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WILBRORD WILDERNESS (1851); "Doctrine of the Eucharist" (1853); " Inquiry into the Principles of Church Au- thority" (1854); and sermons "On the Holy Communion " and " On the New Birth of Man's Nature." In 1854 he resigned his pre- ferments, was received into the Roman Cath- olic church in Paris, and entered the ecclesi- astical academy at Rome, with the design of becoming a priest. Hit Samuel, an English bishop, brother of the preceding, born at Broomfield house, Sept. 7, 1805, killed by a fall from his horse near Dorking, July 19, 1873. He was educated at Oxford, was or- dained in 1828, and appointed rector of Bright- stone in the Isle of Wight in 1830. In 1837 and 1845 he was select preacher before the university of Oxford; in 1839 became arch- deacon of Surrey, rector of Alverstoke, and chaplain to Prince Albert; in 1840 canon of Winchester cathedral; in 1841 Bampton lec- turer; in 1844 sub-almoner to the queen; and in 1845 dean of Westminster. In November, 1845, he was made bishop of Oxford, and in 1869 transferred to the see of Winchester. In 1847 he was made lord high almoner of the queen. He was one of the ablest debaters in the house of lords. His principal works are : " Eucharistica " (1839); "Rocky Island and other Parables" (1840); "Agathos and other Stories" (1840); "History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America" (1844) ; " Times of Secession Times of Revival" (18(53);' and several volumes of sermons. A massive gran- ite cross has been erected on tho spot where ho was killed. WILBRORD, or Wlllibrpd, Saint, generally called tho apostle of the Frisians, born in the Saxon kingdom of Northnmbria about 657, died in the monastery of Echternach, near Troves, Nov. 7, 738. He was brought up in St. Wil- fred's monastery at Ripon, and spent 13 years in Ireland, where he had as masters the monks Egbert and Wigbert, who had spent two years preaching the gospel in Friesland. At the age of 33, with 11 or 12 associates, he embarked as a missionary to that country. Wilbrord twice visited Rome, in 692 and 695, and was made bishop by Sergius I. over all the con- verted Frisians. WILCOX. I. A S. central county of Georgia, bounded N. E. by the Ocmulgee river; area, 500 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2,439, of whom 637 were colored. The surface is undulating and the soil fertile. The chief productions in 1870 were 47,130 bushels of Indian corn, 11,870 of oats, 15,866 of sweet potatoes, 17,889 Ibs. of wool, and 700 bales of cotton. There were 447 horses, 1,627 milch cows, 8,672 other cat- tle, 8,998 sheep, and 7,431 swine. Capital, Abbeville. II. A S. W. county of Alabama, intersected by the Alabama river ; area, about 900 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 28,377, of whom 21,- 610 were colored. The surface is undulating and the soil generally fertile. The Selma and Gulf railroad crosses the E. part. The chief productions in 1870 were 660,978 bushels of Indian corn, 91,463 of sweet potatoes, 47,428 Ibs. of butter, and 20,095 bales of cotton. There were 1,702 horses, 8,418 mules and ass- es, 4,722 milch cows, 7,350 other cattle, 2,897 sheep, and 17,020 swine. Capital, Camden. WILD CAT. See CAT, vol. iv., p. 92, and LYNX, vol. x., p. 754. WILDE, Richard Henry, an American author, born in Dublin, Ireland, Sept. 24, 1789, died in New Orleans, Sept. 10, 1847. He was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1809, became attorney general of the state, and in 1815 was elected to congress, where he had a seat also in 1824-'5 and 1827-'85. In 1835 he went to Italy, where he began a biography of Dante, and com- pleted one volume in manuscript. He pub- lished " Conjectures and Researches concern- ing the Love, Madness, and Imprisonment of Torquato Tasso" (2 vols. 12mo, New York, 1842), which contains a number of original translations of the poems of Tasso. In 1844 he was appointed professor of common law in the university of Louisiana. His son has ed- ited his "Hesperia," a poem (Boston, 1867). WILDEBEEST. See GNU. WILDERNESS, Battles of the, a series of en- gagements in the American civil war, May 5- 26, 1864, between tho federal army of the Potomac under Gen. Grant and the confed- erate army of northern Virginia under Gen. R. E. Lee. The Wilderness is a wild tract along the S. bank of the Rapidan, in Orange and Spottsylvauia counties, Va. ; its length from E. to W. is about 15 m., and its breadth about 10 m. It is a plateau sloping to cul- tivated lowlands on every side. Its forests were long since cut away, to furnish fuel for the iron furnaces in the neighborhood; and a dense growth of scrub oak, dwarf pines, and brambles now covers nearly the whole area, with here and there a patch of woods or a small clearing. It is crossed from E. to W. by two good roads, about 2 m. apart, the Orange turnpike to the north and tho Orange plank road to the south. Two or three tolerable roads cross it from N. to S. On the E. border of this tract was fought the battle of Chan- cellorsville, May 2-4, 1868, and on its W. bor- der that of Mine Run, at tho end of Novem- ber, 1868. During the winter of 1863-'4 the confederate army had occupied a strong posi- tion on the 8. side of the Rapidan, its left (Longstreet) at Gordonsville, its centre (A. P. Hill) at Orange Court House, and its right (Ewell) on tho river. Its effective strength at the opening of the campaign was about 60,000. The army of the Potomac, under the Immedi- ate command of Gen. Meade, consisted of three infantry corps (the 2d under Hancock, the 5th under Warren, and the 6th under Sedgwick) and Sheridan's cavalry. The 9th corps, under Burnside, joined it for this campaign, making Grant's total force about 130,000 men of all arms, of whom somewhat more than 100,- 000 were available for battle. It was Grant's plan to cross the river by the lower fords, pass