Civil War Articles by Julian Williams"The Wilderness" - Lost In The Haunting Flames Of Nowhere
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
The men of Company B, Telfair County, of the 49th Georgia, probably experienced one of its proudest moments when they made a foray into the Shenandoah and Morefield Valleys and captured 136 wagons loaded with provisions, 1200 head of beef cattle, 600 sheep - food for the army of General Lee which would last at least four months. This almost made them forget their troubles but then came the unforgiving and unforgettable Wilderness.
The War had now reached May of 1864. The weariness of endless weeks and months of mud and marches and hunger and hopelessness was telling on the soldiers of the North and especially those of the South.
Even the boredom of winter camps stretched the days into spaces of time which offered no reprieve to the poor soul longing for home. And then there was the grinding anxiety that begged the question - was home the same? Were those left there the same? What, if anything, was there?
And the forlorn soldier knew he was not the same. He had left under a flag of glory and dreams of military conquest - the ideal of the sovereign state and hearth of home forever perched, invincible and under the protection of Providence, immutable and untarnished, for eternity. To him had been given the duty of defending it all - even to honorable death.
But, here he is today - his limbs numb, his eyes in shadowed concave sockets of despair and confusion - whose dark and darting pupils question all around him. But to naught - for there are no answers. Just fight another battle and ask not if death be honorable.
And the battle at hand offers no relief - instead it is a horror to behold - The Wilderness. Just west of Chancellorsville, Virginia, this 100 mile square of tangled pines and cedars and shrubs and vines and tortuous gullies and marshy ravines is a no man's land. Even the rays of the sun struggle to let in light. The soldiers in this haunting place become shadows of danger and fear.
To the soldiers, it was nowhere. Cautiously they moved, fearing death in such a place would consign them instantly and forever to a grave that nobody could find - or would even want to find. They did not want to die in this God-forsaken wasteland - The Wilderness.
Snatches of newspaper print flashed, like specks of civilization, in the memories of the Telfair soldiers. For back home, on March 1, 1864, the Milledgeville State Recorder had published the following: "Georgia, Telfair County: All those indebted to the estate of William H. Brewer, deceased, or owed money by that estate, must make immediate payment or present their notes for payment. (Signed) Henry Brewer, Adm."
William H. Brewer, Private, 49th Georgia, Co. B of Telfair County, had been wounded at Fredericksburg, Va., on December 13, 1862 and died in the hospital there. It had taken a while but at least he was remembered in the newspaper - even if it was in the legals. The Wilderness held no such prospects for those disappearing in its dark bowels.
And the same Milledgeville newspaper had this legal ad on March 22, 1864: "Georgia, Telfair County: Will be sold before the Court House door in said county on the first Tuesday in May, next, between the legal hours of sale, all the property belonging to John Clemons (Clements), late of said county, deceased. Sold for the benefit of the heirs and creditors of said estate. (Signed) M.N. McRae, Adm."
John C. Clements - Private, 49th Ga., Co. B (Telfair County), had died in camp at Orange Court House, Va. His property was being sold to try to help his kin survive and to pay off debt. But at least these circumstances were in print. There was a record. Records would be hard to find in The Wilderness. In fact, who would record anything in this piece of desolation?
Being outnumbered over two to one, General Lee, with his generals, Ewell and A.P. Hill, saw they had bitten off a bit much.
"The combination of deepening twilight, drifting smoke from a hundred thousand rifles, and thick underbrush resulted in a battle in which no man could see. Soldiers fired at muzzle flashes in the smoke and darkness. The muskets frequently set the dry underbrush aflame, and soon a dozen small forest fires added to the hell-like atmosphere. Wounded men, unable to get out of the way of the fires, burned to death, their anguished screams piercing the darkness. (Craig L. Symonds). It is said that some, in the throes of agony, brought a quicker end to the unbearable suffering.
As A.P. Hill and the Telfairians and other units battled fiercely to stave off defeat, General James Longstreet arrived just in time to divert disaster. But even in the intensity of the battle, the men of the South refused to budge until General Lee abandoned his idea of personally leading them into battle. With this expression of their respect for their commander, he went to the rear.
But such a haven of safety did not await the charging General Longstreet. In the confusion of pressing a temporary advantage of having thrown the Federals back, Longstreet pressed forward. But in the resulting confusion two confederate units mistakenly opened fire upon each other and Longstreet was seriously wounded. Quickly, many men of the Southern army recalled that near this same place their beloved commander, Stonewall Jackson, was mortally wounded, exactly a year before.
But Jackson, at Guinea Station, not far away, had succumbed to his injuries and pneumonia had been the capstone of his life's end.
Not so with Longstreet. He lived to fight another day. But he could not help recalling what Lee had refused to acknowledge. Longstreet had been the best man at General Grant's wedding in pre-war days. They were close friends and Grant was marrying a cousin of Longstreet's. Despite his friendship with Grant, James Longstreet had early recognized the cold countenance of a military man who "habitually wears an expression as if he had determined to drive his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it." He was a determined man if ever there was one. But, Lee was determined too, and the Civil War quickly became the Lee-Grant War.
To Lincoln, Grant wrote: "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." He was a stubborn man but Lee was too. And because of that, the Telfairians were in for a rough ride in The Wilderness. There would be more legal ads for dead soldiers for the disposition of their estates and properties in the newspapers of Georgia and more sales would take place before the Telfair County Court House door at Jacksonville, Georgia.
Credits:
"Georgia Newspaper Clippings - Telfair County Extracts (1810-1892)" by Tad Evans;
"A Battlefield Atlas of the Civil War" by Craig L. Symonds;
"Don't Drink The Water" by John and Anita Rigdon;
"49th Georgia Regiment" by John Griffin.
