Battle of the Wilderness 1864
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 5 May 1864 – 7 May 1864 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1864 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | United States | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Civil War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 38.3175, -77.7564 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on May 5–7, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The fighting occurred in a wooded area near Locust Grove, Virginia, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Fredericksburg. Both armies suffered many casualties, nearly 29,000 in total, a harbinger of a war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and eventually against the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and then continued his offensive.
Grant attempted to move quickly through the dense underbrush of the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, but Lee launched two of his corps on parallel roads to intercept him. On the morning of May 5, the Union V Corps under Major General Gouverneur K. Warren attacked the Confederate Second Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell, on the Orange Turnpike. That afternoon the Third Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General A. P. Hill, encountered Brigadier General George W. Getty's division (VI Corps) and Major General Winfield S. Hancock's Union II Corps on the Orange Plank Road.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Wilderness (revision 1381179901), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Mine Run 1863 · 6 km
- Battle of Chancellorsville 1863 · 9 km
- Battle of Morton's Ford 1864 · 14 km
- Battle of Spotsylvania Court House 1864 · 17 km
- Battle of Kelly's Ford 1863 · 18 km
- Harris Farm Engagement 1864 · 20 km
Other battles of the American Civil War
- Siege of Suffolk 1863
- Siege of Vicksburg 1863
- Skirmish at Ashley's Mills 1863
- Skirmish near Brooklyn, Kansas 1863
- Skirmish of Sporting Hill 1863
- Action at Ashley's Station 1864
- Ambush of the steamboat J. R. Williams 1864
- Bahia incident 1864
- Battle of Adairsville 1864
- Battle of Albemarle Sound 1864
All 498 battles of the American Civil War →
Browse more: battles in United States · North America · 19th century battles