ad lay so ghastly, and the wounded were so thickly strewn all
over the field. To right, and to left, out in front, along our line, as
far as we could see, this dreadful array of the dead and wounded
stretched! It was pitiful to see the wounded writhing, and to hear their
cries of agony. And here _again_, as at Spottsylvania, these wounded
were left between the lines, to perish miserably, of hunger and thirst,
and mortifying wounds.

=Federal Troops Refuse to Be Slaughtered=

When, a few days after, Grant sent to look after them they were nearly
all dead. What they must have suffered before death came! But none of
their own people seemed to care, and no effort was made to help
them,--when they might have been saved. I wonder who will have to answer
for the _unnecessary waste of life_ and suffering in the "Army of the
Potomac?" For the untold agony and death that _need never have been_! It
was awful! We used to think it was _brutal_! And the _Federal soldiers_
thought so too!

Some hours after this assault we saw the enemy massing for another.
Their columns advanced a little way, and then stopped. We could see
there was some "hitch," and sent a few shells over there, just to
encourage any little reluctance they might have about coming on. These
lines stood still, and came no further.

We learned, afterwards, that perfectly demoralized, and disheartened by
the bloody repulse of the morning, the Federal troops, when ordered by
General Grant to storm our line again, _mutinied in line of battle_, and
_in the face of the enemy and refused to go forward_. I witnessed that
performance, but did not understand at the time, just what was going on.
The grave meaning of it was, that the enemy's soldiers had distinctly
quailed before our lines and declared their utter inability to take
them. And _this_ was the verdict--at the end--of General Grant's Army
upon General Grant's campaign! Their heads were more level than their
General's. They were tired of being slaughtered for nothing!

The moment the morning assault was over, the Federal artillery opened
furiously, all along the line, and all day long, we were under a
constant fire of cannon, and sharp-shooters.

Fifty yards behind our guns was a farmhouse, outbuildings, and yard full
of trees. Shells aimed at us, rained into those premises all day. The
house was riddled like a sieve, the trees were cut down, and the
outbuildings, barn, stables, sheds, etc., were reduced to a heap