Salute! The Battle of the Wilderness 160th anniversary reenactment on May 5, 2024, Wilderness, Virginia. “I have seen so much death, my soul is weary. Friends fall beside me, and I wonder why I am spared. Oh, Mother, I long for your arms, but I fear I shall only find rest in the grave.” - Private William A. Fletcher, 5th Texas Infantry (1864). From a letter written after the Battle of the Wilderness, where Fletcher witnessed heavy losses. His memoirs and letters, published later, convey the emot