American Civil War
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The Wilderness
Battle · Eastern Theatre
Battle of the Wilderness
May 5–7, 1864 · Spotsylvania County, Virginia
Narrative
Commanders
At a glance
Outcome
1
May 4
The woods Lee picked on purpose
Grant pushes a vast army into the thicket to march through it; Lee strikes inside the woods, where cannon cannot aim and numbers do not count.
2
May 5
First contact in the brush
Ewell (South) meets Warren (North) on the Turnpike, Hill (South) meets Getty (North) and Hancock (North) on the Plank Road: a confused, bloody draw that leaves Hill’s corps tangled.
3
May 6
The day of the great attacks
Hancock (North) nearly breaks Hill (South) at dawn; Longstreet (South) saves the line and rolls up Hancock’s flank, then is shot by his own men, as Jackson was a year before.
4
May 7
The night Grant turned south
Beaten by every old rule, Grant does not retreat. He marches the army south past Lee, and the men cheer in the dark.
5
The meaning
The men marching back across their own bondage
Grant’s army carried formerly enslaved men from these very counties, the most literal answer to what the blood was for: slavery was the reason.
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