Does anyone recognise where this description of the fires of the Wilderness came from? - “Dead trees in the woods were aflame like torches. Often, as soldiers watched, fire would run along limb after limb till the whole tree was outlined in blaze. The reflection of the fire gave the clouds a sickening yellow cast. As the flames advanced there was a low swell of sound, a crash of limbs as if the artillery still were in action. The nearer men ventured to the fire, the louder were the frantic cries of the wounded who could not creep away as fast as the flames approached. Some of the wounded could not drag a broken back, or crawl with shattered limbs. These men could only pray and plead for succor or frantically seek to clear an open space around them as the fire drew nearer every minute. It was in vain. Two hundred of them soon were suffocated or were burned to charred trunks of flesh. The transformation of the forest was incredible. At dawn it had been an impenetrable maze of greenery; now, after the fire had swept on, there were long, black-bordered aisles and a smouldering floor – a hideous temple of Mars.”