Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/646

 622 WILDERNESS WILEY woods on his flanks. Lee had anticipated Grant's movement, and was pushing on, by a parallel road, toward the same point, llis ad- vance, under Anderson, finding no good camp- ing ground, continued the march all night, and thus reached Spottsylvania and had time to intrench before Warren came up. By the even- ing of the 8th Lee's whole force was in posi- tion, with improvised breastworks, on a ridge around Spottsylvania Court House, facing N. and E. The 9th was spent by Grant in ma- king dispositions for attack, and by Lee in strengthening his position. In the afternoon Gen. Sedgwick was killed by a sharpshooter, and his command devolved upon Gen. Wright. On the 10th Hancock attacked the confederate left with considerable success, crossing to the S. side of the river Po ; but Meade suddenly ordered him to recross and furnish troops for an intended assault on the centre. He was attacked in turn while withdrawing, and at the same time the woods between his force and the river took fire; he lost heavily, and many of his wounded perished in the flames, but the remarkable coolness and discipline of his men enabled him to inflict an almost equal loss upon the enemy. The main attack of the day was against Lee's left centre, in front of Warren, where a wooded hill, surrounded by a dense growth of low cedars and crowned with earthworks, formed perhaps the strong- est point of the whole confederate line. The 2d and 5th corps attempted it, and wore re- pulsed ; at 5 o'clock P. M., with two of Han- cock's divisions, they renewed the assault, and failed again, though some of the men entered the enemy's breastworks ; still another attack resulted in still another bloody repulse. These assaults cost the federals over 5,000 men, while they inflicted scarcely one tenth of that loss upon the enemy. Further to the left, how- ever, a portion of the Oth corps carried the first line of the confederate intrenchments and cap- tured 900 prisoners. Lee's right centre formed a sharp salient. In the night of the llth Han- cock moved to a position within 1,200 yards of this, and at half past 4 o'clock in the morning of the 12th he stormed it. His heavy column overran the confederate pickets without firing a shot, burst through the abatis, and after a short hand-to-hand conflict inside the intrench- monts captured 4,000 prisoners and pursued the enemy through the woods toward Spott- sylvania Court House. When they came upon a second line of works, Hancock's men, having lost their organization, were forced to retire to the first line, which by the aid of the 6th corps they were enabled to hold. In the course of the day Lee made five determined attempts to retake this line, but each time he was heavily repulsed. The fighting at this point was as fierce as any during the war; frequently the rival colors wore planted on opposite sides of the breastworks, the entire forest within musket range was killed, and in one case a tree 18 in. in diameter was cut clean in two by the bullets. While this was going on, Burnside on the left and Warren on the right made attacks, supposing that Lee must have weakened his wings, but were re- pulsed with considerable loss. At midnight Lee drew back to his interior line. For seve- ral days Grant continued to develop his left flank, but still found Lee's right unassailable. Ho then, in the night of the 20th, withdrew Hancock's corps from his right and sent it east- ward, behind the cover of the remainder of the army, to Massaponax church, whence on the 21st it moved southward to Milford station on the Fredericksburg and Richmond railroad. This movement was repeated with the other corps, each in turn being taken from the right and passed to the left. At the same time Lee, by a precisely similar operation, moved in the same direction on a generally parallel route, but by a straighter road ; and when on the 23d the national army arrived at the X. bank of the North Anna, its adversary was found posted on the S. bank. Hancock on the left, after some fighting, forced the passage of the river. Warren on the right, 4 m. higher up, crossed without opposition, but had only be- gun to intrench when he was furiously assailed in front and flank. The assault was repulsed at all points, and Warren took nearly 1,000 prisoners, losing about 350 in killed and wound- ed. The 6th corps crossed, and took position on Warren's right. Burnside, holding the cen- tre of the line, attempted to throw his troops also across the river, and establish connection between Hancock and Warren, but was driven back. Thus Lee's centre, bending to the north, clung to the river at a point where it bends to the south, and neither of Grant's wings could reenforce the other without a double passage of the stream. In the night of the 26th the federal army was silently retired to the N. side of the river, and then marched by a wide cir- cuit E. and S. to the Pamunkey, which it crossed. Again Lee had made a similar move- ment by a shorter line, and the next serious conflict was at Cold Harbor. (See CHIOKA- HOMINY, vol. iv., p. 416.) The losses of the army of the Potomac in these engagements were as follows : DAYS. Killed. Wounded. Miring. Total. May 5-12... 8,288 lO.'.'TS 0,844 29,410 May 12-21 2,140 7 ::.'; 279 10,881 May 21-81 150 1,180 827 1,607 Total .-... 6,584 KM 7,450 41,398 This does not include the losses in Burnside's corps, which was not under Meade. No trust- worthy statement of the confederate losses was made ; they were probably about 20,000. WILET, Isaac William, an American clergyman, born in Lewistown, Pa., March 29, 1825. At the age of 18 he was licensed as a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church, but on account of an injury of his voice he studied medicine, and