The Confederate Line-The Battle of the Wilderness - Locust Grove VA - U.S. Civil War Sites on Waymarking.com

The Confederate Line-The Battle of the Wilderness-Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania National Military Park--Dick Ewell was raring for a fight. When a subordinate approached him early on May 5, 1864, and asked Ewell about his orders, the balding, pop-eyed general piped up cheerily: "... Just the orders I like - to go right down the [turnpike] and strike the enemy wherever I find him."

Ewell made contact with the Union army here at Saunders Field. Deploying in line of battle across the turnpike, the Confederates began to entrench using knives, bayonets, shovels made from canteen halves, or whatever other tools they could find. The earthen mounds around you are a remnant of their handiwork.

For two days Ewell's men stubbornly defended this ridge against attacks by the Union Fifth and Sixth corps. Unable to dent Ewell's strong position here along the turnpike, Grant turned his attention south, to the Orange Plank Road. It was there that the battle was decided.

"A bayonet served to loosen the dirt, and the shovels followed after. Our men were good woodcutters and were not slow to fell trees as the basis for the works .... It was surprising to see how hastily they threw up trenches in a night and even in a few hours." - Assistant Surgeon Thomas F. Wood, 3rd North Carolina Infantry.

LOCATION: Marker is near Locust Grove, Virginia, in Orange County. Marker is on Hill-Ewell Drive, on the left when traveling south. The marker is in the Wilderness Battlefield, at Stop Three (Saunders Field) on the driving tour of the battlefield. Post office area: Locust Grove VA 22508

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/02/2021 Don.Morfe visited it