Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-03-06
BLOODY.ANGLE, SCENE OFBAT7LE
WHICH ENDED THE WILDERNESS
CAMPAIGN, DOOMED BLYTHE PL OW
MI Vestige of Terrific Bat
tie Will Soon Be
Eradicated.
listed BY SOME WORLDS
GREATEST MILITARY MEN
Result Thought to Have Placed
Seal of Defeat on Confed-
eracy's Cause.
ny JOHN GOODRICH. Jn.

The Bloody Angle" is being wiped
|oubts and gun pits. which have stood
tndcr the tangled pines since May.
S54, and have been visited by thous-
nds OF Amcfcans, Europeans and
Jricntials. ard especially by military
men. arc being erased under the
Tough. Before two years have pass
d. tho now weil-deiinod lines. where
renchcs arc still neck deep and the
kround so marked that the ebb and
low of battle is easily imagined. will
cave vanished and almost every
race Of what is known the world
'vcr az most remarkable scene Of
critic close Sighting, will be gone.
Moro men were killed in twelve
ours lighting at Bloody Angle. on
iay IL. 1864. than were ever KILLED
n an action fought with nothing bu,
bayonets and small arms, in any
imilar area and length o. time in
ne history OF war. And this still
iolda despite the European War.
where II was tho big guns that did
nc heavy damage.
Recently tho Mccoul house. In the
enter OF the Angie, which changed
,ands nine times az the battle cbbed
md flowed. was burned to the ground.
and thus was lost one OF the famed
andmarks Of the war. Previous TO
he burning, the house was reboarded
md rooted and out OF the old lumber
we're taken sixty pounds Of bullets.
re u to-,
marked with lead. And now the new
,wner OF the farm on which the
Bloody Angle WAS built Is levoling
h" old trenches and cffacing the last
marks Of the famous battle-ground.
Prevented by Great War.
Efforts which were made In pas,
ne Bloody Angle. failed when the
European War came on. and have not
since heen renewed. but. TO those who
are Interested. news that the last
lore In gone of saving the field for
uture generations OF visitors and
students OF warfare. will be- deeply
disappointed. They had hoped to see
I such a park as has been made OF
'thcr AMI far less important scenes
~ battles
As tho central point OF n general
hat1lc. and the place where was
ought the greatest small arm con-
dict in history. tn" Bloody Angle
mas been visited by General Haig.
icneral Henderson, Lieutenant-Gen-
;rai Fridges, Marshal Foch, General
kuropatkin. General Petain, General
cruickshnnk. almost every American
ohicer of high rank, and hundreds
of other military leaders or Europe
and Asia 1t Is used coincident with
the Charlottesville and Wilderness
am pa!gns as text for study in th,,
military schools of England. France.
Germany. and Italy. ard is regarded
as among score OF the worlds mos.
interesting battle grounds.
Reasons for this are twofold.
Few battlefelds are condensed in
space, 20 easily seen, or SO clearly
marked. Along the sides and at
tho base and apex OF the Angle one
may stand today in the trenches ami
barely look over the top: out from
the main trenches every few feet
run deep laterals, and back of the
trenches are the second lines, the
gun pits and powder cellars" and
circular trenches built so that n file
OF men could march steadily around
hring from the front and reloading
as they moved around to fire again.
There are trenches and counter
trehchcs. and lines tapping over lines,
piaihiy marking the swaying battle.
ihen' too' IL Is compact field, COW
erihs only ooo acres, where in a few
hours one may walk over every
trench, searching out the lines in the
woods and here and there fndins n
stray marker. placed by some in
oividual. as where Gordon was can
tured or Alexander fell One can
see clearly how the battle was fought
and it'takes but mediocre magma
ton to picture the scene whom
through the soggy May. day those
more than 10000 men fought so close.
ly that they pushed each other aside
lacked elbow room for bayonet
thrusts, charged and recharged. fac
ing first one way and then another
gas the lines reformed. lines broke
itrenchcs were taken and retaken. All
In such confusion that the artillery
seldom dared to fire and tho rifle
men half the time were shooting into
their own lines.
Evidences OF Struggle Remain.
30 terrific was the lighting on this
NIUE plot that one may walk over
inc ground (plowed some three years
ago) on tho Landrum place at the
saiients apex and In ten minutes
pick UP generous handful Of gun
caps. in spite of the hfty-sevcn
years passed, these bits of copper
SIN are so mixed with the soil that
|eyerywhere tho eye catches little
speoks ofsgreen. Here is n marker
/ where a 'two-foot oak was chopped
Gown by rife 9t4ot machine gum bull.
lets. A. hollow tree stands with
streak UP ths4trunk. SHOWING where
|! tho sapling was SO Loaded with lead
n that the tree developed around 1t, as
\ Dark grows around n wood, and out
R OF the hollow at The bottom. now and
Ill.,. d =