The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on May 5–7, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The fighting occurred in a wooded area near Locust Grove, Virginia, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Fredericksburg. Both armies suffered many casualties, nearly 29,000 in total, a harbinger of a war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and eventually against the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and then continued his offensive.
Grant attempted to move quickly through the dense underbrush of the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, but Lee launched two of his corps on parallel roads to intercept him. On the morning of May 5, the Union V Corps under Major General Gouverneur K. Warren attacked the Confederate Second Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell, on the Orange Turnpike. That afternoon the Third Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General A. P. Hill, encountered Brigadier General George W. Getty's division (VI Corps) and Major General Winfield S. Hancock's Union II Corps on the Orange Plank Road. Fighting, which ended for the evening because of darkness, was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to maneuver in the dense woods.
At dawn on May 6, Hancock attacked along the Plank Road, driving Hill's corps back in confusion, but the First Corps of Lieutenant General James Longstreet arrived in time to prevent the collapse of the Confederate right flank. Longstreet followed up with a surprise flanking attack from an unfinished railroad bed that drove Hancock's men back, but the momentum was lost when Longstreet was wounded by his own men. An evening attack by Brigadier General John B. Gordon against the Union right flank caused consternation at the Union headquarters, but the lines stabilized and fighting ceased. On May 7, Grant disengaged and moved to the southeast, intending to leave the Wilderness to interpose his army between Lee and Richmond, leading to the Battle of Todd's Tavern and Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
Background
In the three years since fighting in the American Civil War had begun in 1861, the United States Army (a.k.a. the Union Army) made little progress against the Confederate Army in the Eastern Theater. The Union Army's most impressive successes came in the Western Theater, especially at the Battle of Vicksburg where nearly 30,000 Confederates surrendered. President Abraham Lincoln wanted a military leader who would fight. In March 1864, Major General Ulysses S. Grant was summoned from the Western Theater, promoted to lieutenant general, and given command of all the Union armies. Grant was the Union commander at Vicksburg, and also had major victories at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Chattanooga. He chose to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, although Major General George Meade retained formal command of that army. Major General William Tecumseh Sherman succeeded Grant in command of most of the western armies.
Grant believed that the eastern and western Union armies were too uncoordinated in their actions, and that the previous practice of conquering and guarding new territories required too many resources. Grant's new strategy was to attack with all forces at the same time, making it difficult for the Confederates to transfer forces from one battlefront to another. His objective was to destroy the Confederate armies rather than conquering territory. The two largest Confederate armies became the two major targets, and they were General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee. This new strategy pleased President Lincoln.
Grant considered Lee's army "the strongest, best appointed and most confident Army in the South." Lee was a professional soldier who fought in the Mexican–American War. At the beginning of the American Civil War, he rejected an offer to be commander of the United States Army. He was considered a master tactician in individual battles, and had the advantage of fighting mostly on familiar (Virginia) territory. Although the Confederate Army had fewer resources and men than the Union Army, Lee made good use of railroads to move his forces from one front to another. By the time Grant appeared in the Eastern Theater, the Confederate soldiers knew that his six predecessors all failed against Lee, and believed that Grant's successes in the Western Theater were against inferior opponents.
Grant's plan
Grant's plan for Meade's Army of the Potomac was to move south to confront Lee's army between the Union and Confederate capital cities, Washington and Richmond. At the same time, General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James would approach Richmond, Petersburg, and Lee from the southeast near the James River. Major General Franz Sigel's Army of the Shenandoah would move through the Shenandoah Valley and destroy the rail line, agricultural infrastructure, and granaries used to feed the Confederate armies. Brigadier generals George Crook and William W. Averell would attack the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, and salt and lead mines, in western Virginia before moving east to join Sigel. Sherman would attack Georgia with the similar goal of destroying rail lines, resources, and infrastructure used to equip and feed the Confederate armies.
Grant's campaign objective of the destruction of Lee's army coincided with the preferences of both Lincoln and his military chief of staff, Henry Halleck. Grant instructed Meade, "Lee's army will be your objective point. Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also." Although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, Grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition. Both the Union and Confederate casualties could be high, but the Union had greater resources to replace lost soldiers and equipment. By May 2, Grant had four corps positioned to begin Meade's portion of Grant's plan against Lee's army. Three of the corps, plus cavalry, composed Meade's Army of the Potomac. A fourth corps, reporting directly to Grant, added additional firepower. The Rapidan River divided the two foes. A few days later, Grant and Meade would cross the river and begin what became known as the Overland Campaign, and the Battle of the Wilderness was its first battle.
Opposing forces
Union
The Union force in the Battle of the Wilderness was the Army of the Potomac and a separate IX Corps. The Army of the Potomac was commanded by Major General George G. Meade, and Major General Ambrose E. Burnside was commander of the IX Corps. Both Meade and Burnside reported to Grant, who rode with Meade and his army. The II Corps was the largest of the army, with 28,333 officers and enlisted men present for duty and equipped as of April 30, 1864. At the beginning of the campaign in May, Grant's Union forces totaled 118,700 men and 316 artillery pieces including Meade's Army of the Potomac and Burnside's IX Corps.
- II Corps, commanded by Major General Winfield S. Hancock, consisted of four divisions of infantry. This was Meade's premier fighting unit.
- V Corps, commanded by Major General Gouverneur K. Warren, had four divisions of infantry.
- VI Corps had three divisions and was commanded by Major General John Sedgwick.
- Cavalry Corps, newly commanded by Major General Philip Sheridan, had three divisions. The 3rd Division's 5th New York Cavalry Regiment was armed with seven-shot Spencer carbines, as was the First Brigade of the 1st Division, known as the Michigan Brigade.
- Additional men in Meade's army that were not part of the four corps were from the provost guard, a small group of guards and orderlies, and portions of the artillery not assigned to a corps.
- IX Corps, commanded by Burnside, consisted of four divisions of infantry, each with its own artillery. Burnside also had reserve artillery and two regiments of cavalry. Only about 6,000 men in IX Corps were veterans.
Confederate
The Confederate force in the Battle of the Wilderness was the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee. Listed below are Lee's three infantry corps and one cavalry corps, which totaled to 66,140 men including staff and men in the artillery. Each corps had three divisions plus artillery except the First Corps, which had only two divisions present. The Third Corps was the largest, with 22,675 men plus another 1,910 for artillery.
Disposition of forces and movement to battle
The Wilderness
The Wilderness is located south of the Rapidan River in Virginia's Spotsylvania County and Orange County. Its southern border is Spotsylvania Court House, and western border is usually considered the Rapidan River tributary Mine Run. Its eastern border is less definite, causing estimates of the size of the Wilderness to vary. While the maximum area for the Wilderness is 132 square miles (340 km2) to 156 square miles (400 km2), historians discussing the battles fought there typically use 70 square miles (180 km2). At the time of the battle, the region was a "patchwork of open areas and vegetation of varying density." Much of the vegetation was a dense second-growth forest consisting of small trees, bushes, shrubs, and pines.
Since clearings were scarce, and the region had only a few narrow winding roads, mounted cavalry fighting was nearly impossible. The dense woods, often filled with smoke, made it difficult to see enemy soldiers. This put attackers at a disadvantage, as soldiers often fired at sounds instead of visual cues. Infantry units had difficulty keeping alignment, and often became lost or were involved in friendly-fire incidents. The Confederates had a better knowledge of the terrain, and it diminished the Union advantage of greater manpower. The terrain also diminished the effectiveness of artillery. Grant was aware of how the Wilderness made his advantages in size and artillery less effective, and preferred to move his army further south to fight Lee in open ground.
Lee prepares
On May 2, Lee met with his generals on Clark Mountain, obtaining a panoramic view of the Union camps. He realized that Grant was getting ready to attack, but did not know the precise route of advance. He predicted (correctly) that Grant would cross to the east of the Confederate fortifications on the Rapidan, using the Germanna and Ely fords, but he could not be certain.
To retain flexibility of response, Lee had dispersed his army over a wide area. Longstreet's First Corps was around Gordonsville, from where they had the flexibility to respond by railroad to potential threats to the Shenandoah Valley or to Richmond. Hill's Third Corps was outside Orange Court House. Ewell's Second Corps was near Morton's Ford and Mine Run, northeast of Hill. Stuart's cavalry was scattered further south from Gordonsville to Fredericksburg.
Grant crosses the river
On May 4, 1864, the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River at three places and converged on the Wilderness of Spotsylvania in east central Virginia. Brigadier General James H. Wilson led his 3rd Cavalry Division across the river at Germanna Ford between 4:00 am and 6:00 am, and drove off a small group of Confederate cavalry pickets. After engineers placed pontoon bridges, the V Corps (Warren) and later the VI Corps (Sedgwick) crossed safely. Wilson continued south on the Germanna Plank Road toward Wilderness Tavern and the Orange Turnpike. He halted at Wilderness Tavern at noon to wait for the V Corps, and sent scouts to the south and west.
A few miles east, Brigadier General David M. Gregg led his 2nd Cavalry Division across the river at Ely's Ford. They tried to capture the nearby Confederate outpost, but the southerners fled into the darkness. By 9:00 am a pontoon bridge was placed across the water, and the II Corps (Hancock) began crossing. Gregg's cavalry moved south to Chancellorsville, where Hancock's men planned to camp. Once Hancock's men began arriving, Gregg moved further south to Alrich near the intersection of the Orange Plank Road and Catharpin Road, where they would protect Hancock and the army's wagons.
The IX Corps (Burnside) remained north of the river near Germanna Ford, with orders to protect the supply train. Although Grant insisted that the army travel light with minimal artillery and supplies, its supply train was 60 to 70 miles (97 to 110 km) long. Meade had an estimated 4,300 wagons, 835 ambulances, and a herd of cattle. The supply train crossed the Rapidan at Ely's and Culpeper Mine fords. At Culpeper Mine Ford, it was guarded by Brigadier General Alfred T. A. Torbert's 1st Cavalry Division. Grant and Meade gambled that they could move the army quickly enough to avoid being ensnared in the Wilderness, but Meade halted the II and V corps to allow the wagon train to catch up.
Lee responds
At the Wilderness a year earlier, Lee defeated the Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Chancellorsville despite having an army less than half the size of the Union army. Much of the fighting at that time occurred slightly east of the Union Army's current route. Having already secured a victory one year ago in similar circumstances, Lee hoped to fight Grant in the Wilderness. However, Lee needed Longstreet's First Corps to be in position to fight before the battle started.