The Battle of the Wilderness

This battle was the first battle in which the two prime generals discovered each other. this was also the first of many battles where the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia fought each other. These two men were: General Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.

The battle occurred May 5, and lasted until the 7th. It was fought on difficult, tangled, dry terrain with confused fighting. The last day of this battle was spent putting out the fires that had been stared and saving the men that had been trapped in the burning shrubbery. In fact, many men were burned to death before they could escape.

It started as Lee attacked the right side of the Federal army even though his army was still intertwined in the brush of The Wilderness. Meade returned the attack just as hard. this was the first battle involving Lee and Grant. Lee was shocked however, because Grant wasn't like the other Federal generals. Grant had headed to Spotsylvania through our while others went north. Still, Lee followed.

On may 6, Longstreet arrived and joined in the battle. This may not have been a good idea, because he was attacked by his own men and had to be taken out of activity until October of 1864. This was coincidental because the same thing happened near the same spot with Stonewall Jackson. On May 9th, Sheridan rendezvoused with Grant and was sent to raid and draw off J.E.B. Stuart. He did this on many occasions such as The Battle of Yellow Tavern.

Unfortunately, we did not win the battle, nonetheless, the Union didn't either. However, the battle did sanction us. The Yankees lost 17,666 men to casualties, compared to our number of 7,750.

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