ON THIS DAY ·
Battle of the Wilderness
5–7 May 1864 — Grant’s first battle against Lee is a two-day inferno in burning scrub: 18,000 Union casualties. Then, at the Brock Road crossroads, the army turns south instead of back — and the men cheer. This general does not retreat.
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The moment in context
Grant’s plan coordinated several advances in the same weeks, and although the secondary drives often failed, they still limited Confederate movement. In Virginia the veterans on both sides built earthworks within hours of halting, and rifled weapons made frontal assault especially deadly. Lee inflicted heavy losses in the tangled fighting, but Grant broke with every predecessor by refusing to retreat north after each battle, shifting his army south instead until it crossed the James River and threatened Petersburg, the rail junction that supplied Richmond.
From Overland and Atlanta campaigns, chapter 9 of The American Civil War, 1840–1877 (JUL 1864).
The place: Battle of the Wilderness — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — Grant’s theory of simultaneity. Since 1861 the Confederacy had survived by railroad. Losing one theater’s battle and lending its divisions to another’s (Chickamauga itself was won…
- The turn — The Brock Road crossroads, 7 May 1864. After two days of horror in the burning scrub. A battle Lee arguably won on points. The Army of the Potomac expected the familiar ritual: retreat,…
- What it changed — Petersburg: the siege that is not called one. Pinned to Richmond’s rail junction, Lee’s army digs thirty miles of works it cannot afford to man. Grant extends left, railroad by railroad, for…
Then ask the room: Was Grant a “butcher” — and what would answering that question rigorously require? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
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