SECOND DAY’S FIGHT OF THE WILDERNESS.
At five o’clock upon the following morning, while the sun was slowly breaking though the light mist that hung above the earth, the battle was resumed. At first slow and far between, the shots rapidly increased, until at six o’clock the fight had become furious all along the line, and so continued during the entire day. Both armies were intrenched behind their hastily formed works—those of the rebels being much the stronger; and in the space between, the battle was contested with all the desperation of men putting forth their whole strength in a last effort—with all the determined valor of soldiers who fought upon the side of right, and already felt themselves the victors. In some places the ground was fought over and over again, four, five, even six times during the day.
General Hancock’s position was furiously assailed by an overwhelming force of the enemy, who, after overcoming a gallant and desperate resistance, drove back his troops, and repossessed the ground which the Unionists had gained upon the previous day. General Seymour’s division was thrown into dire confusion by an attack from General Longstreet’s troops, and driven back for some distance. General Warren was furiously pressed along his whole line, but his brave men resisted every attack with incomparable gallantry, and held their position without losing ground an inch, until darkness put an end to the battle.
Toward evening General Hancock attacked the rebels in the position they had won from him, and fought them with such unconquerable bravery and determination, that he succeeded in driving them from their ground, and pursued them for nearly a mile. When night had come, General Hancock again occupied his breastworks, to the admiration of all who had beheld his brave conduct during the heat and fury of the battle. The ground between the two armies was covered with the dying and the dead. The rebel loss, especially, was appalling, but they had also gained something; for in the confusion that followed the retreat of the division holding the extreme right, the enemy had succeeded in effectually turning the Union right flank.
The Union loss during the two days’ fighting was estimated at fifteen thousand men. On both sides there was a serious loss of brave general officers. Of General Grant’s army, General Hayes and General Wadsworth were killed. Of Lee’s army, Generals Jones, Jenkins, and Pickett were killed; and Generals Pegram, Hunter, and Longstreet severely wounded. The latter was struck in the throat, and, at the time, was believed mortally injured. He was unable to take the field for many months.
The death of General Wadsworth was to the Union cause an almost irreparable loss. No man made greater sacrifices for his country; and none will be held in more honorable recollection.
General Wadsworth was born at Geneseo, in the State of New York, on the 30th day of October, 1807; and was, at the time of his death, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. He was educated at Harvard and at Yale colleges, from both of which institutions he graduated with honors. He entered the office of a lawyer in Albany, began the study of the legal profession, and completed his legal studies under the tuition of Daniel Webster; and was, at the age of twenty-six, admitted to the bar. A few years later, Wadsworth began to devote himself to local politics, and was known as a free-soil democrat; but in 1856 he took strong sides with the republican party in the State of New York. During 1859–60 he was named as republican nominee for Governor of the State, but was on that occasion unsuccessful. In the early part of the war Wadsworth offered his services to the government, and in 1861 was appointed by Governor Morgan as one of the major-generals of the State troops in the field. This appointment was, however, revoked, as the appointment of generals in the field was vested solely in the United States Government. At the period of Wadsworth’s recall the communications with Washington were broken by destruction of the railroad bridges in Maryland. In this emergency Mr. Wadsworth chartered a vessel, furnished it with supplies, and set sail for Annapolis. Mr. Wadsworth was appointed a volunteer aid with the rank of major on the staff of General McDowell when that officer’s army took the field preparatory to the battle of Bull Run, and thus participated in that campaign. Major Wadsworth was next appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, the rank dating from August 9, 1861, and he was afterward placed in command of a brigade of the Army of the Potomac, then being organized in Virginia, in front of Washington. In March, 1862, when the army advanced upon Manassas Gap, Wadsworth was placed in command of the District of Columbia, including the National capital, as military governor. On the removal of the main army to the peninsula he was appointed commander of the military district in Washington, which included the District of Columbia, the City of Alexandria, the defensive works south of the Potomac from the Occoquan to Difficult creek, and the forts at Washington. General Wadsworth held this command till near the end of the year. In September he was nominated as candidate against Horatio Seymour, as governor of the State of New York, but was defeated at the election. From this time General Wadsworth devoted himself exclusively to the military service. He took the field and was engaged in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. He was then placed in command of the first division of General King’s army corps. He was engaged in the battle of Chancellorsville in May, 1863, and commanded the extreme left division; he conducted the expedition which crossed the Rappahannock four miles below Fredericksburg. When the Army of the Potomac was reorganized for its grand campaign under Grant, General Wadsworth was assigned to the command of the fourth division of the Fifth corps, under General Warren, at the head of which, he bravely met his death.
THE THIRD DAY’S BATTLE.
On Saturday brisk skirmishing between the two armies was kept up all along the line for the greater part of the day. A brigade of the enemy, commanded by General Gordon, cut off communication between General Sedgwick and Germania Ford, and obliged Sedgwick to withdraw toward Wilderness Tavern. In the course of the afternoon, it became evident that General Lee was withdrawing his main force toward Spottsylvania Court House, and General Burnside moved his corps out on the road leading to the same point. In the course of the night orders were issued to the surgeons in charge of the hospitals to remove their sick and wounded to Ely’s Ford, and the supply trains were ordered to move in the direction of Todd’s tavern. Subsequent to these changes, Fredericksburg became a depot for the sick and wounded, and was also made a basis for supplies.