for 1t slowly moved When
the map was drawn from the pool he
was found to be badly wounded. He had
escaped sutfocation as by a miracle.
In another spot searchers found the
body of an officer of Pennsylvania
regiment, handsomely dressed, but head
less, and covered with blood and dirt.
Upon it, in a ghastly heap, lay the bodies
of six other men. Some were yet alive.
All had been struck down by a single
shell.
One young soldier, Capt. Lemuel A.
Abbott, of the Tenth Vermont Regiment.
recorded in his diary the fresh impress
sions of horror with which he viewed the
field of the dead.
In one place he saw living hand
protruding from a pile OF dead. The liv-
ing man was rescued.
Inside the Bloody Angle" according
to this ofiicer. there were three (Con-
Federated dead lines of battle, half
miie, more or less, in~iength - - The
dead"
This officer found the breastworks
"hlled with dead and wounded where
they fell, several deep. nearly to the top
in front, extending for forty feet back.
sloping to one deep" The lines beyond
were perfectly defined by dead men. 80
close they touched each other"
The rain had half filled the trenches
inside the works with muddy water, IN
which corpses lay. These victims of war
had literally dug their own graves. for
the burial parties filled the pits with
dead and covered them over by toppling
the breastworks upon them.
The work of burial and of searching
for wounded was limited to parts of the
field out of range of the enemy. whose
fired on every Federal
they saw, no matter what his errand.
Thus many poor fellow was left
wounded on that ugly field to die of
cold, hunger, and exhaustion.
Neither general was willing to ask the
other for a halt in the fighting in which
to bury the dead under flags of truce. |
Grant felt that the battles moral ad-
was his, for although he had
lost $500 men in killed, wounded, ami |
missing, for the first time in his cam
had begun May 4 with the |
of the Rapidan-he had inflicted |
heavier loss on the enemy than he had |
himself sustained. Lee had lost as many |
killed and wounded as the Federals, and |
besides, whole division of troops cap
tured, to the number of 4,0c0 men, to- |
gether with its commander, Mai Gen. |
Edward johnson. and a brigade COM
mander. Brig Gen. George H. Steuart.
While the grim work of burying the
dead and caring for the wounded was
going on, these prisoners were making
their way miserably, in the cold storm, /
mac River. en- route to Northern prisons
Gen. steuart walked, but Gen. johnson
rode. as the result of incidents that fol-
lowed their capture.
Gen. Johnston had been taken to Grants
headquarters. where he was cordially
greeted by both Grant and Gen. Meade,
who had known him in the old service.
He was visibly touched by their manner.
Grant offered him a cigar and make him
at his ease by talking Of their expert
ences in the Mexican war. When a dis
patch from the field came in telling of