the 6th, to the left of the
Sixth Corps, but without material success. Hancock's corps, with
Wadsworth's division of the Fifth and Getty's of the Sixth, opened
a brilliant battle on the plank road at early dawn of the 6th, and
drove the enemy more than a mile along the road in some confusion,
when Longstreet's corps arrived on Hancock's left and turned the
tide of battle, and in turn our troops were forced back to their
former position on the Brock road. General James S. Wadsworth was
mortally wounded while rallying his men, and the heroic Getty was
severely wounded. The losses in this engagement on both sides were
great. General Jenkins of the Confederate Army was killed, and
Longstreet severely wounded. They were shot by mistake, by their
own men,(12) as was "Stonewall" Jackson at Chancellorsville. Lee,
in person, was on the plank road giving direction to the battle.
He exposed himself to danger, and despaired of the result. At a
critical moment he sent his "Adjutant-General, Colonel W. H. Taylor,
back to Parker's Store to get the trains ready for a movement to
the rear."(13) Grant, early on the 6th, put Burnside's corps in
between the turnpike and plank roads, and it sustained the battle
in the centre throughout the day, both armies holding well their
ground. The morning of the 7th found Lee's army retired and strongly
intrenched on a new line, with right near Parker's Store, and left
extending northward across the turnpike.

On the 5th and 6th, Sheridan with his cavalry held the left flank
and covered the rear of the army, fighting and repulsing Stuart's
cavalry in attempts to penetrate to our rear. At Todd's Tavern,
on the 7th, a severe cavalry engagement took place in which Sheridan
was victorious. But the two great armies principally rested in
position on that day, and the great battle of the Wilderness, with
its alternate successes and repulses and its long lists of dead
and wounded, was ended.

Grant, having decided not to fight further in the Wilderness country,
on the night of the 7th put his army in motion for Spotsylvania
Court-House, the cavalry preceding the Fifth Corps over the Brock
road, followed by the Second and Sixth Corps on the plank and
turnpike roads, with the army trains in the advance, the Ninth
Corps in the rear. Lee, having either anticipated or discovered
the movement, threw Longstreet's corps in Warren's front on the
Brock road, and heavy fighting ensued on the 8th, most of