Battle of the wilderness powerpoint

Battle of the

Wilderness

Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant fight a battle in “no-man’s

land”

May 4-7, 1864

When did Ulysses S. Grant take over as the Union Commander and why?

• Ulysses S. Grant took over as the Union Commander on March 9, 1864. Before taking over, he had a track record including a great amount of success in the West with the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, and Vicksburg, and Chattanooga

• Meade was somewhat disliked by Lincoln and other Washington Politicians since he did not chase the Confederates after Gettysburg.

Plan of Attack for Grant in the remainder of the War

• Ulysses S. Grant wanted to attack the Confederacy on two fronts– Attack the Deep South

(Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama) with William Tecumseh Sherman

– Pressure deep into Virginia and take over Richmond with the Army of the Potomac under George Gordon Meade.

William Tecumseh Sherman

How did the fight end up occurring in the Wilderness area of Virginia?

• Grant was inching George Meade’s Army of the Potomac closer to Richmond, stationed on May 4, 1864, just West of the Fredericksburg battlefield and North of the Chancellorsville Battlefield

• Grant sent the Army east, downriver on the Rapidan River to cross and make a flanking maneuver on the Confederacy and pressure Richmond

Officers under Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade- Army of the Potomac

Winfield Scott Hancock

Governeur K. Warren

Ambrose Burnside

Officers under Robert E. Lee at the Battle of the Wilderness

Ambrose Powell (A.P.) Hill James Longstreet

Richard Ewell

Numbers Game at the Wilderness

• Total Union Soldiers at the Wilderness

– 118,000

• Total Confederate Soldiers at the Wilderness

– 61,953

How did the battle begin?

• As skilled a general as Robert E. Lee was, he predicted Ulysses S. Grant’s maneuver days before Grant started moving Union troops across the Rapidan River.

How did the battle begin?

• Robert E. Lee sent Richard Ewell to collide with the Union forces that were crossing the Rapidan and heading for Richmond

• Lee also sent A.P. Hill to set himself up 1 mile South of Ewell, also in a collision course with Union Soldiers

Why wasn’t Robert E. Lee deterred by the 118,000 Union soldiers?

• Despite the fact that the Confederates were losing soldiers to desertion every day, Robert E. Lee knew that numbers did not matter when you are fighting in a no-man’s land like the Wilderness.

• Just a side-note, when the fighting began, Winfield Scott stated that you could not see more than 100 paces ahead of you in the Wilderness, and your only sense of direction for moving to attack was the sound of muskets in the distance.

What was fighting like in the Battle of the Wilderness?

• The initial fighting included a lot of bayonet charging and soldiers swinging the butts of their muskets as it was simply hand-to-hand fighting.

• Eventually the Union soldiers took position behind a farm fence and created makeshift Entrenchments.

End of the First Day Results

• The first day did not truly change the situation of the Battle, the Union clung to their Entrenchments around the Germanna Plank Road, but Confederate General James Longstreet was on his way

Second Day of the Battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864

• Longstreet arrived for the Confederates after an exhausting march of 20 miles in roughly two days.

• Longstreet’s troops reinforced the Confederacy on the Confederate Right and lent some troops to the Confederate Middle

• Lee, as persuaded by Longstreet, attempted to Concentrate on the Union Left and attempt to turn the Union’s Left Flank

Effects of the fighting on the Second Day

• Longstreet’s attempt to turn the Union Flank was partially successful, as the Confederates were able to remove them from their front-line entrenchments, but, unlucky for the Confederates, the Union troops had set up 3-4 more lines of Entrenchments behind the Front Line.

James Longstreet Wounded

• While setting up his troops on the Afternoon of May 6, 1864 at the Battle of the Wilderness, James Longstreet was shot in the neck and shoulder by his own men, but slowly recovered to rejoin the War six months later.

End of the Battle of the Wilderness and the Results

• When the morning of May 7, 1864 had arisen, both Lee and Grant knew that any further fighting at the Wilderness would be inconsequential as they both simply sat and waited for the other to make a move

• Ulysses S. Grant abandoned all usual methods of retreating from a Civil War Battlefield after this battle as he headed further South instead of returning to the North.

Casualties from the battle of the Wilderness

• Union- 17,666

• Confederates- 8,000