The Wilderness Campaign

In the spring of 1864 in the vast scrub forest that spread south from Virginia's Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee met in battle for the first time. The Wilderness campaign of May 5-6 initiated an epic confrontation between these two commanders - one that would finally end, eleven months later, with Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The contributors to this volume bring modern scholarship and fresh insight to bear on the issues and leaders of the Wilderness campaign. Their essays explore the campaign's background, for example, by training an often revisionist lens on expectations among civilians in the North and South, morale among officers and soldiers in both armies, and the strategic plans of Lee and Grant. Other essays assess the shaky performances of Union cavalry leaders Philip H. Sheridan and James Harrison Wilson, the controversial actions of Confederate corp commanders Richard S. Ewell and A. P. Hill, and the often overlooked service of Lewis A. Grant and his Vermont Brigade. Finally, two of the most famous elements of the fighting in the Wilderness - the "Lee to the Rear" episode and James Longstreet's flank attack - are reconstructed in impressive detail.