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Wilderness Battlefield Page 3! |
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Wilderness Battlefield Page 3! |
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 Texas Monument at Widow Tapp Farm(10) The Text from the Texas Monument TEXAS: REMEMBERS THE VALOR AND DEVOTION OF HER SONS WHO SERVED AT THE WILDERNESS MAY 6, 1864 FROM NEAR THIS SPOT THE TEXAS BRIGADE PLEADED WITH GENERAL LEE NOT TO EXPOSE HIMSELF TO FEDERAL FIRE AND THEN, AFTER SEEING HIM TO SAFETY, LAUNCHED A VIGOROUS COUNTERATTACK THAT STEMMED THE ADVANCE OF HANCOCK'S CORPS AND SAVED THE RIGHT FLANK OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. OF APPROXIMATELY 800 TROOPS INVOLVED, THE TEXAS BRIGADE COUNTED OVER 500 CASUALTIES. TEXAS TROOPS AT THE WILDERNESS WERE 1st TEXAS INFANTRY REGIMENT, LT. COL. F. S. BRASS. 4th TEXAS INFANTRY REGIMENT, COL. J. P. BANE. 5th TEXAS INFANTRY REGIMENT, LT. COL. K. BRYAN THE TEXAS BRIGADE INCLUDED THE THIRD ARKANSAS INFANTRY REGIMENT. BRIG. GEN JOHN GREGG'S TEXAS BRIGADE, MAJ. GEN. CHARLES W. FIELD'S DIVISION, LT. GEN. JAMES LONGSTREET'S CORPS.  The monument "Lee to the Rear" at Widow Tapp Farm (10)  Hill-Ewell Drive at the Orange Plank Road (11) Where Hill's Soldiers spent the night of May 5, 1864. May 5, 1864. Since Longstreet's Corps was still on the way from encampment near Gordonsville, Lee began this battle with only two of his three corps. Keeping Ewell on the defensive in the Orange Turnpike sector, he pushed A. P. Hill's Corps eastward along the Plank Road to seize Grant's route of march, the Brock Road. Getty's Division and Hancock's Corps foiled the Confederate thrust. When darkness ended the struggle, Hill's exhausted troops in this vicinity awaited relief from Longstreet's men and made little effort to entrench. Longstreet did not arrive until the next morning. Confederate trench remains on this front represent later improvements.  Union General James S. Wadsworth Monument(12) JAMES S. WADSWORTH BRIGADIER GENERAL AND BREVET MAJOR GENERAL UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS COMMANDING THE 4TH DIVISION V CORPS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED NEAR THIS SPOT MAY 6, 1864 AND DIED TWO DAYS LATER IN THE FIELD HOSPITAL OF HILL'S CONFEDERATE CORPS: HE FELL ATTEMPTING DESPERATELY TO RESIST A CONFEDERATE ADVANCE WHICH THREATENED THE STRATEGIC PLANK-BROCK ROAD INTERSECTION  You are facing west on the Brock Road The Orange Plank Road crosses in front of you(13) May 5, 1864 The road intersection was the storm center of the battle. Getty's Division of the Federal VI Corps rushed down from the north shortly before noon to occupy the position. As his forces moved into line, the troops of A. P. Hill's Confederate Corps advanced to within musket range of the intersection. Had Hill succeeded in getting here first, he would have split the Union Army. Getty dug in and held off the Confederates until Hancock's Corps came to his aid about 2 p.m. Trenches were then extended to north and south along the Brock Road. Hill was engaged in the thickets to the west " without decided advantage to either party".  N.J. Plaques at Orange Plank Road - Brock Road Intersection(13) |