yet
the fact remained that Meade's plan of concentration and of battle
at the appointed time and place failed.

On the 28th the armies were brought face to face, the Confederate
army in fortifications behind and along the high west bank of Mine
Run, both armies extending from a short distance south of the plank
road to the north of the turnpike, in the direction of the battle-
field of the 27th.( 6) The Third Corps held the Union centre.
Warren's corps, with a division of the Third Corps, was sent to
reconnoitre for a point of attack on the Confederate right. Warren
reported an attack there feasible. Other reconnoissances were made
on the 29th, and Meade decided to assault from both flanks the next
morning, the Sixth and Fifth Corps under Sedgwick on the enemy's
left and the Second Corps and two divisions of the Third on his
right. Carr's division of the Third marched at 4 A.M. two miles
to the left and joined Warren's column. The night was cold and
there was much suffering.

Warren had about 20,000 men in readiness, and was to attack at 8
A.M. at a signal from the batteries of the centre. Sedgwick was
to attack an hour later. The signal batteries opened, and we stood,
in grand array, soberly withing for the order to charge. The
enemy's strong works, with guns bristling in the morning sun, were
in our immediate front. Minutes of delay were as hours to the
waiting troops. Many sent up silent prayers for safety, and not
unfrequently through the column there could be seen on a soldier's
breast a paper giving his name, company, regiment, and home address,
so, if killed, his body could be identified. Warren hesitated,
and just before 9 A.M. dispatched Meade, then four miles distant:

"The full light of sun shows me that I cannot succeed."

Meade suspended Sedgwick's attack, then in progress, and hastened
to Warren. I saw the two men at a small, green, pine wood fire,
earnestly discussing the critical situation. Meade seemed to be
censuring Warren, yet the latter adhered to his view that the
assault could not be successfully made, and Meade yielded. Somehow
the troops of the great column, before the final decision was
announced, came to believe the charge would not be made, and they
cautiously commenced badgering each other, soldier like, over wasted
prayers. The different commands were later ordered to their former
positions.

French opposed an assault on the centre. The enemy's position,
naturally a