The Battle of the Wilderness

The arrival of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Confederate Second Corps here along the Orange Turnpike on the morning of May 5 challenged the Union march through the Wilderness. At midday more than 6,000 troops of the Union Fifth corps moved forward on a jagged, mile-long front.

The spearhead of the assault struck Ewell's line here, on the western edge of Saunders Field. Three Union brigades (coming toward you) rolled over the Confederate line. The victorious Unionists plunged forward through thickets and brambles to your left-rear for nearly a half mile.

Ewell rallied his men, and soon "a wild, wicked roar" of musketry engulfed the Union lines. Without support, the Federals stopped, then retreated. Thousands of blue-clad fugitives dashed back across Saunders Field. The Confederates started building the powerful earthworks you see in front of you. After the attack here on May 5, the heaviest fighting would move southward, to the Orange Plank Road.

(caption)
Union troops of Gouverneur K. Warren's Fifth Corps attack across Saunders Field, May 5, 1864.

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Show me all markers in:  Locust Grove, VA  |  Orange County  |  22508  |  Virginia  |  United States of America

The Confederate Line
"A Wild, Wicked Roar"
Battle of the Wilderness
140th New York State Vols.
The Confederate Defense
Gordon Flank Attack Trail
First Blood in Saunders Field
The Battle of the Wilderness
The Capture of Winslow's Battery
Saunders Field

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