May 05, 2006
Gratuitous Civil War Posting
"Skirmish In The Wilderness" - Winslow Homer, 1864. Courtesy of Choate.
Today is the anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864, the first battle pitting Ulysses S. Grant against Robert E. Lee. Grant had hoped to push out into open country south of the Rapidan River, but Lee, hoping to overcome Grant's vast numerical superiority, caught him in the extremely dense and tangled scrub and forest to the west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The painting by Winslow Homer above gives some indication of the confusing and difficult fighting that was to occur over the three days of the battle.
The Federals were unable to break Lee and Grant was forced to retire and redeploy. Many of the officers and men of the Army of the Potomac naturally and glumly assumed that Grant would withdraw back across the river again, as had happened so many times before. However, when they realized that they were not moving back north, but rather south and east, they were electrified. Joshua Chamberlain, among others, later wrote about this and what an incredible boost in morale was caused by Grant's evident resolve.
The armies met again the day after the Wilderness at Spotsylvania Courthouse. Because that was such a long and ferocious battle, I'll blog it day by day.
When Grant did not retreat, Longstreet (who knew Grant well) told Lee that this was the end, Sam Grant would not back up or stop until they were beaten. He was right.
Posted by: Basil Seal at May 5, 2006 11:28 AMAbout 5 years ago, I had the pleasure of going on a tour of the Chancellorsville battlefield conducted by Gary Gallagher.
At one point in the day, he took us to an area along Jackson's flanking movement that had grown back to to the way it was during that battle, as well as the Wilderness.
He marched us into some dense scrub about a quarter mile, had us turn around and formed us into a scirmish line. We were then supposed to look straight ahead, and march until he told us to stop. We did, and when he told us to stop, we were all over the place, out of formation and pretty much completely disoriented. Then he told us to imagine us being under intense fire, and then maybe we would have a glimpse of the utter chaos of combat in this countryside. Even so, I could not conceive of the horror of fighting on that landscape.
All in all, an enlightening exercise.
Posted by: Chef Mojo at May 5, 2006 07:49 PM
Image courtesy of the lovely and talented 