|
Wilderness Battlefield|
|
|
|
|
Wilderness Battlefield|
|
|
 Union Artillery crossing over the Rapidan River on Germanna Ford before entering Wilderness. May 1864 (1)  Rapidan River 2000.(1)  Ellwood House The Ellwood house,involved in both the Wilderness and Chancellorsville battles.(2)  Wilderness Tavern 1884(3)  Remains of the Wilderness Tavern 2000. Used as a field hospital for the Confederate Army in the Chancellorsville Battle and a staging area for the Union during the Wilderness.(3)  View of Grant's Headquarters (4) On May 5, 1864, this knoll was bordered by a second growth of scraggly pines and scrub oak. From here Grant and Meade could see little of the battle. Instead, they relied on subordinates to keep them apprised of the situation at the front. In the evenings the Generals retired to their camp at the foot of the knoll between here and the Germanna Plank Road (modern Route 3). Otherwise, they rarely left this spot. Over the next three days, as the two armies grappled in the deep woods, Grant and Meade remained at this knoll, sending and receiving dispatches as they fed troops into the battle. More than once Meade lost his temper. Outwardly, Grant remained calm, buthis nervous puffing of cigars and whittling of sticks showed that he too felt the strain.  Looking south west towards Ewell's Lines cross Saunders Field.(5) The arrival of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps here along the Orange Turnpike on the morning of May 5 challenged the Union march through the Wilderness. the Federals responded with a massive attack. At midday more than 12,000 Federals troops moved forward on a jagged, mile-long front. The spearhead of assault struck Ewell's line here, on the western edge of Saunders Field. Three Union brigades rolled over the Confederate, plunging forward through thickets and brambles for nearly a half mile. Ewell scrambled to rally his men, and soon a "wild, wicked roar" of musketry engulfed the Union lines. Without supports, the Federals stopped, then retreated. Thousands of blue-clad fugitives dashed back through Saunders Field-most of them faster than they had Come. After the attack here on May 5 the heaviest fighting would shift farther to the south, along the Orange Plank Road. There the Battle of the Wilderness would be decided.  Ewell's lines south of the Orange Turnpike.(6) |