These died, that our Nation might live. We were driven from this field (Wilderness) before we could gather our wounded or bury our dead. This is the way we found the field covered when we returned some months later

Burial of the Union dead at Fredericksburg, December 15, 1862 (i.e. May 19 or 20, 1864. Working within the Confederate lines under a flag of truce. Our army had retreated, leaving our dead on the field

[Confederate dead gathered for burial at the southwestern edge of the Rose woods, Gettysburg, Pa., July 5, 1863]