-
Battle begins
Warren's troops were advancing over farm lanes toward the plank road when Confederate troops appeared in the west. Grant was told of them and he said"If any opportunity presents itself of pitching into a part of Lee's army, do so without giving time for disposition." Meade stopped his advance and directed Warren to attack, on the assumption that the Confederates that appeared were a smaller group and not an entire infintry corps. -
Battle starts to unfold
-
Warrens artillery
Warren decided to attack so he ordered in some artillery to support it, but it was captured by Confederate soldiers, who got pinned down and they could not move the artillery untill nightfall. During hand to hand combat around the guns, the field caught fire and the men from both sides watched as their comrades burned to death. -
End of first day for Turnpike
Sedgwick's troops reached Saunders Field at 3 p.m.,by that time Warren's men had stopped fighting, so Sedgwick attacked Ewell's line in the northern woods of the Turnpike and both sides had an hour of a stalemate before each disengaged to erect earthworks. During the fight Confederate Brig. Gen. Leroy A. Stafford was shot by a bullet that severed his spine paralyzing him from the waist down. -
Turns out he he was right
Turns out Warren was right, as Brig. Gen. Romeyn B. Ayres's troops advanced they had to take cover from enfilade fire. Mean while Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Bartlett was making better progress. Theywere able to overrun Brig. Gen. John M. Jones position and kill him. However due to Ayres's lack ofadvancement they had to retreat so they wouldnt be flanked. Bartlett just barely escaped being captured. -
On Barlett's left
Brig. Gen. Lysander Cutler's Iron Brigade were advancing to the south in the fields when they attacked Cullen A. Battle's troops and started pushing them back. However with the help of Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon the Conffederates counter attacked and forced the Iron Brigade to retreat. Even further left the troops of Col. Roy Stone and Brig. Gen. James C. Rice were attacking the troops of Brig. Gen. Junius Daniel and Brig. Gen. George P. Doles. They failed and were ordered to retreat. -
Orange plank road
A.P. Hill's tried a sneak attack but was detected by Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford's men; Meade ordered the troops of Brig. Gen. George W. Getty to defend the Orange Plank Road and the Brock Road. Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson, employing repeating carbines, they succeeded in briefly delaying Hill's approach. Luckily, Getty's men arrived just before Hill's and the two forces briefly fought ending with Hill's men retreating a few hundred yards west of the intersection. -
History was almost changed
Lee established his headquarters at the Widow Tapp's farm. Jeb Stuart, Hill, and Lee, were meeting there when a group of union soldiers entered the clearing. The three generals ran for safety and the Union troops, returned to the woods, unaware that they had a chance to end the war right there. -
End of the first day
Meade sent orders to Hancock directing him to move his troops north to come to Getty's assistance. By 4 p.m., initial elements of Hancock's corps were arriving and Meade ordered Getty to assault the Confederate line. As the Union men approached the position of Maj. Gen. Henry Heth, they were pinned down by fire from a shallow ridge. As Union troops arrived, Hancock sent them forward bringing enough combat power to bear that Lee had to commit his reserves, commanded by Maj. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox. -
Meade already makes a mistake
Warren approached on the eastern end with the division of Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin on the right and the division of Brig. Gen. James Wadsworth on his left, he was hesitant to attack because the Confederate position streched out past Griffin's right, this would mean that they would be subjected to enfilade fire. So he requested a delay from Meade so that more troops could be brought in to extend the line Meade didnt want to delay however and foolishley ordered Warren to attack the confederates. -
Period: to
Battle
-
Longstreet to the rescue
Before a total collapse, Longstreet’s reinforcements arrived at 6 a.m. Longstreet counterattacked with the troops of Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Kershawon his right and Maj. Gen. Charles W. Field on his left. The Union troops, were completely disorganized from their earlier assault, could not resist and retreated a few hundred yards from the Widow Tapp farm. However the victory came at a cost, only 250 out of the 800 men were uninjured. -
Union troops recover
Eventually the darkness and the dense foliage took their toll as the Union flank recovered. Sedgwick's line was extended overnight to the Germanna Plank Road. For years after the war, Gordon complained about the delay in approving his attack, claiming "the greatest opportunity ever presented to Lee's army was permitted to pass. -
Stop shooting your generals
The Virginians believed the mounted party were Federals and opened fire, severely wounding Longstreet and killing a brigade commander. Longstreet was able to turn over his command directly to Charles Field. Despite this the Confederate line fell into confusion and before a vigorous new assault could be organized, Hancock's line stabilized itself behind earthworks at the Brock Road. The following day, Lee appointed Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson to temporary command of the First Corps. -
Gordon's flanking
At the Turnpike, inconclusive fighting proceeded for most of the day. Early in the morning, John B. Gordon scouted the Union line and recommended to his division commander, Jubal Early, that he conducts a flanking attack. Ewellafter some delay authorized him to go ahead shortly before dark. Gordon's attack made good progress against inexperienced New York troops who had spent the war up until this time manning the artillery defenses of Washington, D.C. -
Beging of the second day
Hancock's troops attacked Hill at 5 a.m., overwhelming the Third Corps. However Ewell's men on the Turnpike had actually attacked first, at 4:45 a.m., but continued to be immobilized by attacks from Sedgwick's and Warren's troops and could not be relied upon for assistance. Lt. Col. William T. Poague's guns at the Widow Tapp farm fired endlessly, but they could not stem the union advance and Confederate soldiers retreated. -
The railroad rout
Longstreet's engineer reported that he had explored an unfinished railroad south of the Plank Road and that it offered access to the Union left flank. Longstreet assigned his aide, Lt. Col. Moxley Sorrel, to the task of leading four fresh brigades along the railroad for a surprise attack. Sorrel and the senior brigade commander, Brig. Gen. William Mahone, struck at 11 a.m. Hancock later wrote that the attack rolled up his line "like a wet blanket." -
Longstreet attacks
At the same time, Longstreet resumed his main attack, driving Hancock's men back to the Brock Road, and mortally wounding Brig. Gen. James S. Wadsworth. Longstreet rode forward on the Plank Road with several of his officers and encountered some of Mahone's men returning from their successful attack. -
Grant is done with the wilderness
Instead of attacking the Confederates again Grant decided that he’s just going to leave. He started marching toward the Spotsylvania Court House. This started the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
