Zzzthe Wilderness.
At the
Wilderness, May 5, 1864,
Grant made his first assault on
Lee. It fell suddenly at our extreme left on
General Edward Johnson's Division of the Second Corps, and it was pressed back in confusion.
There were no reinforcements on the field.
The fate of
Lee's army was imperilled.
Happily,
Early had ridden ahead of his troops which were marching in the direction of the sudden battle; and he sent post haste for
Gordon's Brigade, the nearest at hand.
At double quick it came; under
Early's eye it was formed amidst
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shot and shell, and thus that magnificent field marshal,
John B. Gordon, led the counter-charge, which restored the fortunes of a lost field.
The next day, May 6th,
Early, with
Gordon leading again, assaulted
Grant's left flank, and put the boot on the other leg, for the result was the capture of 600 prisoners, including
Generals Seymour and
Haves.
Early was with
Lee in both of his northern invasions, and is the only other Confederate general who, himself, led two invasions.
He won the only battle ever won by Confederate arms beyond the borders of the
Confederacy, as witness the defeat of
Wallace, on the
Monocacy, July 9th, 1864.
His three victories in 1864 were the last in which the Army of Northern Virginia drove its foe from the battle-field, as witness
Hunter's flight from
Lynchburg, June 19th;
Wallace's, from
Monocacy, July 9th, and
Crook's, from
Kernstown, August 23d.
He led the expedition which, though the smallest in numbers, came nearest of all to capturing
Washington.
He made the greatest march of the civil war or of modern war.
He was not finally overcome until the army of his adversary numbered on its rolls more men than the Army of Northern Virginia, under
Lee, inclusive of
Early's own troops and those of
Beauregard at
Petersburg; not until those in his immediate front were more than three-fold his own in numbers; not until the cavalry of his enemy were more numerous than his own infantry, and reported more men present than his entire command; not until he had killed, wounded and captured more men than he ever mustered upon a field of battle.
