The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5–6, 1864Fought in a tangled forest fringing the south bank of the Rapidan River, the Battle of the Wilderness marked the initial engagement in the climactic months of the Civil War in Virginia, and the first encounter between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. In an exciting narrative, Gordon C. Rhea provides the consummate recounting of that conflict of May 5 and 6, 1864, which ended with high casualties on both sides but no clear victor. With its balanced analysis of events and people, command structures and strategies, The Battle of the Wilderness is operational history as it should be written. |
Contents
May 23 1864 Lee and Grant Make Their Platw | 8 |
May 4 The Armies Maneuver for Position | 60 |
May 5 Morning Lee and Grant Find Surprise and Opportunity | 94 |
May 5 Afternoon The Grand Offensive Breaks Down | 145 |
May 5 Evening Grant Strives for a Coordinated Assault | 222 |
May 6 Morning The Tide Shifts | 283 |
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Common terms and phrases
2nd Corps 9th Corps advance Ambrose E army's artillery assault attack Battalions Battery battle Brigade Brigadier Brock Road Burnside Burnside's Campaign Catharpin Catharpin Road cavalry Charles Chewning Collection column Confederate Corps commander David McM Diary division earthworks enemy Ewell Ewell's Federal Field fighting fire force Fredericksburg front George George G Georgia Germanna Germanna Ford Getty's Gordon Grant Gregg Griffin guns Hancock Henry Heth Heth Hill Hill's History Horace Porter horse Humphreys ibid infantry James James Longstreet John John Sedgwick Kershaw's later Lee's Longstreet maneuver Massachusetts Meade Memoirs miles move North Carolina numbers officer Orange Plank Road Orange Turnpike ordered Parker's Store Pennsylvania pickets position Potomac Rapidan rear rebel recalled Regiment Reminiscences Report Richmond Saunders Sedgwick Sheridan SHSP skirmishers soldiers Theodore Lyman Todd's Tavern troops Union Union army USMHI Virginia Volunteers Wadsworth Warren Wilcox Wilderness Tavern William Wilson woods wounded wrote XXXVI Yankees York