A Stillness at Appomattox (23 page)

The
whole
Wilderness
seemed
to
be
boiling
and
smoking, with
dense
clouds
going
up
to
blot
out
the
sunlight.
From the
rear,
Warren
pushed
the
rest
of
his
corps
into
the
fight, and
there
is
no
coherent
story
to
be
told
about
any
of
it:
it was
all
violent
confusion,
with
occasional
revealing
glimpses to
be
had
in
the
infernal
clogged
mist.

The
Iron
Brigade
went
forward
and
was
routed,
and
for once
in
their
history
the
men
of
this
famous
command
ran for
the
rear,
all
organization
lost—to
be
rallied,
somehow, half
a
mile
back,
just
in
time
to
fix
bayonets
and
check
the rout
of
another
brigade
which
came
streaming
back
over them.
A
New
York
regiment
crossed
a
weedy
little
field,
got into
more
of
a
fight
than
it
could
handle,
and
ran
back
to the
other
side
of
the
field,
leaving
many
wounded
men
in the
open
space.
The
woods
were
on
fire,
and
the
flames
were driven
by
the
wind
across
the
dried
growth
in
the
field where
the
wounded
men
lay,
and
the
New
Yorkers
looked on
in
paralyzed
horror
as
the
flames
reached
these
helpless men
and
ignited
the
paper
cartridges
in
the
boxes
at
their waists.
(One
man
remembered
how
the
noise
of
these
exploding
cartridges—which
made
dreadful
wounds
in
the
sides
of the
wounded
men—made
quite
a
cheerful-sounding
pop-pop-pop
which
could
be
heard
despite
all
of
the
surrounding din.)
For
a
moment
the
fighting
around
this
field
ceased,
and Northerners
and
Southerners
alike
went
out
into
the
open to
try
to
drag
the
men
to
safety.

The
smoke
blew
down
across
the
field,
and
all
around
to right
and
left
there
was
the
unending
sound
of
rifle
fire,
and the
log
breastworks
the
Confederates
had
built
took
fire
and sent
heavy
yellowish
white
smoke
billowing
out
in
choking clouds,
and
the
living
and
dead
bodies
that
lay
under
it were
burned
beyond
recognition.
²⁰
And
all
of
this
was
a
part
of
the
fight
to
see
which
side
could
hold
its
ground astride
the
Orange
Turnpike.

This
was
one
battle.
Two
miles
to
the
south
of
it,
along the
Plank
Road,
there
was
a
wholly
separate
battle,
just
as desperate,
drawing
men
in
as
the
first
battle
had
done,
a battle
which
for
a
time
was
a
fight
by
the
Army
of
the Potomac
for
simple
survival.

Key
point
here
was
the
place
where
the
Plank
and
Brock roads
crossed.
A
thin
line
of
cavalry
had
been
patrolling
the Plank
Road,
and
while
Griffin's
men
were
going
into
action along
the
Turnpike
this
cavalry
found
Confederate
infantry pressing
up
the
Plank
Road.
The
infantry
began
to
seem
very numerous
and
determined,
and
it
drove
the
Yankee
cavalry away,
and
if
the
Confederates
could
seize
the
crossroads
the Federal
army
would
be
cut
in
half,
with
Hancock's
corps
isolated
off
to
the
south,
the
rest
of
the
army
fighting
west
of Wilderness
Tavern,
and
the
Rebels
planted
squarely
in
between.
So
the
cavalry
sent
couriers
riding
frantically
off
to headquarters,
men
who
rode
with
crumpled
envelopes
held in
their
teeth,
one
hand
for
the
reins
and
the
other
for
the carbine.

Back
on
his
knoll,
Grant
read
these
dispatches
and
he reached
out
for
the
nearest
troops.
These
happened
to
be Brigadier
General
George
W.
Getty's
division
of
the
VI
Corps —6,000
soldiers
as
cool
and
as
tough
as
any,
including
in
their number
a
Vermont
brigade
which
is
still
remembered
as
one of
the
two
or
three
best
in
the
army.
Getty
was
told
to
get
his men
over
to
the
Plank
Road
at
top
speed
and
clear
the
Southerners
out
of
there.
At
the
same
time
gallopers
were
sent
off to
Hancock
to
tell
him
to
double
back
on
his
tracks
and
get to
that
vital
crossroads
as
fast
as
he
could.

Getty
made
it
with
seconds
to
spare.
He
rode
ahead
of
his troops,
his
staff
and
mounted
orderlies
trotting
at
his
heels, and
the
last
of
the
cavalry
had
gone
and
the
advancing
Confederates
were
clearly
visible.
It
would
be
a
few
minutes
before
the
Federal
infantry
could
get
up,
so
Getty
coolly
planted himself
and
his
mounted
people
in
the
middle
of
the
road,
to make
it
look
as
if
cavalry
reinforcements
or
artillery
or
somebody
of
consequence
was
making
a
stand
here.
The
bluff worked,
briefly;
the
advancing
Confederates
slowed
down
and sent
skirmishers
creeping
forward
to
find
out
what
was
going on,
and
in
the
minutes
that
were
bought
Getty
was
able
to
get his
leading
regiments
into
line
of
battle
and
start
them
moving
west.
²¹