By the end of the first hour of the desperate fighting of that morning,
it was Grant's belief, that "if the country had been such that Hancock
and his Command could have seen the confusion and panic in the lines of
the enemy, it would have been taken advantage of so effectually, that
Lee would not have made another stand outside the Richmond defences."
The enemy got close upon a portion of the 2d Corps before being seen,
owing to the density of the woods, and they were so suddenly forced
back as to compel the retirement of Mott's Division also to the
intrenched position of the morning.
The Battle was kept up from 5 o'clock in the morning until night, and
all the time within a width of space averaging not over three-quarters
of a mile.
During the night all of Lee's army withdrew within their intrenchments.
Grant said "that more desperate fighting had not been witnessed on this
Continent, than that of the 5th and 6th of May."
The 84th was in the very thick of the fight. 9 men killed, 2 officers
and 39 men wounded.
The character of this fighting ground is a thing of history. Heavy
timber, close, thick underbrush, impossibility of knowing where the
enemy was until close at hand, the burning breast-works, all present
factors in the fight, gave Grant to know that he had an Army on whom he
could rely for the very best of service.
Grant had the faith before he had applied the test, for on the 5th
all the bridges over the Rapidan had been taken up, except the one
at Germania Ford, showing that he had no thought of necessity for
recrossing the river.