[148]
in history.
So ended the great attack at Cool Arbor.
The losses were far greater for us than for the Rebels.
From what I can gather I doubt not we lost four or five to one.
We gained nothing save a knowledge of their position and the proof of the unflinching bravery of our soldiers.1 . . .
June 4, 1864
Although there was no battle to-day, both sides were as sensitive as Hotspur when he was “all smarting from my wounds being cold.”
The slightest movement would provoke a volley, and any unusual stir would open a battery.
This is characteristic of troops in a new position.
When they have remained awhile, they begin to be more quiet, the skirmishers fire less and less, and finally cease entirely.
The General took three or four of us and went on a sort of tour to his Generals; after a brief visit to General Hancock (who had a battery roaring away close to his Headquarters) and a few words with General Wright, we paid a long visit to “Baldy” Smith, whose tents were pitched between the Woody house and the line of battle.
His tent was much better than General Meade's and he displayed, for his benefit, a lunch with champagne, etc., that quite astonished us. Whether it was the lunch, or Baldy, or “Bully” Brooks (a General of that name), I do not know, but the Commander staid there several hours, talking and smoking.
