Six of the regiments were composed of men born in Germany, or the sons of Germans, drawn from the great cities of the North, little used to the forests and thickets and having the stiffness of Germans on parade.

They were at the first point of exposure, and they were certainly no match for the formidable foe who was creeping nearer and nearer.
Not all the country here was in forest.

There were some fields, a little wooden cottage on a hill, and in the fields a small house of worship called the Wilderness Church.

It was the little church of Shiloh and the Dunkard church of Antietam over again.
Harry and Dalton in the front of the lines often saw the gleam of Northern guns and Northern bayonets through the foliage, but there was still no sign that anyone in the Northern right flank dreamed of their presence.

Evidently the unconscious thousands there thought that all chance of battle had passed until the morrow.