On the night of May 4, 1864, General Grant crossed the Rapidan at Germana, United States, and Ely’s fords. We had advanced to Mine Run, and on the night of the 4th the two armies were not far apart. The Wilderness is a peculiar country, and in the early days much gold ore was smelted there. From the Rapidan to Spottsylvania Courthouse, fourteen miles, is the wilderness proper. It is a slightly undulating country without hills, but abounds in the thickest growth of pine or black-jack. The pines are very tall, and range from an inch to twelve inches in diameter. These small pines grow in thickets, and in some places it is difficult to walk through. Sometimes you can walk a mile through nothing but a wilderness of pines, with now and then a black-jack; then it reverses, and you can walk for a mile in a wilderness of black-jack, with now and then a pine. The growth was thus because in cutting timber in the early days for smelting the undergrowth came up afterwards as described. There were very few cleared fields in this section, and they took their names from their owners. General Grant’s headquarters on the night of May 4 were near the Wilderness Tavern, and one mile and a half from Palmer’s old field; and our line of pickets was on the edge of Palmer’s field. A few years ago I was where General Grant pitched his tent at the Wilderness. The trees were then standing between which he rested the night of May 4, after crossing the Rapidan, which was less than a mile distant. That night everything betokened the conflict on the coming morrow—the neighing of the horses, the unlimbering of artillery, the commands of the officers, could be distinctly heard from our lines. Before taps one of General Grant’s bands struck up the old song once revered by North and South alike: The star-spangled banner, long may it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave! The music echoed and reëchoed through that wilderness of pines, and our band responded with that song so dear to Southern hearts: Hurrah, hurrah, for Southern rights hurrah! Hurrah for the bonnie blue flag that bears a single star. In response to our “Bonnie Blue Flag” General Grant’s band played “Home, Sweet Home.” Looking back to that scene of May 4, 1864, I have often thought that if the messenger of peace could have hovered over the camp that night many would have been saved to family and friends; for between May 5 and 12 nearly fifty thousand men fell, General Grant losing nearly forty thousand. General Lee being on the defensive, his loss was only about ten thousand.