Battle Of The Wilderness - Orange County VA
N 38° 18.962 W 077° 45.561
18S E 258758 N 4244483
A stone monument with plaque commemorates the Battle of the Wilderness.
Waymark Code: WMC00X
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 07/09/2011
Views: 7
During the Civil War, the Army of the Potomac under Gen. U. S. Grant and the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. R. E. Lee met in the dense, tangled woods of the Wilderness in central Virginia for two days of fighting in May 1864. Grant was determined to aggressively pursue Lee and bring the war to an end, but Lee intercepted him as the Federals were making their way across the inhospitable terrain. Although, the Confederate army gained a slight edge and the Union army withdrew to continue the march south, the battle at Wilderness yielded no definitive victory.
A monument stands on the Wilderness battlefield at Saunders Field. The plaque reads:
BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS
HERE MAY 5, 6 1864, 70,000 CONFEDERATES UNDER
LEE DEFEATED 120,000 FEDERALS UNDER GRANT.
CONFEDERATE LOSS 11,500. FEDERAL 18,000.
THIS BATTLE FOUGHT WITH CONSPICUOUS BRAVERY,
IN A WILDERNESS ON FIRE, WILL TAKE IT'S [sic] PLACE
AMONG THE GREAT BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR.
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ERECTED BY THE 13, VIRGINIA REGIMENT, CHAPTER, U.D.C.
- 1927 -
The stone monument is located at the intersection of Constitution Hwy. (Rt. 20) and Hill-Ewell Dr. in Locust Grove. The Wilderness Battlefield is a part of the
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.