of the great responsibility and importance of success, I have been astonished at the readiness with which everything asked for has been yielded, without even an explanation being asked.

Should my success be less than I desire and expect, the least I can say is, the fault is not with you.

Very truly, your ob dient servant,

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE CAMPAIGN COMMENCED.—THE BATTLE OF THE
WILDERNESS.

On the 4th, the crossing having been successfully accomplished without resistance, it appeared as though Lee's right flank was turned. The value of this pas sage of the Rapidan is evident from the estimate Grant gives of it in his report. He says, "This I regarded as a great success, and it removed from my mind the most serious apprehensions I had entertained-that of crossing the river in the face of an active, large, well-appointed, and ably-commanded army, and how so large a train was to be carried through a hostile country and protected."

From the Rapidan southward and westward extends the country known as the Wilderness. The character of this country is expressed in its name. It is a mining region, and rests on a bed of mineral rock. The forests having been cut away for mining purposes, the whole region is covered with a dense new undergrowth, which prevents all military operations, while the roads hrough it are simple paths, such as are always found in uch a country. The use of artillery or cavalry in this icket of scrub oaks and stunted pines is impossible, and the nature of the ground will be most apparent when it is realized that the movements of the army

could be directed only by the use of the compass. It was not here, however, that Grant expected to meet the enemy. The orders for May 5, as the extract given below will show, prove that it was not here that he expected to fight.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
May 4, 1864-6 P. M.

The following movements are ordered for the 5th of May, 1864: 1. Major General Sheridan, commanding cavalry corps, will move with Gregg's and Torbert's divisions against the enemy's cavalry in the direction of Hamilton's Crossing. General Wilson, with the Third Cavalry Division, will move at five A. M. to Craig's Meetinghouse, on the Catharpin Road. He will keep out parties on the Orange Court-house pike and plank road, the Catharpin Road, Pamunkey Road (road to Orange Springs), and in the direction of Troyman's Store and Andrews's Store, or Good Hope Church. 2. Major General Hancock, commanding Second Corps, will move at five A. M. to Shady Grove Church, and extend his right towards the Fifth Corps at Parker's Store. 3. Major General Warren, commanding Fifth Corps, will move at five A. M. to Parker's Store on the Orange Court-house plank road, and extend his right towards the Sixth Corps at Old Wilderness Tavern. 4. Major General Sedgwick, commanding Sixth Corps, will move to Old Wilderness Tavern on the Orange Court-house pike as soon as the road is clear.

By such a movement it was expected that the army, having turned Lee's right by the passage of the Rapidan, would be able to pass the Wilderness, and then, by a rapid advance towards Gordonsville, place itself between Lee and Richmond. But Lee, having received timely notice of the crossing, instead of falling back, took the offensive, and from Orange Court-house, which was the centre of his position, marched by two parallel roads, the Orange plank road and the Fredericksburg

turnpike, so as to strike Grant's advance at right angles, and force him to fight in the Wilderness.

On the morning of the 5th, when Grant and Meade reached the Old Wilderness Tavern, they found Warren's corps in position there, and Sedgwick's coming up, and received information that the enemy were advancing upon them by the turnpike. It was at first supposed that this was merely a diversion to prevent any interference with Lee's design of retiring to take up another position; and it was resolved to push this force away. This movement was at first successful; the enemy's advance was driven back, but soon, being reënforced by the main body, the Confederates resumed the offensive. This was the opening of the battle, which soon became general, and raged all day with great fury, neither party gaining a decided advantage; and at night the troops of both armies passed the long hours until morning where darkness had found them.

The complicated nature of the ground, and the impossibility of manoeuvring large bodies of men through the narrow roads, and the dense underbrush, made the contest a confused struggle, more like an old Indian battle, than a modern one, and renders any clear account of it next to impossible. It was a test of the enduring valor of both sides, and nobly both sides bore the test.

Both armies the next morning assumed the offensive. By dawn of the 6th, the Union line was formed. It extended about five miles, facing westward, with Sedgwick on the right next Warren, and Burnside and Hancock on the left. With the Confederates, Longstreet's corps, which had the day before been march

ing up from Gordonsville, arrived so as to be present the second day, while the army held the same ground as the day before-Ewell on the left, covering the turnpike, and Hill on the right, covering the plank road, and meeting so as to form a continuous line.

The orders for the Union army were to make a general attack along the line, while Lee determined, by threatening the Union right, to distract Grant's attention, and then, by an overwhelming attack upon his left, as soon as Longstreet should come up, to force him back to the Rapidan. The Confederates commenced the battle upon our extreme right, and the contest raged again almost continuously that whole day, swaying backwards and forwards with changing success, but neither army gaining any decisive advantage.

The next morning, Saturday, the 7th of May, neither army seemed inclined to take the offensive. Both had suffered severely, and both remained behind their intrenchments. The following summing up by the historian of the Army of the Potomac is the best statement to be given of the results of these two days' terrible fighting. "The battle of the Wilderness is scarcely to be judged as an ordinary battle. It will happen in the course, as in the beginning of every war, that there occur actions in which ulterior purposes and the combinations of a military programme play very little part, but which are simply trials of strength. The battle of the Wilderness was such a mortal combat-a combat in which the adversaries aimed each, respectively, at a result that should be decisive - Lee to crush the campaign in its inception, by driving the army of the Potomac across the Rapidan; Grant to destroy Lee.