Battle in the Wilderness

Battle in the Wilderness

Part of: American Civil War

date	5th-6th May 1864
place	Spotsylvania County and Orange County Virginia, USA
output	draw

Parties to the conflict
United States	Confederate States of America
Commander
Ulysses S. Grant George G. Meade	Robert E. Lee
Troop strength
101,895	61.025
losses
18,400	11,400

The Battle of the Wilderness was a battle during the American Civil War and the first of Lieutenant General Grant's overland campaign . It took place on May 5th and 6th, 1864 in Virginia. In it, the Potomac Army under Major General Meade and the Northern Virginia Army General Lee faced each other again. The battle ended in a draw.

prehistory

After his appointment as Commander in Chief of the US Army , Lieutenant General Grant decided to go personally to Virginia and from there to lead the armies in the eastern theater of war. With these he intended to destroy the Northern Virginia Confederate Army and end the war. Grant set up his headquarters with the Potomac Army, but rarely interfered with the leadership. Major General Meade remained in command of the Potomac Army.

March to the battlefield

red: confederate troops
blue: union troops

In early May 1864, the Potomac Army left their winter quarters to attack the Confederates. The Potomac Army crossed the Rapidan and reached the Wilderness - the thickly vegetated jungle in which part of the Battle of Chancellorsville had already taken place a year earlier . The Confederates under General Lee wanted to take advantage of this area and had deliberately not obstructed the crossing of the Rapidan. General Lee hoped to attack the Union forces as they marched through the rough terrain where their superior artillery could not come to fruition.

First day May 5th

Evolution of the battle

on May 5, 1864

on May 6, 1864 until 2 p.m.

red: confederate troops
blue: union troops

On May 5, Lee's forces met the advance guards of the Potomac Army. Confederate Lieutenant General Ewell stopped V Corps Major General Warren's with the II. Corps , while Lieutenant General Hills III. Confederate Corps further south of the II. Union Corps Major General Hancocks had to avoid, but was finally able to hold on.

Second day May 6th

On May 6, Hancock succeeded with reinforcements to push Hills Corps even further back and inflict heavy losses on him. Lee was unable to send Hill reinforcements for a long time because General Ewell was also in distress.

Eventually, Lieutenant General Longstreet's corps arrived and attacked Hancock's forces. This time Union troops were pushed back, Longstreet recaptured all the lost ground and marched on. However, he was seriously wounded in a new attack by his own people, and General Micah Jenkins accompanying him was killed.

Eventually the fighting in this part of the battlefield calmed down and the northern part of the front became more active. Here troops from Ewell's Corps under Brigadier General Gordon attacked the flank of the Potomac Army and hit them hard. Gordon's attack subsided as it got dark.

Aftermath

After two days of fighting in the dense undergrowth of the wilderness , the two armies faced each other as they had been battered in previous years. Unlike in the past, the Potomac Army did not dodge north this time - Grant ordered to march southeast and slide between Lee's army and the Confederate capital, Richmond. The armies met again on May 8, this time at Spotsylvania Court House . The Confederates lost 11,400 men and the Union suffered 18,400 men.

Web links

Commons : Battle in the Wilderness  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official reports of the Battle of the Wilderness

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} The American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP). National Park Service, accessed April 1, 2016 .