May 31, 1864
Last night, what with writing to you and working over some maps
of my own, I got to bed very late, and was up tolerably early this morning, so
to-day I have passed a good deal of time on my back fast asleep; for the
General has not ridden out and has sent out very few officers. As I implied,
to-day has been an occasion of Sybarite luxury. What do you think we mustered
for dinner? Why, green peas, salad, potatoes, and fresh milk for the coffee! Am
I not a good forager? Yes, and iced water! The woman (a fearful Secesh) asked
two dollars for half a bushel of ice; upon which I, in a rage, sent a sergeant
and told him to pay only a reasonable price and to take what we needed. But, in
future, I will not pay for ice; it costs these Rebels nothing, and they can't
eat it. For food I will always pay the scoundrels. They have usually plenty of
ice for the hospitals, and the bands are kept there to play for the wounded,
which pleases them. The Sanitary are doing, I believe, a great deal of good at
the rear, between this and Washington. There is room for any such people to do
good, when there are such multitudes of wounded. I was amused to read a letter
from one of the Sanitaries at Fredericksburg, who, after describing his good
works, said that, for eight days, his ears were “bruised by the sound of
cannon.” To me, Fredericksburg and Montreal seem about equally far away!
The armies lay still, but there was unusually heavy fighting
on the skirmish line the whole time; indeed there was quite an action, when
Birney, Barlow, and Wright advanced and took the front line of the enemy. We
used, too, a good deal of artillery, so that there was the noise of battle from
morning to night. We took in some cohorn mortars, as they are called. These are
light, small mortars, that may be carried by two or three men, and are fired
with a light charge of powder. They throw a 24-lb. shell a maximum distance of
about 1000 yards. As these shells go up in the air and then come down almost
straight, they are very good against rifle-pits. General Gibbon says there has
been a great mistake about the armies of Israel marching seven times round
Jericho blowing on horns, thereby causing the walls to fall down. He says the
marching round was a “flank movement,” and that the walls were then blown down
with cohorns. Some of the heavy artillerists of the German regiment were first
sent to fire these mortars; but it was found that they could give no definite
account of where the projectiles went, the reason of which was that, every time
they fired, the officer and his gunners tumbled down flat in great fear of
Rebel sharpshooters!
"Baldy" Smith arrived, by steamer, at Whitehouse,
from Bermuda Hundreds, with heavy reinforcements for this army. The Rebels, on
their side, have been also bringing up everything — Breckinridge from the
valley of the Shenandoah, Hoke from North Carolina, and everything from the
South generally. . . . General Wilson's division of cavalry was sent out
towards our rear and right, to cover that quarter and to continue the
destruction of the railroads below Hanover Junction. General Sheridan, with the
remaining cavalry, swung round our left flank and pressed down towards Shady
Grove and Cool Arbor (this name is called Coal Harbor, Cold Harbor, and Cool
Arbor, I can't find which is correct, but choose "Arbor" because it
is prettiest, and because it is so hideously inappropriate). In vain I try to
correct myself by the engineer maps; they all disagree. The topographical work
of the engineers is rather uphill in this country. Before we opened the
campaign the engineers prepared a series of large maps, carefully got up from
every source that they could come upon, such as state, county, and town maps,
also the information given by residents and refugees, etc., etc. In spite of
all this the result has been almost ludicrous! Some places (e.g. Spotsylvania)
are from one to two miles out of position, and the roads run everywhere except
where laid down. I suppose the fact is that there was no material whatever
wherewith to make a map on a scale so large as one inch to a mile. It is
interesting to see now how the engineers work up the country, as they go along.
Topographers are sent out as far as possible in the front and round the flanks.
By taking the directions of different points, and by calculating distances by
the pacing of their horses, and in other ways, they make little local maps, and
these they bring in in the evening, and during the night they are compiled and
thus a map of the neighborhood is made. If the next day is sunny, photographic copies
are taken of this sketch and sent to the principal commanders, whose engineers
add to, or correct it, if need be, and these corrections are put on a new
sketch. Much information is gotten also by the engineers sent with the cavalry.
. . .
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 134-7
