GENERAL LEE IN THE WILDERNESS CAMPAIGN.

241

Roving into the Wilderness. He expressed hisI ea siire that the Federal general had not profitedGeneral Hooker’s Wilderness experiences, andat he seemed inclined to throw away to some® x tent the immense advantage which his greatperiorit-y in numbers in every arm of the ser-!® 6 gave him. On the 5tli Ewell inarched on the° d turnpike, and Hill on the Plank road, and theayahy ou a roa( j s tin farther to the right into thedderness. Lee rode with Hill at the head of hisat was ak ^ 10 trout in the skirmish

th * >ai ’ ker:s Store and moved with the advance to,, 6 ®®hl on the edge of the forest which became6 scene of the great conflict on the Plank road,'bog on in advance of the troops, the party, con-® eilera ' s Gee, Hill, and Stuart and theirof ?,'°® eers ) dismounted and sat under the shadein' oT 6 ^ees, when a party of the enemy’s skir-mishers deployed from a grove of old-field pinesGh> left, thus revealing the close proximity ofant’s forces, and the ease of concealing move-^ats in the Wilderness.

bo S droops were soon up and in line, and thenS j^ an °n the Plank road a fierce struggle, nearly0 j ( j 1l 'taneously with that of Ewell’s forces on thehia ^ Urn Ptk e - Thus was inaugurated a contest ofin battles, in which the almost daily deadly fir-^md not cease for eleven long months.etVs and Wilcox’s divisions, under Lee’s eye,Sa .stained themselves well against the heavy as-h 6 * °f the Federal forces which greatly outnmn-°ld t them; Ewell’s corps did good work on thea nd -ri U ' u lbke in its contest with Warren’s corps,s °n h ° SS01 ' S cavalry on the right had driven Wil-ling ^ee slept on the field not far from his

U, , °t’ battle, sending orders to Longstreet tobi'o ? a ni £bt march and reach the front by day-® ak on the Gtli.

that, morning serious disaster seemed immi-toi'ce 1 ^ J ° n S s treet did not arrive in time to reen-at o Gee’s line of battle in the position it helde v . e dose of the engagement of the precedingrigh^ . Hancock’s well-planned attack on ourtheir '^ 0l ’ ee< ^ the two Confederate divisions fromthey t’ os tthm, and it seemed at one moment thathis ry' V ° U ^t s 'veep the field. Lee gave orders to geta hd a ^ 011 trains ready for a movement in retreat,two <p an able t° quicken the march of Longstreet’sGse ^^tons. These came soon, a little after snn-p lani a ; dm ! ble - < l uiek > in parallel columns, down thel ' e treat'° ad ' ^ J ° e ' vvaH l’ 1 the midst of Hill’s sullenlyst orin»„ Ug t 1,0 °P s > aiding in rallying them, and re-c atne geon h ( lence and order, whenLongstreet’smenhnd 6l , ^ahlautly in and reformed the line of battlehjg ' 0 ye. Lee’s presence at the front arousedhgUrp 611 t0 great enthusiasm. He was a superbof batt} 8 ^ 16 Sat 011 k * s B P* r lt e d gray with the lighttion. rp,° n his face. His presence was an inspira-hravel 10 r °treating columns turned their facesVi$i 0J1 a t0 ^ le ^ ron t once more, and the fresh di-spjyjt ^ eil t forward under his eye with splendidTe^ag , . Was on this occasion that the men of the’hscoy *'^ a( ^ e (always favorites of the general),eri ng that lie was riding with them into the

charge, shouted to him that they would not go onunless he went back. The battle line was restoredearly in the morning. Soon afterward, Ander-son’s division, which had been left ou the Rapidanheights, arrived on the ground; and a successfulassault, which carried everything before it, wasmade on Grant’s left. The Federal troops weredriven back, with heavy loss, to their intrench-ments on the Brock road. Longstreet’s wounding,and the necessary delay in the change of com-manders, ) caused loss of time in attacking them inthis position. An attack made iii the afternoonfailed, after some partial successes, to gain posses-sion of the Federal breastworks. The rumor which

MAJOR-GENERAL G. W. C. LEE, C. S. A.

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.

General Grant mentions in his “Memoirs,” andto which he seems to have given credence, that“Lee’s men were in confusion after this attack,and that His efforts failed to restore order,” waswithout foundation in fact. On the same after-noon, of the (itli, a successful flank assault wasmade by Gordon, with three brigades of Ewell’scorps, the results of which were not so great ashoped for, because night put a stop to liis furthersuccessful rolling up of Sedgwick’s line.

The Wilderness fighting closed with the night ofthe (ith of May.

Lee’s grand tactics in these two days of battlehad been a superb exhibition of military geniusand skill in executing his plan of throwing his lit-tle army boldly against his opponent, where hisgreat inferiority in numbers would place him at theleast disadvantage ; where manoeuvring of largo

l G- II. Anderson was taken from Hill’s corps to command Longstreet’s, and Malione assumedcommand of Anderson’s division. —Editors.