The Battle of the Wilderness, which took place between May 5th and 7th, 1864, was a brutal, drawn out encounter between Union's Army of the Potomac and the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia. Aptly named, the battle took place on ground adjacent to the Chancellorsville Battlefield of 1863, and the fighting took place in thick, wooded terrain that neither army was at a truly great advantage. Although Robert E Lee's Confederate Army did come out as the technical winner, Ulysses S Grant took the Army of the Potomac to other ground, forcing Lee to move deeper into Virginia, breaking a long cycle of Union invasions and retreats.
More than a month ago, I was travelling to the US Marine Corps Museum in Quantico Virginia, and I saw the sign for a visitors site. At this place, a battery of Union 12 pound guns were unlimbered, firing into oncoming ranks of Confederate infantry, before being abandoned as the position was overrun. And I was standing there, getting goosebumps, as I thought about the events that had taken place in that field. Later, I drove past the site where General "Stonewall" Jackson had been shot by his own men during the Battle of Chancellorsville. I have been finding history all over Virginia, and I have only begun to explore it. Look forward to more in the coming months.
More than a month ago, I was travelling to the US Marine Corps Museum in Quantico Virginia, and I saw the sign for a visitors site. At this place, a battery of Union 12 pound guns were unlimbered, firing into oncoming ranks of Confederate infantry, before being abandoned as the position was overrun. And I was standing there, getting goosebumps, as I thought about the events that had taken place in that field. Later, I drove past the site where General "Stonewall" Jackson had been shot by his own men during the Battle of Chancellorsville. I have been finding history all over Virginia, and I have only begun to explore it. Look forward to more in the coming months.