Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/480

442 a mile of Sedgwick's line, capturing 600 of his men and two of his brigadiers; and they were still sweeping on to victory, even through the gathering darkness, when Ewell called a halt.

Not knowing of the existence of Hancock's formidable intrenchments, Lee's right, consisting of the divisions of Field and Anderson, charged against Hancock, on the Brock road, to find themselves confronted by a wall of fire, made by the burning of the front line of Federal breastworks, which had been set on fire by the burning forest, and by a more dangerous, blazing line of infantry and artillery, that poured rifle ball and shot and shell into their ranks from behind Hancock's second line of breastworks, which he now held in force. The Confederates drove back the Federals, even from this double-fire line, and planted their flags on the front line of breastworks, but for a short time only. They were repulsed by the fierce artillery fire that was poured upon them, as night put an end to the fierce struggles of this 6th day of May. At the close of this day, Lee held, all along his lines, a position advanced from that held in the morning, and the great army of the Potomac found itself in the toils of a defensive struggle, in aid of which it was throwing up new lines of breastworks, along the positions to which it had been forced back on its right and along its center, and was grimly holding on to the triple line of defenses that guarded its left.

On the morning of the 7th, at 10, Grant telegraphed to Washington, from the Wilderness tavern:

After confessing that his loss had been about 12,000, and mentioning his killed, wounded and captured generals, he added: "I think the loss of the enemy must exceed ours, but this is only a guess based upon the fact that they attacked and were repulsed so often"—a