A FRIGHTFUL SPECTACLE. 363 "When the night came, the angle of those works, where the battle had been hottest and from which the enemy had been finally driven, had a spectacle for whoever cared to look, that would never have enticed his gaze again. Men in hundreds, killed and wounded together, were piled in hideous heaps-some bodies that had lain for hours under the concentric fire of the battle, being perforated with wounds. The writhing of the wounded beneath the dead, moved these masses at times; at times, a lifted arm or a quivering limb, told of an agony not yet quenched by the Lethe of death. around." Says another correspondent:-"The angle of the works at which Hancock entered, and for the possession of which the savage fight of the day was made, is a perfect Golgotha. In this angle of death the dead and wounded rebels lie, this morning, literally in piles-men in the agonies of death groaning beneath the dead bodies of their comrades. On an area of a few acres, in the rear of their position, lie not less than a thousand rebel corpses, many literally torn to shreds by hundreds of balls, and several with bayonet thrusts through and through their bodies, pierced on the very margins of the parapet, which they were determined to retake or perish in the attempt. The one exclamation of every man who looks on the spectacle is, 'God forbid that I should ever gaze upon such a sight again."" Hancock's achievement was a brilliant one, and, for a time, promised success, but as it turned out, it was a useless waste of life. Grant's losses, since he crossed the Rapidan, had been fearful-a whole army had disappeared--and it was necessary that these should be repaired, and now for six days the army had comparative rest, while reinforcements were hurried up from Washington. The manner in which the troops came pouring in showed the forecast of Grant. He had 364 UNBURIED DEAD. anticipated no easy victory-he knew Lee and his gallant veterans, and hence prepared for the frightful loss of life which had now taken place. These gathering hosts showed too the almost exhaustless resources of the North, and that they were at last being employed by a man who knew how to use them. Grant a few days before, had telegraphed to the Secretary of War, "I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all Summer," and it was evident that he meant to. This was said in no spirit of obstinacy, as it was generally supposed-it was a mere re-affirmation of judgment on the plan he had adopted, notwithstanding the frightful sacrifices of life the carrying it out had demanded. The base of supplies, in the meantime, had been changed to Fredericksburg. Manoeuvering of the forces, skirmishing and heavy artillery firing, kept the troops on the alert, but Grant had resolved not to dash his army to pieces again on the strong works before him. The ceaseless energy with which he had pushed the enemy, had not left him sufficient time to bury his dead properly, and the "Wilderness" presented a shocking spectacle, with its uncovered, or but partially interred bodies, scattered amid the shattered trees of the forest and wreck of the fight. During these seventeen fearful days, Sherman's army had been sending up its victorious shouts amid the mountains of Georgia, as it hewed its way toward Atlanta, and Butler causing consternation among the inhabitants of Richmond, as the sound of his cannon broke over the rebel Capital CHAPTER XXVII. MAY, 1864. BUTLER'S ADVANCE TO IN N accordance with Grant's orders, General Butler, on the 4th of May, moved his army from Fortress Monroe, to co-operate, by an advance on Richmond, with the former, and keep reinforcements back from Lee. While Grant was entering on the terrific "Battles of the Wilderness," and its dreary solitudes were echoing to the roar of his guns, Butler with his army on transports, guarded by iron-clads, was steaming up the James River, toward City Point, that lay about fifteen miles below the rebel Capital. A landing was made at this place without opposition, and soon the army was planted securely on the narrow strip of land, known as Bermuda Hundred. The river here takes a sharp bend, so that the army rested both its right and left flank on it, though, by the stream, they were many miles apart. A line of intrench 366 KAUTZ'S RAID. ments was also stretched across the neck, while either extremity was protected by gun-boats. A more secure position could not have been selected. The difficulty was that while an army here could repel a large force, a small one, on the other hand, could coop it up so as to render it inoperative. It was like a cavern, the mouth of which could be defended by a few men within, against great odds without; and, on the other hand, a few men could prevent any egress from it. Simultaneous with the advance of the army, a cavalry expedition, under General Kautz, was sent off to strike the Richmond and Weldon railroad, at a point some eighty miles distant, and destroy a bridge three thousand feet long, and then act as circumstances might dictate. A strong fleet of gun-boats and iron-clads, under Admiral Lee, co-operated with the army. It was known that torpedoes had been sunk in the river, and hence they were dragged for in advance. But, notwithstanding the utmost precaution was taken, about noon, on the 6th, one that had escaped discovery, exploded under the Commodore Jones, near Four Mile Creek, utterly destroying the vessel, and killing and wounding half of the crew. A party of marines and sailors immediately landed at the point and discovered three galvanic batteries sunk in the ground. Two men also were captured in a battery near. One of these being interrogated respecting the locality of the torpedoes, at first professed entire ignorance, but being placed in the advance boat of those dragging for them, and told that he would be blown up with the rest, he became more communicative, and stated where those he knew of were placed. He said, moreover, that the one which exploded under the Commodore Jones contained two thousand pounds of powder-that the large ones were exploded by galvanic batteries, but the smaller ones, either by contact or a line from shore. Those that were sunk, were put down by Hunter Davidson, formerly of the United States Navy, who commanded a boat named the Torpedo, which was built for this especial service. The next day, the 7th, the tug gun-boat Shawsheen, while looking for one of these submarine terrors, near Turkey Bend, came under the fire of a rebel battery, and was destroyed, and most of the officers and crew captured. First Assistant-Engineer Young sent to the department a sketch of these galvanic batteries, by which the torpedoes were exploded, which is curious, as a part of our naval history during a war, that brought into service so many new missiles of destruction. He says:-"The galvanic batteries were formed of nine zinc cups, each one battery, or a set of cups being placed on shelves directly over the other. In each zinc cup was placed a porous clay cup. In the zinc cup, and outside the porous cup, was placed the sulphuric acid and water, and inside the porous cup was placed the nitric acid. The zinc of one cup was connected to the cast-iron of the other, by a clamp and thumb screw. The negative wires led directly to the torpedoes, (one to each.) The positive wires ran along near a foot-path, parallel with the river, for about two hundred feet, and terminated at a sub-battery. In this sub-battery, were two large wooden plugs, with a hole about one-half inch in diameter in each; these holes being filled with mercury; the positive wires connecting from the torpedoes to the bottom of these plugs; the positive wires, from the charged batteries, being inserted in the mercury at the top of its respective plug, to form the connections and explode the torpedoes. The wires from the river bank to the torpedoes were supported by a three inch rope, being stopped to rope about every four feet. At a distance of every fifteen feet of the rope, were some five or six feet of three-quarter |