Overland.15: Yelling Like So Many Demons

It's 1PM on 05/05/1864. General warrant has ordered his division commanders Griffin and Wadsworth to pitch forward into the enemy now lurking on the opposite side of Sondersfield. While General Air's hundred and fortieth New York's awards are the first to be bloody. Another of Griffin's brigade commanders, General Joseph j Bartlett, moves across the field with enough momentum to smash a hole into the teeth of the rebel defenses, but will it be enough to carry the day? Welcome to War Yankee.

Greetings. I am Kyle in Bondi. And this is Wariganti Overland, my American Civil War History Podcast that follows General Ulysses S grant and the Army of the Potomac on its 4 7 day 113 mile military campaign south from Culpepper to Petersburg, Virginia. In this episode, we're gonna continue with the Battle of Hondros field. Only rather than focus on the north, which we'll get back to because that's still yet to be resolved. We're gonna focus on the south. And in the south, we have Bartlett.

General Joseph j Bartlett, and his brigade that it's getting ready to step out into Saunders' field at the same time as errors on his right and swites her on his left. This is the makeup of the the units lined up along the edge of the forest. About to walk into the opening, 1 of the only openings at Wilderness known as Saunders Field. Now as Bartlett's division is on the move as he moves in his under's field, The topography of Sonderfield is important here.

And the reason is important is because in the north Sonderfield is different than the south side of the field. In the north side of the field, the hill gently slopes down to the gully or the swell. Swail. We're gonna call it gully because it's easy for me to say or the ditch, a good ditch to. It's not that big. And as you go down into the the gully, on the north side of the field, A man can actually stand in it. He can actually hide inside it. It's wide enough, maybe 3 or 4 feet.

As you visit the Wilderness Battlefield and go to where the goalie is, There's a trail that takes you right to a little bridge. You can walk over it where the marker for the hundred and 4840 6 New York. Stands, just beyond that. And you can see how as men ran out of the forest and down the little hill, into this gully or this ditch that the confederates on the far side on the up upside of the hill beyond them might not be able to shoot at them. So it's a good place to hide.

However, in the southern side of the field, you'll notice that where the hundred and fortieth is, it slopes downwards. So the water running through the Gully is going downhill. So Bartlett's brigade is gonna step out to a field. Where the goalie has cut a path that is narrower

maybe even deeper in places, but narrower. Like, you can stand in it, but you wouldn't be able to to sit in places. And then it would kind of widens itself as it moves into the forest to where there really isn't much of 1 to begin with at all. And I would encourage you to start at the top of the hill and walk the goalie. Now

watch out for traffic on US 20, of course. But as you go down into the Woodline, you can follow this goalie all the way down, I believe it intersects with Wilderness Run or maybe that is Wilderness Run. And, of course, in Virginia, waterways are strange. Creeks and rivers, of course, Then they have runs. And runs is usually where water after big rainstorms finds a path somewhere. And leaves these these long skinny little trenches.

So where the New York the hundred and 40 New York can hide into this this gully, this ditch. Barless men don't really get that advantage. They still have to to cross it. But it's not a lot of not a lot of places to hide. Now, instead on the southern side of the field, you have a different train feature that pops out. And that is that Bartlett's men start on a hill and it rolls down into where the goal or the the ditch is at, and then it rolls back up. Almost like a valley.

But it's the lower end of the field. So if the New York are on the high end of the field, Bartlett's men are on the low end of the field. And that means Switchers men are in the swamp, the mushy part, moving into the forest. And this is the train of Sondersthorpe. So as Bartlett's men move out of the forest, they'll be rolling down So coming down the hill, so they'll have to navigate the train change

across the the Gully. And and if you if you walk that field, which I have, and talk about that, you know, conducted another experiment. It kind of it splinters off. It was like, like, arteries in a sense. It's not just 1. There's 2 of them down there. You could even be 3 depending on how much rain is falling. And it's mucky and muddy and swampy. And if there's been a lot of rain, it's flooded. But if you recall on 05/05/1864, it was a hot day.

Which means there's probably no water in that at all, but still soft. And you put a couple hundred boots into that and that softness is gonna turn to mud real quick. And it's gonna be that Virginia Red Clay Mud, the IKE Mud that sticks to everything. So you're not gonna wanna live in the gully at all. The other interesting thing when you're down in this low area, you'll notice that the trenches off to your right can see you playing as day, but the ones in front of you can't.

And I'm imagining if trees depending where the trees were hundred and 50 so odd years ago, Maybe the trenches on the left can see you, but the focal point is the ones in the front. The ones in the front of Bartlett cannot really see you once you hit that low spot. In fact, you'll find you'll rise up as you're right at coming up the hill towards vitter trenches, the hill rises up, but it has a false summit.

If you're not too sure what that is, really all it is is the hill doesn't get to the top. You go to a little hill and then you continue to go up and then you actually get to the top of the hill. So a bump at a bump. That's my is my son would say, bump it up. So you would go up this this rise and you get to this false summit you can sort of start to see the confederate trenches as they were the ones in front of you. The ones on the right hand side could still see you play his day.

So if you're being shot at, you can be shot at from the sides. But as you go forward up this up this hill, you'll find that this false summit provides some kind of protection, or if not, blinds the enemy from seeing you come up the hill for just a brief moment if you're running forward. So men could lay down or make themselves small. So you say that you say that in the military. Make yourself small. Wanna make yourself a little small target.

Remember, cover is is leaves and is gonna sealment is leaves and covers things that stop bullets. There we go. I remember that now. So you get to this false summit. And then it rises once more. And then there's It flattens out. Now we've learned from what we talked about in past episodes that the confederates placed their earthworks on the backside of the hill. Trying to stay outside or to not really engage the the union army. They were ready to pull out if they needed to.

But this part of the field looks like they're right on the top. The north side, not so much. But in this side of the field, it looks like they're right on top, but it's still they're still back as far as maybe they think they could get. So there's blind spots. So as Bartlett comes up this hill, you'll see the blind spots. You'll see where Union's forces can can hide or conceal themselves, find cover.

And this means as bartlett's men move out of the woods, will drop down to this this valley and disappear, and they'll come to the false summit. And some of them will still be disappeared, and then they'll pop up last minute. And I think this piece of terrain plays heavily into what happens to Bartlett's division

as he comes up over this over this hill and hits the confederate line. And why the confederates don't have time to react when Bartlett's men finally make it to them and things go haywire. So once you keep that mind of this of these these train features. And of course, visiting the Wilma's battlefield and seeing his strain feels and walking them there yourself is is you give you perspective that you won't get from the book or from watching a movie on YouTube.

You won't see this these these simple little train features that although aren't very big are critical when it comes to how many men you can place behind a train feature to become a strategic advantage or tactical advantage? I think that's important. You'd be surprised how many men you can stack behind a a little hill. It's only a hundred, you know, a hundred feet wide. It's a lot. And this is what we learn about when Bartlett finally crosses Sonderfield, make it at the top.

But before we get into Bartlett's actions and his brigades' actions at the balla Wilderness, it's on his field. Let's learn a little bit about Joseph j Barlett. Now he's from Binghamton, New York, and he studied law, passed the bar in 18 58, and he had a practice in Bingham before he moved to Elmyra, New York in 18 61. So the first thing you need to know about Parklett, he's a lawyer. He studied to be a lawyer, studied the law. So he's he's very articulate. The

assumption, of course. Right? But he's very articulate. And he understands how to speak clearly. And he understands justice and rights and probably knows law better than most people. So when he enlists the volunteer in the army in May of 18 61, you can imagine that he stayed hands out from, say, a farmer or a machine labor or a dock worker. And because of this, When he is is placed into the 20 seventh New York Inventory, 1 of the newly raised companies, he's elected to be captain right away.

In a sense, he's the smart guy, he knows he's very intelligent, knows how the army works, probably learns it very quickly on how army regulations work. Being a lawyer and knowing how to study those things. And so he becomes a captain of the 20 seventh New York in the tree. And remember in some of these these volunteer regiments, the men decide who the leader is going to be. That's why he's elected captain. So he becomes the commanding officer of this of this regiment.

And then he is elevated to major. So he's a major before he's ever seen combat Think about that for a minute. That's a that's quite a promotion before ever seen combat. So just his education and his reputational loan, or his personality, has gotten him to major as he walks into and he leads his men at 20 seventh New York into the first battle of overrun. And so he's had a few weeks of training, and from a few weeks of training he's already in his first major combat.

Imagine that. Imagine if you if you join the army, You go to boot camp, do some push ups, learn how to shoot your what were your weapon. And then immediately, you're put onto a train or a wagon train or you're marching off to mid asses and also and now you're being told, okay, take this regiment, leave them over there, and kill all those guys. That's gotta be terrifying.

Not not to mention, baptism of fire. That's tough. I I can't imagine in this stuff, but what we learned about Bartlett in this is he has his calming presence on the battlefield. He doesn't really see the fight as As a crisis, he sees it as a a puzzle maybe and a puzzle to be conquered. And so it becomes his trademark his composure in crisis becomes his trademark. And during the battle, the colonel of the unit

the regiment. So he's he's probably major probably the second command or he's can control the company. And colonel Henry Solcomb is the commander of the 20 sixth New York, he's wounded. And because he's wounded, immediately, Bartlett takes command and gets the 20 seventh New York into position where they can now guard the union retreat from Manassas. As they pull out or bull run, however you wanna

the battle of bull run, the battle of Manassas, first battle of Manassas, yeah, I know. To the war. Right? 1 side calls it 1 thing. Oh, the side calls another thing. It's the same battle. But he is aggressive in his actions of taking command He sets a guard. He's actually ordered to attack and he doesn't attack. He actually does a withdrawing action and helps the retreat. He protects the retreat. And he's rewarded for this, being promoted to colonel.

Because Solcom, who was the guy that he was wounded, becomes a general. So now he's in charge of the 20 seventh New York officially. And as he becomes part of the army with Potomac, Barlett is believed to have taken part in every battle that has been fought by the armed atomic. From a NASA's to Appomattox

with the exception of second Manassas. Because why go back? He's already done that. He doesn't need to do that again. Right? Why do Manassas twice? And what you see the movie, you don't need to talk again. Right? No. He's they're they're pulled off to do other things at that time. So Bartlett is 1 of those rare civil war personalities that had no military training at the beginning

and goes through every single battle until he gets to Appomattox. In fact, he is the officer who is selected by I think it's selected by Grant to accept the surrender of Lee's forces at Epimax, the collection of their weapons. Because of his composure, the the man does not lose his marbles when things get tough. And as we know Grant also is that same kind of demeanor, maybe it's, you know, It takes 1 to no 1 to see that in Berlin, but he's 1 of those rare guys.

He makes us through the entire war seeing every single conflict with the army of the Potomac. So in a sense, he is 1 of the the archivists of the arbitomic. He's a man who we should pay attention to because after seeing everything that the arbitomic has done, He knows not only their strengths, but all their weaknesses. But right now, He's not there yet. Right? So he fought with the sixth corps during the Maryland campaign.

He fought on the Battle South Mountain or Hagerstown and Cumberland Valleys. In September of 18 62, he led attack up a steep mountainside and helped seize the gap. And captured hundreds of confederate prisoners. Because of those actions, in October of 18 63, he's promoted to brigadier general and assigned command of a sixth core infantry brigade. Now, here's a funny thing about this civil war again. And I'm not too sure this happens today, but it would not surprise me.

His promotion to Bridger General because of his actions of the battle south of South Mountain. Congress has to approve that promotion. And they let it expire. In March of 8 63 finds out that he didn't get congressional approval because they didn't vote on it. That has to be frustrating. Very frustrating to have all the frockings of a bigger general and then being told why congress didn't approve it because they just didn't get round to it. So he's a breakeven general for what 6 months?

Until he finds out Carryinghurst didn't approve that. Well, his commanding officers, they understand the workings of the US government the time and the chaos going on in Washington. So even though Congress didn't approve that, he's reappointed that rank a second time. So when he goes into this battle of at Saunders Field, he is indeed a procured general. Now has Congress approved it the second time at this point? I'm not sure.

They they never talk about it. It's never not approved again or it never expired again. So my assumption is that, yes, they finally got around to doing this. And maybe this is there's a there's another story in there about what was going on in Congress at the time that allowed this things like this to fall through the cracks. So You find out then that partlet is not a stranger to the wilderness. Because in 18 63, he is part of Hooker's campaign into Chancellorville.

And he fights at the Battle of Salem's Church. What's interesting about that is as we go through Grant's Overland campaign, that Salem Church is a prominent landmark in actions that take place after the battle willingness. So Bartlett has been to the wilderness before. He understands how nasty this place his interstate was there or when when Jackson rolled up the side of the Union Army and caused them to completely be routed at Tanserville.

In fact, his force of 1500 men that he had at Salem's Church is almost decimated they lose 580 officers in men during this battle. That's a third of his unit. But somehow, he maintains order Despite the HUSA losses, he maintains his line. He's not overrun. His men don't riot or rout. And he holds the line and withdraws. And again, he's involved in another major retreat. As hooker pulls out after the devastating loss of trans reveal. So his men are subsequently

thrown to the front as skirmishers in front of a retreat. The 6 core until they reach their fortifications at Banks Ford, which is miles away across the Rapahonic River. So the 20 seventh of New York, the unity started somewhere with because of their losses they take at Battlefield Church and the time they've been in During the civil war, they're mustered out on 05/31/1863 after they returned to Omayra Newark. What does Bartlett do? He doesn't leave the army. He stays.

He puts he's he's putting command of a second brigade First Division VI Court at the Battle of Gettysburg. Like a week later, this is insane. So These are the man you know, he's he's put with the man of, like, the fifth main, the hundred 20 first New York, the 60 fifth, 60 sec this the the the 90 fifth and the 96 Pennsylvania imagery. And although his men are held in reserve for a majority of the battle.

During the July second and the second and third, 18 63, His man out of his command do get to advance to the front and they capture some prisoners and they end up taking the colors of the 15 Georgia. So he's not really evolved heavily in Gettysburg. And imagine after what he experienced a chance was built, maybe that is a respite. Maybe that's a a he gave him a reward that put him off the side even though Gettysburg was was hot. He was ready. He was there. He was ready.

So he spent most of the war so far, the sixth corps. And now he's with the fifth corps, coming out of Gettysburg So he's involved in the Minds Run campaign. He's officially transferred to the to the fifth corps and they put him in command of a brigade within the first division fifth court. And his superior officer now is Brigadier general Charles Griffin, you know, the man who cannot

say a single sentence without 2 or 3 cuss words in it. This is this is the Griffin. This is the as Mead talked that the that's just the way he talks. Right? He just yells everything. Everything comes out of Kiran's mouth as a yell or an expletive. Several officers I served under were like this. They just they were poets with colorful metaphors. Just just their imagination of the swear words that could come out of their mouth was I was, like, fraudster. This is beautiful poetic debatering.

Anyway, so Griffin is his boss. So Griffin, the hothead is his boss, the Bartlett. Cool cucumber under fire. And this is where we find Bartlett on 05/05/1864, as the commander of this brigade under the fifth floor of the the fifth corps, first division, And this was refined Bartlett on 05/05/1864, preparing to march once again into battle. In the willingness. If you like this show and you like what you hear and you're interested in American Civil War History,

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And this is where we find Bartlett on 05/05/1864. And he's with some notable units. Of Griffin's division. They line up south of the turnpike. And on the east side, this big opening ground called Saunders Field, and course, if you wanna know more about Sonder's field, what's happened so far. By all means, go back and listen to the past episodes,

and we get pretty good detail on Sonder's field. But this is this is the partisaners field that has a a high point, a hill, if you would. And the hill rolls down into the swampy's

mushy part of the the swale or the gully. And just like I did last episode, we're gonna keep calling it the gully. Think all the ditch too, but we'll call it the gully. And this part of the gully is weird. It's like thin in places and thick in places and it might be 3 or 4 feet deep in some places. And there is thickets and corn stubble and little tiny stumps and everything to grab your feet. It's a feet grabbin type environment. Even though the park service mows it continually, they do not

get all the things that pop up within, like, minutes after they mow it. It's like, the the thickets are right back. Everything is trying to pull you down to the ground. And the the the gully is mush because there's constantly some sort of water going through it. Whether it's a runoff or or what have you. Remember there's a spring hiding in there somewhere? It is mushy. And

it it tends to be muddy. And imagine after a couple hundred boots have been across it, horses, whatever, it's going to be even worse. That's what lays in front of the path. And then it rises up again to this false summit, and then it rises a second time and that's where the confederate line is at. And when you go to the park, when you turn into the park itself, not the visitor center of the park itself. The line of trenches in the earthwork mountains you see to your left is you go into the park.

From US 20. That is the line where Bartlett will attack. And as you look look from that point of view, like there are some markers there you can go to. And as long as you don't step onto the earthworks, you can go into the field. There's places where you can you can get to the field and walk around in the field. And it's a it's a weird place because it it kind of absorbs sound. It almost feels like a just get a natural acoustic feel to to I wanna call the bottom of Sonderfield a bowl

in a sense. It's not super steep, but it has a bowl effect. And with the trees aligning 1 side of it and it moves up to the road. It it kinda sucks sound like a sound absorption place in there. When you get way down inside that area, as you imagine that some of the Union troops were, the sound is just it's just gone. It's quiet. It's very odd place. Like, I felt very uncomfortable there. Mainly that you're standing on, you know, blood soaked ground.

But still, it's it's an uneasy feeling when you're standing there. So But I recommend you do it. You walk down there and then look up that hill and realize how big that hill really looks. And although it doesn't take you long to go across the field and get to the other side. You just imagine holding a rifle, marching at double time, trying to stay in line with the rest of your unit. While you're being shot at, while cannons are going off. A bulletproof line with a guy next to you drops.

You've got all these things on you, Cantonese, Bana, and you're you gotta climb this hill and get to the other side. It's a little unsettling. So where Bartlett's men are coming out of the woods. This is what they'll see. They'll see that long line of trenches. It's not really doing trenches this time. I mean, the the competitors have been there for 6 hours or so, been digging. So they've had some mounds, but it's not really earthworks yet.

It's still in the formation period. Give them another 12 hours and it will be formidable. But right now, it's just dirt mounds and gun ports. What sticks they can find, what trees they can chop down. So it's not quite insurmountable yet. And so the plan for Bartlett's brigade is for the first Michigan to clear the way. So on the left of the hundred fortieth New York is Bartelsbergade that will include the first Michigan that's leading. So as the first Michigan, there'll be a skirmish line.

Which if you think about a long line of troops moving forward, the first Michigan guys are going to go out in little pockets. Maybe squad or company level little pockets. And their job is to get rid of the skirmishers the confederates have. Because the line at the top, the fortifications are building up there, forward of that are little holes and pockets and places where they've 2 or 3 guys have dug a hole so they can start shooting before

the rest of the of the of the of the men behind them realize what's going on. So they're they're they're like sensors, like recon. They're they're out there to make sure to find the enemy. And make sure that the rest of the guys know that the enemy is coming. This is what skirmisher's whole job is. So unlike the way that they set up that error set up his units. We just marched them right out.

He might have that skirmishers, but it does there's I can't find it anywhere. Where it says they put the airbrush put out skirmishers. But Bartlett did, and I'm I'm imagining it's because Bartlett's done this before. So we have first Michigan is leading. They're gonna put a wide scrumpture line out, and they're gonna roll up any considered scrum chairs and snipers that are hiding, especially in the forest line to the left. Because they have to maintain a connection.

So there's a connection off to their left that they have to maintain. And that's a cutler who's off to their left. Who will be in the woods. And Switzer's in there somewhere in the mix too, but he doesn't really move that far into his soccer field. He's like sits in the center and then doesn't really go up the hill at all. So there's he's held in reserve in a sense.

Cutler is the unit from Wadsworth division off to his left. It's in the woods. So he's gonna maintain a connection to cutler. Well, the Michigan First Michigan will help him do that. So his first line will be the 40 fourth New York. They'll be his right, and they're just south of Orange Trump Pike, and they're the connection to heirs and his hundred and fortieth New York, Zohav's. So the hundred the 40 fourth New York Yeah. I know. It will it will get confusing.

In his center, it will be the 80 third Pennsylvania. And on his left will be eighteenth Massachusetts, and that'll be his connection to Switzer's 30 third 30 third mean. So Switzer is filling that gap to his left and then Switzer's connection of color in the woods. And then his second line will be only right and left, no center. And you'll have the twentieth main, again, on the right. In the hundred eighteenth Pennsylvania, will be on the left.

So you can think about this as a broad front a second line with a gap in the middle probably where Bartlett and his staff will be as they move forward. With the first May or first May at Michigan off in the front. And these are battle tested units. They're historically famed for the defensive little round top. At Gettysburg, of course, to the twentieth twentieth main. So you have these these units who have been in combat who know what they're doing. Which becomes an advantage.

And the first Michigan are gonna move in his Honors field and fan out on the field and cause the rebels from his fring up the hill that the earth works.

And Burlett's first line, as we're moving to the woods, stops and prepares himself. And Bartlett orders the brigade to fix bayonets. And anytime you hear fix bayonets, you know what's about to happen. And so when he says fix bayonets, there's a cheer that raise raises up from the UNI. Now, it's not clear how this connects to the hundred and fortieth on the right.

Because I don't believe the hundred and fortieth fix their bayonets, but where Bartlett is concerned he fixes bayonets, so the 80 third Pennsylvania on the eighteenth Massachusetts. Those are the 2 regiments that are still connected to commander commander under joint command under Hayes. And you can go back a few episodes and find out about Hayes. And then next to that is the 40 fourth New York So they're gonna all emerge from the tree line with their bayonets and they're going to cheer.

And he's imagined the confederate surprise as this all takes place. Can you just imagine the confederate surprise as this takes place? Because unlike on the the north side where the hundred and 40 has come screaming out of the tree line, I think that that Bartlett's men as they move forward are cheering is what causes the rest to kick off.

Because not long after that, they don't have to wait long, Bartlett orders a charge. As he's getting word up from Warren, from Griffin, it's time to go. So then he tells his men, charge. And off the go. It's Samuel L. Miller, a veteran whose story ended 23. Says, when the order was given to advance, all 3 brigades started on the double quick with a yell. Driving the enemy and confusion back upon his reserves. And this is Bartlett's charge. Is the charge

plunged across the field under heavy fire. Because the minute they come out of the woods, the confederates open fire on them. And for a time, They stay in step with the hundred and fortieth New York on the north side of the field that are also chartered at the same time. So imagine this big wall of blue moving forward. There's even a famous famous sketch for the battle of hero and wilderness. That is on 1 of the the national park service plaques that shows the 2 lines. Of men moving forward,

banners flying, men on their horses very proud as they move forward. And I imagine that could have been what it looked like. I just can't see your your rifle on your shoulder. And you're marching proudly in the battle while the confederates are opening fire on you. But it is it is an epic sketch of the illustration. So Bartlett's charge commences, and they move into the field. Now, it's a much different gap here.

As I explained earlier about this where it there's it's deep but narrow in some spots. And sometimes it's 3 feet wide in some spots. It's it's not even 6 inches wide. And shallow in other spots. So as Bartlett's men move across the field and the second line follows.

Because the minute the first men cleared the trees here come the 818 Pennsylvania on the 20 ninth of October. 1 Michigan soldier said that quote, they were splendid in love, moods rapidly, the colors were unfurled and formed as they advanced it's 1 of the finest shallow pictures that I can. There's a problem with long lines. Because burp Barclays brigade is charging directly at the confederal line held by a general Jones. General Jones of Virginia.

Immediately borders his men to start firing on the line. So bullets are flying everywhere. And the confederates are firing from protective positions, while the union men are way out in the open loop. And they're running and they're tripping with a cornstalk stubble and wheezing crass. And the Michigan shoulder holders were way out in front They're getting hit and stunted by what is referred to as severe fire.

So imagine hundreds of men shooting and you're the closest, you're gonna get the front of this. So as the first line pushes forward. They catch up to the Michigan man who realized that that being out in the open is a bad place to be. They've moved across the gully. To the small hill.

And the first line pulls the Michigan men with them. So now the first line is mixed in with Michigan and the rebels are finding it hard to miss the blue coats, 1 twentieth main soldier referred to it as quote, A red volcano yawned before us and vomited for fire and lead and death. The farthest man are moving quickly. Even though they're under heavy fire, Barlow's first line is not slowing, so unlike when the hundred and fortieth hit the goal.

They kind of pile into the gully and then just move up the hill. The gully is much lower on the hill for Bartlett's men. They've already crossed it. And what they experience is they get to this false summit. And even though the first line, It's this false summit and there's some protection from parts of the confederate line. It's not complete. So men are dropping everywhere. The field behind them is filled. We're dead and

wounded men in the life. But the summit gives them some protection from the front, so some of the men of the first line. Use the false summon to escape being hit. As they reach that point. Now earlier I talked about my experiment, I wanna add that to this place right here. Because the first line still holds. First line is not broken. This is they've slowed way down. The men have men are filling the gaps. They keep moving forward. They're at a brisk pace now because they're not running.

And the reason why I talk about my experiment because that's how I started. I started the the the double quick at the east side of the field, and I ran down the hill to the gully and crossed the gully was if you look at the right spot, not very difficult, get across that. But it seems like the distance you have to cross compared to the Nordics. Maybe 50 to 100 feet more. And the hill is is a little steeper.

It's gradual, but it's a little safer and a little further away. So as you come up this hill, you're huffing and puffing at the 2 minute mark, at the 3 minute mark. And as you get to the fall summit, you can re realize very quickly that if I laid down on the ground, no 1 could see me from directly in front of me now besides or the woods easily. Yeah. I think you can't no profit. But if it laid down directly on the ground, what was in front of me just disappears. It's just hill.

So there's enough of a slope there to give you a brief respite from the Valentino. But it's maw that is mawed before you shoot in the red fire. And so as you move to that false summit, there is a I guess, there is a crazy. A completion for 1 lay down and I could hit.

But you can't. Because here comes the second line, So the first line, men are trying to find places to escape this, but they're still moving forward. They're still they're still avoiding the fire by by dropping down low. They're moving to the sides. They're still trying to keep their mind lying moving forward, but they're not running anymore because they could pop themselves up this hill at the 2 minute 3 minute mark. So if you think about the hundred and fortieth, the other side of the field are now just starting to get to the get up the hill themselves.

And Bartlesburg 8 hasn't cleared the hill yet. So because it's slowed down, because they're going up the hill. The second line, which has been relatively unprotected or been protected because the competitors are shooting what's in front of them. They catch up with this first line, and the first line bolsters the second line, and the entire line forms again and then the adrenaline kicks in. As these men realize that everybody's here with me, I'm no longer I'm no longer alone.

Does it matter if my buddy died or he's back there in the field, excuse me. I'm screaming. They clear the false summit. And they make it of the top hill. Meanwhile, off to their left, Swiser's Butler Day brigade has also stepped out on this Understood. He has a 30 second Manhattan, Massachusetts, the ninth Massachusetts, the 60 seventh, Pennsylvania. That's our first line. And the second the 20 second Massachusetts and the fourth Michigan is his second line. And they're firing

at but I believe our Georgian's up on the hill. Georgian Carolans. I think that's a big group of them. And then there's a group of Virginians mixed in there too. And ricers men don't quite clear the hill. They're more long, they're they're skirting the tree line, so they're using the tree's protection. And they're firing from behind where Bartlett's men have come so far forward. They're now the focus of a confederate attack.

And the tree line, at the edge of the of Saunders' field and has a a more of a a shallower feel to it, but that's steeper ill. It's better protected, and they're firing from that position. So bullets are hitting the confederates just as hard as the bullets are hitting the u. Forces and the Unites have now formed 1 complete line of the first and second coming together, and they come up over the hill and they arrive at the Confederate Earthworks.

So you have switchers men shooting at them and a large part of all 6 of Bartlett's regiments. Have arrived at the front of the confederates, and now they are fighting a point blank range over wasting the wage and barrel the bill. This is the thing about the soccer field environment with a geography. You get to the top of the hill and south side of the field, it flattens out.

And you have to go another 20 or 30 feet after the top of the hill to get get to where the competitor's reports are. And there's 2 layers of them. There's not just 1 layers, 2 layers. It's hard to know which layer was built at what time or which was improved over time. Because imagine they've been there for 3 days and they improved them greatly. Let's say the first 1 is the 1. That you have to deal with. You still have to get there.

So as they get to the top of the hill, it's a huge line of reinforces firing. Firing back, firing, firing back, firing. The musket back and forth has covered saunders field and gunpowder smoke There are small fires starting to appear to worry. Remember that it's hot. It's dry. There's there's corn and there's leaves litter everywhere. And as this gunpowder and flames and

and bullets and all sorts of commotion are taking place at the top there. They can venture at earthworks. They catch fire. What little wood they have there? The grass catch fire, parts of trees catch fire. There's smoke everywhere. The trees behind the armies are being cut apart and exchanged by thousands of bullets.

Fueled grass and the dead cornstalk start to burn. There's a black and white smoke covering the battlefield. Now no 1 can see across Saunders' field as Bartlett's men reach the better line. It's only been maybe let's give the benefit of the doubt. It's a little time there. Let's say it's been 5 or 6 minutes from them to move from east to west. So 5 to 6 minutes of constant firepower. And some of those good sharpshugers can do what? 3 shots in a minute.

So 5 minutes times 03:15 rounds have been exchanged and the union guys haven't really fired till they got to the top of the hill. So the place is a tinderbox. In 1 federal mission, veteran is quoted to say, quote, what a medley of sounds the incessant roar of the rifle, the screaming bullets, the forest on fire, men cheering groaning, yelling, swearing, and praying. All this created an experience in the minds of the survivors that we can never forget.

And this is the scene just a few minutes after 1PM of Bartlett's 6 regiments at the top of the hill exchanging barrel to barrel fights with the confederates that are standing there. And their confederates, realize they are in trouble.

Now unlike the hundred fortieth where the Virginians came out of their trenches and hit the hundred and fourth dead on. And because of where the swell was, they split the gap so that the 5 US regiments were actually fighting another part of the line and the hundred important by themselves. Bartlett has all 6 of his regiments, what's left of them. Standing barrel to barrel with Jones' men, Jones' Virginians. And he's anchored on the left by Maryland Stewards brigade.

They're straddling the Orange Sturm Pike, so a lot of those men right now are fighting the hundred and fortieth and what's behind the hundred and fortieth. And the cannons that show up. And remember, not everyone of Lee's army has arrived yet, so they're still they're they're trying to look like they're strong force, but really if their line is very thin.

To Barclay sees his advantage as they digress the hill, And as he slams into the cabira line, he suddenly understands that what's in front of him or is not harden infantry, but dismounted cavalry. And their formation is is really the focus of threat of the threat in front of them. But as he pushes forward, Maryland Stewart's brigade is focused more on what's going on to their immediate front. They're not really seeing what's happening. And the scene is is really for Jones.

Jones has been and that this bounded cavalry that are in front of him. Don't see swicers men moving up the hill on his right. As Bartlett's men come over the rise right through space. And the amount of firepower the union deploys at this point in time is in aggressive. With this amount of caliber formation that buckles, this is being attacked from 2 sides. Because of this, Bartlett breaks the rebel line.

Because they've the grandfather breaks the capitell line at the other side too, They're going to Ontario's, the barbell's front. He's attacking the Orthoats at everything he has. And to his left, the confederate alliance force to break. They see rebels push back. They see rebels drop back. They see a rebel structural run for the force behind them. At this time, it's the federals who outflanked the confederates at the top of the hill.

Remember what happens to the US regulars in the last episode where they get outflanked because there's because Sedgewick has not yet appear on their right like he's supposed to be. Like inside of the Grant's head, he believes that sufficiently supposed to be, but he's not there.

This time, it's the federal zip code for the hill. And as the the cavalry and this amount of cavalry run away, The union forces push up into the competitive trenches. And Bartlett sees this and he pushes the the advantage and makes his men go forward hard. Push the men from the confederacy out of their trenches and back into the woods. General Jones and general and General Eul's nephew, captain Robert D. Early. Are both knocked from their 4 of their horses and killed instantly.

In Jones' entire brigade, now without leadership because now General Jones' dead, begins to slowly drop back, some even running for the for in terror. They're trying to save their own lives. They're firing as they go, but they're being pushed back in the forest. And behind the Confederate line. And Bartlett's men break the Confederate line to the topic of of of Saunders' field and push beyond the earthworks and into the confederate. And there is a moment.

There is a moment that this battle could have gone on a way. Where Bartlett's charge causes the entire considerate line to buckle. Now remember last episode, the hundred and fortieth They hit the Virginians, Virginia's drop back, but they don't buckle, they don't break. They fall back to the trees in the back, but keep firing, and then holt through real another line. Hundred and fortieth. Also,

don't see what happens to their right or to their left. And as they move forward, they get clobbered from 3 sides same with the US regulars where they push forward, and that line backs up only to find that more forces have rolled around to their their right flank and hit them from the side. So the confederates on 1 side of the field are tearing the union army apart. But the union forces on this side of the field have just toured the confederate units apart.

This is where the battle could have gone another way. If Bartlett could have seen what was going on next to him, he could have just turned and taken out Maryland Stewart's entire entire Regent Harbor Gate, and walked up the line and counterflanked. Those units and broke the union or the Confederate Army right in half, the same way that Lee wanted to break grants units in half But you got smoke. You have fire. You have the adrenaline. You have the distance. You have the terrain.

And even though Bartlett has exposed a huge weakness in the competitive line, and he found out that they didn't use hardened and hardened infantry in every spot of their line, but they had snuck in, dismounted cavalry. He's now discovered how thin the ruble line really is.

And as he sees, Jones as Berggade fall back into the forest. He has a moment there, where could it turn the entire tide of the battle of the wilderness? But the fighting's brutal and the trees are dense and the smoke is thick and they didn't know. And Bartlett decides to push. He decides to carry the the breaking of the line as far forward as he can under the assumption that the other units are seeing the exact same thing he's saying. That these aren't all infantry that maybe mead was right.

But this is just a diversion. This is a delay tactic. These guys are only here to try to sucker them into staying in the wilderness. They don't quite know what they're looking at yet. But again, they're under the assumption that Lee is just trying to delay them so he can move troops someplace else. He doesn't realize that Lee has committed his entire army to this position.

So what's lurking behind Jones' leadership leaderless Virgin regiments in the wilderness is something that Bartlett does not know, not yet. So this is the moment where this battle could have turned to a union victory.

Before we learn the fate of Bartlett's breaking of the confederate line. Wanna take a moment to talk to you about protecting history, and that is by becoming a sponsor of the American Battlefield Trust. Where Bartlett attacks, you can still see those trenches there today.

You can go to the battle willness battlefield and see the the place where those trenches are at and what the field looks like and walk in the field. And you have the ability to understand how this battle took place, how these men moved across this terrain and what that would have been like in real life. And you just imagine that field covered in blue bodies blue clad bodies. Because in a sense, this battle like many of the battles throughout the civil war is not just a historical

area. It's also a cemetery. So there's Understanding that we have to protect this history, that we have to be active in making sure that These places are protected and the American Battlefield Trust does this. And that's exactly the state we find some of our historical battlefields in due to the constant spread of housing developments and construction is it there's a housing development that sits on top of the Wilderness battlefield.

It's crazy because it's where a lot of the union forces were aligned during the the fifth and sixth of May. So houses I wonder if that guy goes. I always wonder that. You think I I'm gonna say yes. I'm gonna say that though there are haunted houses in that housing complex for sure. For sure. Let's know that. And they wouldn't be haunted houses if the America benefit trust had been there to to save them, but they're here now.

And we have to save these historical places. In fact, they just got done saving a place where the Alabama units well, that we'll talk about shortly. Come to come to play in this in this story. So there is more to do, more to be saved. And that is unless we can protect this for future generations, this place will not be there. People will find a way chip away at it because it's a good land. It's a nice land.

So progress is always trying to erode away this history. Well, let's not let them. Let's protect these places for future generations so that we can go and enjoy them. Our children can go and our grandchildren I look forward to when my granddaughter can go and see these places and know what happened here and the sacrifices that were made. For American freedom, and to realize what the truly the declaration independence was made for all people in the United States. This is where it happens,

and we have to protect those. So please, if you have a chance, go become a member of the American Battlefield Trust at battlefields dot org. That's battlefields with an s dot org. Thank you.

So now that Bartlett has broken the line, he decides to move forward. So his 6 regiments, his brigade, pushes over the hill and into the trees and onto grandma's house. But over the top of the hill into the back, so he's routed the confederates in front of him. And they start running.

They start moving back and back and back so much though that in the panic, they move to the tree so quickly that Bartlett's men have a hard time catching them, so they start moving forward as fast as they can as well. And they move almost a mile back. Into Confederate Health territory. So they're moving west. So they're on the south side of the Orange term Pike. But he and his men are now in 1 of those places they shouldn't be. They're in the wilderness. They're in the woods.

And we know from countless episodes where I say this time and time again, the wilderness cuts both ways. The trees are so dense and the thickets are so thick. You can't really see what's in front of you. And Bartlett is having the same problem. He's doesn't realize he has no support. He doesn't have any intelligence from the front. He doesn't know how bad it is going for everyone else. He doesn't know yet that the hundred and fortieth have not broken through and are not in line with him.

He doesn't know where the Virginians in front of him went. He also does not know that the Virginians of the hundred and 4 didn't break. So in a sense, he's chasing a fox. He's got a group of hounds. And he's moving through the trees looking for the fox which are the Virginian Cavalry who are on the run

along with other groups. I imagine because there's a lot of Georgians up there. I'm gonna I'm gonna just go on a limb and say that it's not just the Virginians who are running. There's Georgians mixed in there too. They're moving too. The thick woods disguised as what lurks behind the Confederate Alliance Hunter's Field. Again, They don't know Lee is moving his whole army here, so every minute more confederates are arriving from mines run and from Orange County.

It's yet to see how many troops have are coming down the orange turnpike. He's about to find out. So Bartlett's men are never gonna see this coming. And what lurks in front of them in the confederate rear is Burger King General, colon a battle. Who's been held in reserve. And he arrived earlier, like, earlier that night or that morning with 5 Alabama regiments, the fifth, the third, the sixth, the 60 first, and the twelfth. And these are fresh troops. And they're sitting in

a grove of trees. I think it's an orchard. I think I remember being called an apple orchard or I think it's an apple orchard. And they've been deployed behind the Virginians and there are Carolanians that are fighting the hundred and fortieth right now. So they're on the northern side of the road in the trees just off the road. And they're under the same standing orders that all the rest of them, that Eul was was told by Lee to not get involved.

In a in a standing combat and fall back if things get hot, so they're being held in reserve. To his manner positioned mostly in the North side of the road, with the trees off the road, although 2 of his regiments are on the south side of the road. So in a way, they protect the orange term pike from the roof.

So if the union army was to come up the turnpike and punch through the turnpike, battle's men would be the men's they would hit in a rearguard action as the defendants fell back. Well, the 2 regiments in the south side of the third and the fifth. They can see the orange turnpike up to the top because where they stand, the orange turnpike comes to the top of the hill. Remember all the competitive lines are there, and they go behind the hill and rolls down. So they're on the back side of the hill,

a mile back. So they can see this top side of the orange turnpike road that may be a tree line is, maybe they see it wind up there. They can't see anything else. They can hear all the commotion, all the gun fighting going on.

But they don't really see any anything beyond that. And they have woods to their south and their north, and there's stuff going on in front of them. They're not too sure what it is. So I imagine there's probably runners coming by giving them updates, but they don't come very far between because, you know, battle is not you know, he's a what if he's a brigade commander, he may get a report narrow then. He's not He's not part of General Counsel's second core staff. So he's just waiting for orders

and that's where he's at. He's ready to maneuver. He's waiting for orders. His men are standing by. They're already, guns are loaded, everyone's ready to go in if they need to go in. You know it's getting hot. And out of the woods start coming Jones' Virginians. They come screaming to the woods in total panic and in confusion. And they come running through

battle's Alabama brigade, the third and the fifth Alabama in the south. These men come running through his brigade. And Jones' men and Battles' men become mixed together in that confusion. And there's a quote that says, 1 of Jones' panicked officers cried out, follow back the mine run, and colonel Charles Forsyth

of the third Alabama shouted, is that a general order? And the response came to yes, the army falls back to mind run. And this, of course, is just repeating Lee's standing order that Lee had given it old, the standing order, not to allow themselves to become involved, but to fall back slowly if they got pressed. And Balmain were under the same instructions.

So when Jones' men come running through them in total panic and screaming, fall back to modeled lines run, as they retreat through the third and fifth Alabama, the third and fifth in Alabama realized, oh, I guess we're, I guess, we're leaving. So they start to retire. They think Yule maybe has decided that against holding the line of Sanders' field, and they're obeying the standard order.

And Bartlett and his men are now beyond the competitor Earthworks and are almost a mile of the thick forest in hot pursuit of Jonesburgade. So he's trying to keep the momentum up as the rebel resistance melts away into this forest, and he's starting to believe that maybe mead and Warren were right. Moves only Confederate delaying action.

And 1 of the union captains is quoted as saying, on we went over prior, over break, over logs, over bugs, through the underbrush, and hanging limbs for about a quarter 3 quarters of a mile, yelling like so many demons. They think they have the Confederate army on the run. They think they just broke the line, and they're about to route the entire Confederate force that Sarat's Army.

But as they move forward through this thicket, through these trees, through this brush, Bartlett starts to see his formations fall apart. His long organized lines that turned into 1 giant line has now turned into a disorganized mess. And he can't hold any part of this area if his men cannot leverage their combat power. So he realizes that, okay, we gotta we gotta clean this up. Because if we come into any kind of force, we're gonna be in trouble.

See, he calls a halt. And as he goes to a small clearing and calls a halt. He's still on horseback. His formation is disintegrated. The men got men strung out from here to the confederate line. That was time to regroup. So he orders everyone alright. Let's let's consolidate Air Forces. Let's regroup. Let's form our lines. Let's get ourselves back together again. And he receives word that there that there are rebels approaching from the rear. I

was thinking that's behind him. Okay. So if rebels are approaching from the rear, then maybe they they try to close the line or they're trying to follow him. Who knows what that is? So from that direction, that's the hole that has punched the rubber line. So he deployed spare shares from the 80 third Pennsylvania protect the rear. And this is the quiet before the storm. Because as the men start to reconsolidate themselves,

to bringing their stragglers all back together, the commander of the twentieth main orders the color bearer into a little clearing. Thinking that, hey, there's a clearing over there. We'll just bring all our wounded soldiers together around the regimental flag, so we can we can make a head count, take a mustard, and give them a back in line. So as men start come coming up puffing, they start to gather in small park pockets to start to form. So he's starting to rebuild his line very cautiously.

And remember, they're in the wilderness. They're almost a mile away from the front line. So they can hear the fighting behind them in the distance. And the occasional shots from Virginia skirmishers firing blindly in front of them and the guys are chasing. But the boldness starts to return to normal quietness.

And this moment, is where all hell breaks loose. Because as the twentieth main start to regroup around their regimental colors. There is a volley of pellets that slam to them. And it comes from their right rear. Now they're facing west. They punch through the line. They're facing west. They're chasing the Virginians. So their right rear is where errors hundred and fortieth New York in the US regular intelligence was to be. But they are very far forward with the coherent line.

So at first, they're startled. It's gotta be friendly fire. Oh my god. Erez men have mistaken us for rebels. So they start shouting and yelling, hey, stop firing. Stop firing. You mean, 4 were good guys. Go in. Second ball. More men drop. No. It's not Erez's men. Oh my god. It's confederates. Erez was still falling behind and I probably know that. So right flank of the world wide open. And Portland is alone. He's like, who the heck is shooting at me? And that's what Bartlett didn't know.

This is why the movements cuts both ways. This is you should have known. He fought a shady grove during the chances campaign. And he knew how dangerous the workers was. He knew how thick it was where you could march right past whole Burgays and I didn't see them. But he allowed his momentum to carry the Burgay 244, and now he was about to pay a terrible price because General Battle, who Realize these Virginians were causing his men to to retire,

put a stop to that real quick. He finally sees why they're running. He sees Bartlett's federals on their hot on their heels. But the wilderness has blinded Bartlett to battle's remaining regiments. But battle's looking right at him as his Falling apartment gate is coming to the woods. He sees them. They don't quite see him yet. Remember he's waiting, he's ready, They're running, they're pursuing. They completely miss battle regiments standing there looking at them with their guns ready.

Good Lordy walked right into their line of fire. And this is where battle saves the day for the confederates. He does men stop the retreat. They start rallying them back to battle position, and he sees Bartlett's men. He lines up his 3 regiments that are already ready to go. He's looking straight down the barrel into Bartlett Stragglers along the exposed right flank. And the twentieth names, colors, just happened to appear the small clearing giving him the perfect target.

And as the twentieth means colors go into the clearing with all the men, the Alabama regiments fire. Bartlett never sees it coming until it's too late. There's a quote from the third Alabama. Orders were given for Regimental commanders to move up rapidly to the crest of the hill and hold it, and all hazards in case Jones gave away. The woods in front were so thick that it was impossible to see more than 20 steps from our line,

and all thought that General Jones held the crest of the hill. Our enemy soon hurled a heavy column against Arnold Jones, sweeping down on his flanks, and it became evident that he was pressing our men back. At this juncture, battles were made moved up at the double quick. And this is where battle slams the door on Bartlett's men. Because from across the orange turn play, Pike, the Alabama gate strikes at him with 3 regiments.

The majority of the Alabama gate hit Bartlett from the flank. But then he takes his regroup third and fifth Alabama and possibly some of Jones' remaining men and he swings them like a door So you imagine they're all standing on 1 side of the road, like a long line. And they're all shooting into Bartlett who's who's facing the wrong direction facing the side. Right? And then he takes the units on his right. And if you put your hand straight out from you and then just turn 1 hand forward,

like you make a like a giant letter l. That's what the third and fifth Alabama do. They come right to Barclay's front. So on his front or the third fifth Alabama, and from his side, it's the rest of the Alabama brigade. He slams the door. Bartlett has nowhere to go. And as the lion sweeps across the orange turnpike and slams the advancing regiments at Bartlett's brigade,

Bartlett is hit hard in the right flank. And before he can get react, But what's fun is her hit hard and she doesn't have anything prepared. No 1 is together. Everyone is totally disorganized or confused. And hitting them from both sides stops him cold.

Bali after Bali breaks apart the little formations that he had left. His men are now confused. There's organized or scattered all the momentum's gone. All the adrenaline's gone. All the cheers and the yelling and the this shouting like like so many demons, that's over. Because they're behind enemy lines with a confederate on all sides. The hope from colonel Hayes. Soon the troop store left gave way and retired in confusion. We had found herself isolated the enemy upon both flanks.

And reported to be in our rear also. So they're we're stuck. Remember that moment? Remember that moment where Barclick could have changed the entire course of the battle warrants. Now that moment has passed. With no other union forces breaking through, and no way to blunt the Alabama counter attack. The momentum of the Alabama assault has turned the tide. I know that was a bad football party. But that's exactly what's happened. And Farland has no choice. He asks to retreat.

So their retreat starts slow. Because he wants it to be in good order. Let's not panic everybody. Let's keep our cool, remember, Bartlett. Let's cool cucumber. Alright, men. We're backing up. We're getting out of here. Let's go back the way we came. The retreat starts in good order. Bart was brigade. What's left of it? Turns back to Saunders' field to release what's what where do they think it is? Because remember it's the wilderness.

Which way do we come? That way, that tree looks like that tree. Oh, no. Well, they're shooting from that side, so let's go away from the shooting. Because the shooting hurts. We don't like that. So 1 of the commanders of the hundred eighteenth Pennsylvania, these are the guys known as the Cornich gang regiment. They order about face trying to be orderly, but the Alabama regiments are not going to allow them to be orderly. The shooting does not stop. They have them dead to rights.

And so what starts orderly starts to turn into disorderly

as men see confederates to their left. And then there's more to their right. And then the Alabama regiments are now approaching from the rear, and the rallying confederates are now appearing everywhere because remember they're behind any lines and no 1 else broke through. So as the hundred and fortieth gets planted and the US regular battalions get shredded and switchers unit doesn't actually hit the line, they kinda stay merked up in the woods there.

No one's there, so the confederates are allowed to regroup. And rally. And so the rally and confederates are peering everywhere and they are moving towards the rural gunfire at the confederate front, and Berlin realizes that they are surrounded. They're gonna have to fight their way out of this thing. And whole groups of men are certainly disappear. And this is when it starts. As their numbers started to dwindle rapidly,

even the veterans realized the danger of being captured kill and everyone starts the panic. And just like Jones' men running for the trees and saying retreat to to Maya's run, now it's the union's churn to do that. As Bartlett's men, formations crumble, and the 2 tiny little knots of men, as it turns into a full blown out. And the whole time, to Bartlett's new rear, now he's facing Tondra Spiel trying to get his men out He's being cautiously pushed by battle. General battle

doesn't know who else is broken through. So just like Bartlett, without any intelligence. Battle doesn't have any intelligence either. So he signals the sixth and the 60 first to push forward towards Saunders' field. It keeps all the rest of his regiments to the rear of that. So they can sit they continue to pursue Bartlets and brigade out of the woods, and you're constantly shooting and moving and shooting and moving. And those that do have some idea what's happening,

begin to run back to the union lines. The union soldiers are like, we're getting out of here. But I don't sir, I'm not standing in line. I'll see you later. I'll see you back at fifth quarter and quarter by and all sorts of union soldiers who do not hear the cold retreat are being rolled up in the confusion as they Alabama men. The city and 60 first move to the woods. There's all sorts of unique guys like, hey, where's all my oh, yeah. Freeze, shredder.

And now we capture you. Or they say screw you and boom down dead because the enemy is everywhere. And their treating men move as fast as they can, through the dense forest, trying to find their way back. Not all of them know where the way back is. So they're moving in all sorts of directions. These are nervous men who what groups they can get, they move, they stop, they shoot. It doesn't matter if they're shooting as real or imaginary.

Then they move and shoot stop and shoot again. And each time, they would move forward, they would find more stragglers and more wounded and small pockets of soldiers left behind end. Remember, Bartlett chased these the the confederates for 3 quarters of a mile. There's men all over these woods. In the Alabama, the Georgians are having a field day now. So as the union forces what's left of Bartlett's men approached Saunders' field from the wrong side is now they're behind the federal lines.

More and more men realize what's happening in the center. That Bartlett's Brigade is in full retreat and a mad rush starts to happen as men try to sprint across the confederate line back in the soccer field. And they're moving to pockets of wands and twos, and very soon large groups of blue cast soldiers are sprinting over Confederate lines. They're flowing back across the field that they just crossed.

Some of these competitors are letting them. Some of them are trying to stop them because the competitors don't quite realize what's going on yet because because the other the other units were engaged in other places not really paying attention to what happened with Bartlett's brigade breaking through. Why are they running back? There's total confusion on both sides going on here. 1 veteran of the 80 third Pennsylvania said, quote,

as we broke for the rear on the double quick, we ran almost ever stepped away back. And when we got there, we laid down on our backs and panted like so many hounds, which had just come back from 10 hours chase after a gang of foxes. These men were not waiting to get captured, not waiting to die, Bartlett's brigade has completely fallen apart. And some of these units, they're they're fighting their way back. They're running out of the woods in all sorts of weird directions.

And the wilderness made it difficult to even know where Sonder's field is. It's because of this union troops are popping out in the forest along the rear they could better align and getting captured. And there's dozens of stories that emerged in the aftermath of this, of those who did make it back of how they barely evade and capture 01:15 man company, the twentieth man they didn't hear the call retreat. So when they realized when it happened, looking around like, hey, everybody's gone.

I think we need to leave. They made their way through the woods, and then they came up on a section of the confederate line overlooking Saunders' field. And this is the hole that bartletsburgeated made, it it was closed. So they realized that, oh my gosh, we're gonna have to fight our way across this. So they came up with a plan. And so they all lunge out of the woods and switch runner. And the competitor is thinking they just been out fling. They scattered. They won't be captured either.

And now hole opens, a small hole. So these were relieved union soldiers took advantage of this roost and spread out in the open. And those that did surrender, they took with them. I think they said that they took 30 prisoners with them. Because again, these veterans don't realize what's going on either. When the route is infectious after the initial waiver of union truce flows back from us on his field, the Alabama River brigade closes the gap, that Barclays charge had made.

And now they get the word out. They get the word out to the other computer unions. And they start looking for unions soldiers trying to run past They're trying to block their escape and union soldiers that didn't separate the hundreds of them are taken prisoners or killed trying to get past the gap. Because the gap is now closed. Ironically,

the last guy out of the woods turns out to be general Bartlett himself. In the commotion, in the chaos, Bartlett got separated from his staff, from his men, and now he's alone Behind any lines. He's still on horseback. He's been beaten a path through the woods and the thickets, and he merges from the tree line only to see the confederate line has reformed. The uniform's torns got blood coming from wounds on his head and his face. And he said, the rear of a reman confederate line.

And immediately, remember they're looking for him now, they call out for him in his renovations. Men are yelling up around there. Gartner, no other. He's the cool cookie. He's the cool cucumber. Right? He's not gonna be careful. No. Wait. You know how many battles I've been in, son? No. Bartlett, does the opposite. He shakes a defiant fist in the air and then he spurs his horse forward at full speed. And sprints right at the cathedral.

So I finished her like, whoa. What the so take it out, the the moment it's like, wait a minute. So they start shooting at him. No 1 can hit him. He madly gallops over the confederate line. Across the top of the hill and starts down the hill. More shots coming to shooting out. No 1 can hit him. Men are just surprised. Oh my gosh. What is this guy doing? He's sprinting through the field. This is like I hope you ever seen the movie, the dances of wolves. Whoops. Antelope of wolves.

Kevin Kosford is this weird thing where he doesn't wanna live anymore. So he runs out and runs the line with his short open, like, shoot me. Like a suicide thing. Right? In a sense, this is the real life version of that. Only Karl, it's not trying to commit suicide. Karl is trying to run for his life. He is not going to be captured. And they're gonna have to kill him if they want him. He knows what's gonna happen to him. If he gets caught, he's not letting something caught.

So he sprinting down the hill, they are trying to shoot at him for doing such a disbelief of what is happening, and no 1 can get a shot at him and he's moving at good speed. He's running for his life. His horse is going full speed down that delta. More shots. No 1 can hit him. They search approach the goalie. So the the better shot she even realized, okay. Well, he's probably gonna slow down for the goalie because he's not gonna jump this thing.

Nope. Ramps the reins and he spurs this force and he moves off the edge of that golly to jump it. And his force goes airborne. A rebel bullet hits the horse mid flight, and the horse bins into a somersault. You're talking like an 1100 pound animal flipping through the air, crashes down on the ground. Damn. On top of Bartlett, There's a moment of quiet. Oh my god, which has happened. It's the horse lays there on top of Bartlett dead. Everybody on both sides thinks Bartlett's dead.

The rebels, they cheer. Yeah. We got him. On the sides, sad moment. And then something amazing happens. Bartlett crawls out from under his horse. And there's this gasps of surprise everyone on both sides. As Bartlett gets back up, he's limping, he's she's obviously hurt and starts to continue his sprint across the field to get to safety, and a couple of wounded soldiers were able to grab him, and they hobble Bartlett across the rest of the field and into the fifth core safety lines.

It's just an amazing story. That although his entire brigade was destroyed, and he was the last man out of the woods. He still lived to fight another day.

On the next episode of War Yankee. While the breakthrough of General Bartlett per gauge is blunted and sent back into Saunders' field, we discovered the fate of colonel Patty Ryan's hundred and fortieth New York XOLAVS and first lieutenant John Patterson's eleventh US infantry, a Saunders' field, burst in the flames.

Thank you for listening to Warringdy Overland. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't forget to subscribe to the show. And help Wargenki grow by sharing this show with a friend. And Wargenki is available wherever you find podcasts, and all my show notes and references are available at wargenki dot com. Finally, if you like to support the show, please go to work e dot com dot slash support. I turn every cup of comp that you buy me in the civil war history.

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