Vestiges (ballade) Revision 4

[Achebe]

In woods around my home in fall,
through trees, concealed among brown leaves
in pre-dawn, dark men frozen all
in blue and grey like shady thieves .....brown leaves in the fall, and the colors of the uniforms. Rich visual images. I can almost see them standing through the trees. However, 'shady' comes across as a little inappropriate. The pun sounds a little whimsical and out of place to me here.
behind tree trunks, seem like stray dreams. ...a simile should present a clear, striking image which I'm not sure 'stray dream' does
Spooked horses stomp in agony ..nice
as ghosts of Chicamauga scream,
all vestiges of memory.

The curve of his wife’s back recalled, ... this works on many levels for me. The curves of the hills of the Appalachians as seen by the marching soldier would also recall his wife's back, for instance. However, I also read this as a jump to a different image from that of 'shady' soldiers in the woods at the back of your house.
sustains the husband on his march,
reduced now to a staggered crawl.
At rest, he feels her ‘gainst the larch, ..I'm not a huge fan of cutting out syllables to fit the metre
then rises in a shaky reel;
november’s quick-frost, shivery,
brings back to him the blood ordeal,
all vestiges of memory. ....for a soldier recently back from war (american civil or any other), I don't think any part of it would be a 'vestige'. The description in this and the next stanza also suggest against it.

The bodies lie by cannon’s sprawl;
loss overwhelms gain, all agree.
In wheat fields filled with men in thrall
all those from both sides clearly see,
as those at home do, full bereaved,
no end to mis’ry’s victory. ..ugh. Didn't this sort of writing go out of fashion at the same time as wigs?
Dead overrun dead, country cleaved,
All vestiges of memory. 

Co-mingled soldiers’ blood conceives
ground to be plowed come spring; wispy,
waves gold in the calm, shine, relieved,
all vestiges of memory.

RC - I think to make the refrain work, you need to have, towards the end of every stanza, a jump back to the peace and quiet of the present day woods at the back of your house. Otherwise, they aren't really 'vestiges' that you're talking about in S2 and S3.