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Battle of the Wilderness By James Emery Vigh of profbruno.com On March 12, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General and was named general-in-chief of all of the armies of the United States. President Lincoln was impressed with Grant. He fought. He was a winner. It was Grant who had won a string of impressive victories in the Western Theater including Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga. Both Lincoln and Grant understood that the key to defeating the Confederates and ending the war was to defeat the Army of Northern Virginia -- that is, Robert E. Lee. In addition, the vital Confederate railroad supply lines had to be destroyed as well. So Grant, with Lincoln's input, devised a coordinated plan to implement these objectives. Grant was the first general to actually attempt to implement such a coordinated strategy. He also understood the concept of total war. Anything less would only lead to either a longer war, or worse, ultimate defeat. On May 2, 1864, Grant with an army of of almost 102,000 men crossed the Rapidan River at three different points and converged on Wilderness Tavern where Lee was concentrating his forces. The Army of the Potomac was still nominally under the command of General George Gordon Meade, but Meade was taking his orders from Grant who accompanied the army. The Wilderness was the same ten by fifteen mile area where the battle of Chancellorsville was fought almost exactly one year earlier. It was a plateau covered by a dense growth of dwarf trees and underbrush and brambles giving way to occasional cultivated fields. It was ideal for defense, but not such a great place for artillery as there were few unimpeded fields of fire. Grant set up camp around Wilderness Tavern on the western edge of the old Chancellorsville battlefield site, but did not desire an engagement with Lee in the Wilderness. On the other hand, it was imperative for Lee to fight there for the same reason as the previous year -- his army was massively outnumbered. He had only 61,000 men, and he had to negate Grant's advantage in artillery as well as in numbers. A battle in the tangled woods and undergrowth of the Wilderness would even the odds somewhat. Lee had only two corps at the moment. General Richard Ewell was on the left with 18,500 men, and General A.P. Hill was to the right with 22,000 men. General James Longstreet was en route with two divisions totaling 12,000 men. (Pickett's division, still recovering from Gettysburg, was left behind to guard Richmond.) But despite the absence of Longstreet, Lee wanted to engage Grant before he had a chance to move south out of the Wilderness. On May 5th, Ewell and Hill attacked the Union positions. On the left flank, Ewell fought the Union forces to a stand-off, but the outnumbered A.P. Hill on the right was eventually pushed back by Union forces commanded by General Winfield Scott Hancock. The next day, May 6th, Hancock's force numbered around 40,000 men. He resumed the attack on Hill and pressed home his advantage. In fact Hill was driven back almost two miles creating a desperate situation for Lee. But around noon, Longstreet arrived with perfect timing. After six hours of fighting, Hancock's men were tired and disorganized and began to fall back. Lee, totally energized by Longstreet's timely arrival attempted to lead an attack personally. This, of course, was madness. The South could not afford to have Lee killed or wounded. Longstreet had to talk Lee back to his senses and took command of the attack himself. Longstreet's attack pushed back Hancock's forces gaining back in two hours all of the ground that was lost earlier. But he didn't have enough men to complete his victory and the attack eventually petered out. As the fighting wound down on May 6th, Longstreet became a victim of "friendly fire", being accidentally shot by his own men. The incident occurred four miles from the site where Stonewall Jackson was wounded one year earlier. Longstreet would fare better than Jackson did however -- He would survive to fight another day. But the battle wasn't quite over. One of Ewell's divisions attacked the Union right flank partially turning it, and taking almost 1,000 prisoners. But darkness fell before Ewell could press the issue. As darkness fell, one of the most horrifying incidents of the war occurred. A brush fire started and spread between the lines of the two armies. Hundreds of wounded soldiers on both sides died screaming as they were burned alive in front of their helpless comrades. In the battle, the Union suffered more than 17,000 casualties, and the Confederates around 11,000. The next day, Grant withdrew his army from the Wilderness. But this time there was a difference. What usually happened after a Union defeat, or in this case, a draw, was for the Union army to withdraw back to the Washington area to regroup. This had a decidedly negative affect on the morale of the troops. But Grant, instead of withdrawing north towards Washington, swung to the southeast, keeping the pressure on Lee. This forced Lee to continually interpose his army between Grant and Richmond, the Confederate capital. It also had a tremendously positive affect on Union morale. This was part of Grant's plan. From now on it was to be a constant battle of attrition. Grant could replace his losses, while Lee could not. Grant would continually stay in contact with Lee and grind down his army forcing him to fight battle after battle. Eventually, it would just be too much.

External Links

Professor Bruno Noteworthy's Blog | James Emery Vigh Personal Blog | Articles on Music and the Guitar

Images

Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant

General Robert E. Lee

General James Longstreet

Federal cavalry at Germanna Ford

Germanna Ford today

Wilderness Tavern

Wilderness Run

The Wilderness in the 1860s

The Wilderness today

Chewning Farm

Confederate earthworks

Confederate earthworks

Saunders Field

Widow Tapp Farm

Depiction of the battle

Location where Longstreet was accidentally shot by his own troops

Contributed by James Emery Vigh on April 20, 2010, at 1:57 PM UTC.

PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE

Famous Battles of Pre-Modern History Illustrated articles on famous battles www.famousbattlessite.com/famous_battles....html

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Vegetable Oil liked this intel. Apr 3, 2012

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Comments

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You have such skill at describing historical events

June Campbell Apr 20, 2010 14:42

CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY

How do you know all of this stuff? very impressive! I love history but know so little.

lotuspetal Apr 20, 2010 17:32

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Another 5-star intel, Jim. Grant was an amazing person.

Janet Jenson Apr 20, 2010 18:54

CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY

Interesting stuff. I never did American history at school, though my daughter covered some stuff on red Indians when she was at school. Funny really, we are English, yet she did Irish and American history, and now knows little about our kings and queens of the past.

odls Apr 20, 2010 19:30

CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY

Your passion for History is a benefit to us all, James.
Thank you for sharing another fine read.
Best wishes.
Frederick

frederick Apr 21, 2010 08:27

CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY

Thanks for the history.

Sandyspider Apr 22, 2010 00:49

CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY

Now I know more than just Grant is on a $50.00 bill! lol

LadyD Apr 23, 2010 15:41

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This intel was contributed by James Emery Vigh James Emery Vigh

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