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 west of Fredericksburg. Both armies suffered heavy 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

thumb|upright=1.5|right|Grant planned to surround Lee's army and cut off its sources of supplies.|alt=map showing plan to surround Lee's army

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. Sherman would attack Georgia with the similar goal of destroying rail lines, resources, and infrastructure used to equip and feed the Confederate armies. Major General Nathaniel P. Banks would fight for the Union in the west where Grant hoped he could capture the important Gulf of Mexico port at Mobile, Alabama.

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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. Although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, Grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition.<!--Rhea p.46--> 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

thumb|upright=0.5|right|Lt Gen U. S. Grant|alt=American Civil War general standing by tree

thumb|upright=0.5|right|Maj Gen G. Meade|alt=American Civil War general with bald head and beard

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.
  • 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. The count used by other sources varies from about 61,000 to 65,000. Rhea uses 65,000.
  • Second Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell. 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 to , historians discussing the battles fought there typically use . At the time of the battle, the region was a "patchwork of open areas and vegetation of varying density."