Status Updates From Bloody Roads South: The Wil...

Such a rough read! Now I just want it to be over. At least the right side won, in the end.

So much blood.

Cold Harbor

Crossing the North Anna, or trying to. The Confederate dead left behind are skeletal, according to one Union private's journal.

The bayonets, stabbing down into the trenches, or through the abatis. Shooting men in the face! The war begins so politely, and it comes to this. Incredible rates of attrition, and though the author doesn't say so, this is what Grant must do to win, because the Rebels have a much smaller army. Lee gets word that Stuart has died.

Burnside. What a waste.

My god, right now the rebels are kicking ass b/c the Army of the Potomac isn't carrying out its orders. McClellan's legacy, perhaps.

The Army of the Potomac has had enough of retreats, and it's clear now, as one veteran is quoted as saying, that Grant isn't going to send them back, but will lead them to victory.

Riding into battle, trying to set an example for the wusses in the Army of the Potomac, Gen. Wadworth is shot off his horse and killed, and at the same time, his aide, Earl M. Rogers, has his horse shot out from under him. He vaults into the general's riderless horse. Damn. Badass. Meanwhile, Longstreet is shot in the throat.

The forest is so dense that at times, they fire in the general direction that the incoming fire comes from, but they can't even see the people with the guns.

NAT is such a fine writer that if this topic wasn't so painful, I would have finished it days ago.

There's a reason that this campaign isn't written about so much as the others. It is just too painful.

This is super interesting, and it graduated out of the bathroom already. But the frequent switches between the Union and Rebel forces makes this a tale only for those that are fairly well versed in the ACW conflict. Not for beginners.

Starting out, & Grant wants to attack on Lee's R flank in order to maintain a buffer for DC, and make supplies easier to maintain. I love that NAT doesn't use the same tired quotes that most do.