Battle of the Wilderness Civil War Union Army of the Potomac

Battle of the Wilderness

Union Army Order of Battle

Army of the Potomac

LTG Ulysses S. Grant, commanding

IX Corps

MG Ambrose Burnside*

Provost Guard

8th U.S. Infantry: Cpt Milton Cogswell

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
First Division BG Thomas G. Stevenson (k) MG Thomas Crittenden	1st Brigade Col Cumner Carruth	35th Massachusetts: Maj Nathaniel Wales 56th Massachusetts: Col Charles E. Griswold 57th Massachusetts: Col William F. Bartlett 59th Massachusetts: Col J. Parker Gould 4th United States: Cpt Charles H. Brightly 10th United States: Maj Samuel B. Hayman
	2nd Brigade Col Daniel Leasure	3rd Maryland: Col Joseph M. Sudsburg 21st Massachusetts: Ltc George P. Hawkes 100th Pennsylvania: Ltc Matthew M. Dawson
	Artillery	2nd Battery (B), Maine Light: Cpt Albert F. Thomas 14th Battery, Massachusetts Light: Cpt Joseph W. B. Wright
Second Division BG Robert B. Potter	1st Brigade Col Zenas Bliss	36th Massachusetts: Maj William F. Draper 58th Massachusetts: Ltc John C. Whiton 51st New York: Col Charles W. LeGendre 45th Pennsylvania: Col John I. Curtin 48th Pennsylvania: Ltc Henry Pleasants 7th Rhode Island: Cpt Theodore Winn
	2nd Brigade Col Simon Goodell Griffin	31st Maine: Ltc Thomas Hight 82nd Maine: Maj Arthur Deering 6th New Hampshire: Ltc Henry H. Pearson 9th New Hampshire: Ltc John W. Babbitt 11th New Hampshire: Col Walter Harriman 17th Vermont: Ltc Charles Cummings
	Artillery	11th Battery, Massachusetts Light: Cpt Edward J. Jones 19th Battery, New York Light: Cpt Edward W. Rogers
Third Division BG Orlando B. Wilcox	1st Brigade Col John F. Hartranft	2nd Michigan: Col William Humphrey 8th Michigan: Col Frank Graves 17th Michigan: Col Constant Luce 27th Michigan: Maj Samuel Moody 109th New York: Col Benjamin F. Tracy 51st Pennsylvania: Ltc Edwin Schall
	2nd Brigade Col Benjamin C. Christ	1st Michigan Sharpshooters: Col Charles V. De Land 20th Michigan: Ltc Byron M. Cutcheon 70th New York: Col David Morrison 60th Ohio: Ltc James N. McElroy 50th Pennsylvania: Ltc Edward Overton, Jr.
	Artillery	7th Battery (G), Maine Light: Cpt Adelbert B. Twitchell 34th Battery, New York Light: Cpt Jacob Roemer
Fourth Division BG Edward Ferrero	1st Brigade Col Joshua K. Sigfried	27th U. S. Colored Troops: Ltc Charles J. Wright 30th U.S. Colored Troops: Col Delayan Bates 39th U.S. Colored Troops: Col Ozora P. Stearns 43rd U.S. Colored Troops: Ltc H. Seymour Hall
	2nd Brigade Col Henry G. Thomas	30th Connecticut (colored), detachment: Cpt Charles Robinson 19th U.S. Colored Troops: Ltc Joseph G. Perkins 23rd U.S. Colored Troops: Ltc Cleaveland J. Campbell
	Artillery	Battery D, Pennsylvania Light: Cpt George W. Durell 3rd Battery, Vermont Light: Cpt Romeo H. Start
Cavalry	3rd New Jersey: Col Andrew J. Morrison 22nd New York: Col Samuel J. Crooks 2nd Ohio: Ltc George A. Purington 13th Pennsylvania: Maj Michael Kerwin
Reserve Artillery Cpt John Edwards, Jr.	27th Battery, New York Light: Cpt John B. Eaton Battery D, 1st Rhode Island Light: Cpt William W. Buckley Battery H, 1st Rhode Island Light: Cpt Crawford Allen, Jr. Battery E, 2nd United States: Lt James S. Dudley Battery G, 3rd United States: Lt Edmund Pendleton Batteries L and M, 3rd United States: Lt Erskine Gittings
Provisional Brigade Col Elisha Marshall	24th New York Cavalry (dismounted): Col William C. Raulston 14th New York Heavy Artillery: Ltc Clarence H. Corning 2nd Pennsylvania Provisional Heavy Artillery: Col Thomas Wilhelm

Army of the Potomac

MG George Meade

Headquarters units

Provost Guard
BG Marsena R. Patrick

1st Massachusetts Cavalry, Companies C and D: Cpt Edward A. Flint
80th New York Infantry (20th Militia): Col Theodore B. Gates
3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry: Maj James W. Walsh
68th Pennsylvania Infantry: Ltc Robert E. Winslow
114th Pennsylvania Infantry: Col Charles H. T. Collis

Volunteer Engineer Brigade
BG Henry W. Benham

15th New York Engineers: Maj William A. Ketchum
50th New York Engineers: Ltc Ira Spaulding
U.S. Engineer Battalion: Cpt George H. Mendell

Guards and Orderlies

Independent Company Oneida (New York) Cavalry: Cpt Daniel P. Mann

Artillery
BG Henry J. Hunt

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
Artillery Reserve Col Henry S. Burton	1st Brigade Col J. Howard Kitching	6th New York Heavy: Ltc Edmund R. Travis 15th New York Heavy: Col Louis Schirmer
	2nd Brigade Maj John A. Tompkins	5th Battery (E), Maine Light: Cpt Greenleaf T. Stevens Battery A, 1st New Jersey Light: Cpt William Hexamer Battery B, 1st New Jersey Light: Cpt A. Judson Clark 5th Battery, New York Light: Cpt Elijah D. Taft 12th Battery, New York Light: Cpt George F. McKnight Battery B, 1st New York Light: Cpt Albert S. Sheldon
	3rd Brigade Maj Robert H. Fitzhugh	9th Battery, Massachusetts Light: Cpt John Bigelow 15th Battery, New York Light: Cpt Patrick Hart Battery C, 1st New York Light: Lt William H. Phillips 11th Battery, New York Light: Cpt John E. Burton Battery H, 1st Ohio Light: Lt William A. Ewing Battery E, 5th United States: Lt John R. Brinckle

II Corps

MG Winfield S. Hancock

Escort

1st Vermont Cavalry, Company M: Cpt John H. Hazelton

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
First Division BG Francis C. Barlow	1st Brigade Col Nelson A. Miles	26th Michigan: Maj Lemuel Saviers 61st New York: Ltc K. Oscar Broady 81st Pennsylvania: Col H. Boyd McKeen 140th Pennsylvania: Col John Fraser 183rd Pennsylvania: Col George P. McLean
	2nd Brigade (Irish Brigade) Col Thomas Alfred Smyth	28th Massachusetts: Ltc George W. Cartwright 63rd New York: Maj Thomas Touhy 69th New York: Cpt Richard Moroney 88th New York: Cpt Denis F. Burke 116th Pennsylvania: Ltc Richard C. Dale
	3rd Brigade Col Paul Frank	39th New York: Col Augustus Funk 52nd New York: Maj Henry M. Karples 57th New York: Ltc Alford B. Chapman 111th New York: Cpt Aaron P. Seeley 125th New York: Ltc Aaron B. Myer 126th New York: Cpt Winfield Scott
	4th Brigade Col John R. Brooke	2nd Delaware: Col William P. Baily 64th New York: Maj Leman W. Bradley 66th New York: Ltc John S. Haremell 53rd Pennsylvania: Ltc Richards McMichael 145th Pennsylvania: Col Hiram L. Brown 148th Pennsylvania: Col James A. Beaver
Second Division BG John Gibbon Provost Guard 2nd Company Minnesota Sharpshooters: Cpt Mahlon Black	1st Brigade BG Alexander S. Webb	19th Maine: Col Selden Connor 1st Company Andrew (Massachusetts) Sharpshooters: Lt Samuel G. Gilbreth 15th Massachusetts: Maj I. Harris Hooper 19th Massachusetts: Maj Edmund Rice 20th Massachusetts: Maj Henry L. Abbott 7th Michigan: Maj Sylvanus W. Curtis 42nd New York: Maj Patrick J. Downing 59th New York: Cpt William McFadden 82nd New York: Col Henry W. Hudson
	2nd Brigade (Philadelphia Brigade) BG Joshua T. Owen	152nd New York: Ltc George W. Thompson 69th Pennsylvania: Maj William Davis 71st Pennsylvania: Ltc Charles Kochersperger 72nd Pennsylvania: Col De Witt C. Baxter 106th Pennsylvania: Cpt Robert H. Ford
	3rd Brigade Col Samuel S. Carroll	14th Connecticut: Col Theodore G. Ellis 1st Delaware: Ltc Daniel Woodall 14th Indiana: Col John Coons 12th New Jersey: Ltc Thomas H. Davis 10th New York Battalion: Cpt George M. Dewey 108th New York: Col Charles J. Powers 4th Ohio: Ltc Leonard W. Carpenter 8th Ohio: Ltc Franklin Sawyer 7th West Virginia: Ltc Jonathan H. Lockwood
Third Division MG David B. Birney	1st Brigade BG J. H. Hobart Ward	20th Indiana: Col William C. L. Taylor 3rd Maine: Col Moses B. Lakeman 40th New York: Col Thomas W. Egan 86th New York: Ltc Jacob H. Lansing 124th New York: Col Francis M. Cummins 99th Pennsylvania: Ltc Edwin R. Biles 110th Pennsylvania: Ltc Isaac Rogers 141st Pennsylvania: Ltc Guy H. Watkins 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters: Lc Homer R. Stoughton
Third Division MG David B. Birney	2nd Brigade BG Alexander Hays (k)	4th Maine: Col Elijah Walker 17th Maine: Col George W. West 3rd Michigan: Col Byron R. Pierce 5th Michigan: Ltc John Pulford 93rd New York: Maj Samuel McConihe 57th Pennsylvania: Col Peter Sides 63rd Pennsylvania: Ltc John A. Danks 105th Pennsylvania: Col Calvin A. Craig 1st U.S. Sharpshooters: Maj Charles P. Mattocks
Fourth Division BG Gershom Mott	1st Brigade Col Robert McAllister	1st Massachusetts: Col Napoleon B. McLaughlen 16th Massachusetts: Ltc Waldo Merriam 5th New Jersey: Col William J. Sewell 6th New Jersey: Ltc Stephen R. Gilkyson 7th New Jersey: Maj Frederick Cooper 8th New Jersey: Col John Ramsey 11th New Jersey: Ltc John Schoonover 26th Pennsylvania: Maj Samuel G. Moffett 115th Pennsylvania: Maj William A. Reilly
Fourth Division BG Gershom Mott	2nd Brigade Col William R. Brewster	11th Massachusetts: Col William Blaisdell 70th New York: Cpt William H. Hugo 71st New York: Ltc Thomas Rafferty 72nd New York: Ltc John Leonard 73rd New York: Ltc Michael W. Burns 74th New York: Col Thomas Holt 120th New York: Cpt Abram L. Lockwood 84th Pennsylvania: Ltc Milton Opp
Artillery Brigade Col John C. Tidball	6th Battery (F), Maine Light: Cpt Edwin B. Dow 10th Battery, Massachusetts Light: Cpt J. Henry Sleeper 1st Battery, New Hampshire Light: Cpt Frederick M. Edgell Battery G, 1st New York Light: Cpt Nelson Ames 3d Battalion, 4th New York Heavy: Ltc Thomas Allcock Battery F, 1st Pennsylvania Light: Cpt R. Bruce Ricketts Battery A, 1st Rhode Island Light: Cpt William A. Arnold Battery B, 1st Rhode Island Light: Cpt T. Frederick Brown Battery K, 4th United States: Lt John W. Roder Batteries C and I, 5th United States; Lt James Gilliss

V Corps

MG Gouverneur K. Warren
Provost Guard

l2th New York Battalion: Maj Henry W. Rider

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
First Division BG Charles Griffin	1st Brigade BG Romeyn B. Ayres	140th New York: Col George Ryan 146th New York: Col David T. Jenkins 91st Pennsylvania: Ltc Joseph H. Sinex 155th Pennsylvania: Ltc Alfred L. Pearson 2nd United States, Companies B, C, F, H, I, and K: Cpt James W. Long 11th United States, Companies B, C, D, E, F, and G, First Battalion: Cpt Francis M. Cooley 12th United States, Companies A, B, C, D, and G, 1st Battalion, and Companies A, C, D, F, and H, 2nd Battalion: Maj Luther B. Bruen 14th United States, 1st Battalion: Cpt Edward McK. Hudson 17th United States, Companies A, C, D, G, and H, 1st Battalion, and Companies A, B, and C, 2nd Battalion: Cpt James F. Grimes
	2nd Brigade Col Jacob B. Sweitzer	9th Massachusetts: Col Patrick Robert Guiney 22nd Massachusetts: Col William S. Tilton 32nd Massachusetts: Col George L. Prescott 4th Michigan: Ltc George W. Lurebard 62nd Pennsylvania: Ltc James C. Hull
	3rd Brigade BG Joseph J. Bartlett	20th Maine: Maj Ellis Spear 18th Massachusetts: Col Joseph Hayes 1st Michigan: Ltc William A.Throop 16th Michigan: Maj Robert T. Elliott 44th New York: Ltc Freeman Conner 83rd Pennsylvania: Col Orpheus S. Woodward 118th Pennsylvania: Col James Gwyn
Second Division BG John C. Robinson	1st Brigade Col Samuel H. Leonard	16th Maine: Col Charles W. Tilden 13th Massachusetts: Cpt Charles H. Hovey 89th Massachusetts: Col Phineas S. Davis 104th New York: Col Gilbert G. Prey
	2nd Brigade BG Henry Baxter	12th Massachusetts: Col James L. Bates 83rd New York: Col Joseph A. Moesch 97th New York: Col Charles Wheelock 11th Pennsylvania: Col Richard Coulter 88th Pennsylvania: Cpt George B. Rhoads 90th Pennsylvania: Col Peter Lyle
	3rd Brigade Col Andrew W. Denison	1st Maryland: Maj Benjamin H. Schley 4th Maryland: Col Richard N. Bowerman 7th Maryland: Col Charles E. Phelps 8th Maryland: Ltc John G. Johannes
Third Division BG Samuel W. Crawford	1st Brigade Col William McCandless	1st Pennsylvania Reserves: Col William C. Talley 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves: Ltc Patrick McDonough 6th Pennsylvania Reserves: Col Wellington H. Ent 7th Pennsylvania Reserves: Maj LeGrand B. Speece 11th Pennsylvania Reserves: Col Samuel M. Jackson 13th Pennsylvania Reserves (1st Rifles): Maj William R. Hartshorne
Third Division BG Samuel W. Crawford	3rd Brigade Col Joseph W. Fisher	5th Pennsylvania Reserves: Ltc George Dare 8th Pennsylvania Reserves: Col Silas M. Baily 10th Pennsylvania Reserves: Ltc Ira Ayer, Jr. 12th Pennsylvania Reserves: Ltc Richard Gustin
Fourth Division BG James S. Wadsworth	1st Brigade BG Lysander Cutler	7th Indiana: Col Ira G. Grover 19th Indiana: Col Samuel J. Williams 24th Michigan: Col Henry A. Morrow 1st New York Battalion Sharpshooters: Cpt Volney J. Shipman 2nd Wisconsin: Ltc John Mansfield 6th Wisconsin: Col Edward S. Bragg 7th Wisconsin: Col William W. Robinson
	2nd Brigade BG James C. Rice	76th New York: Ltc John E. Cook 84th New York: Col Edward B. Fowler 95th New York: Col Edward Pye 147th New York: Col Francis C. Miller 56th Pennsylvania: Col J. William Hofmann
	3rd Brigade Col Roy Stone	121st Pennsylvania: Cpt Samuel T. Lloyd 142nd Pennsy1vania: Maj Horatio N. Warren 143rd Pennsy1vania: Col Edmund L. Dana 149th Pennsy1vania: Ltc John Irvin 150th Pennsylvania: Cpt George W. Jones
Artillery Brigade Col Charles S. Wainwright	Battery C, Massachusetts Light: Cpt Augustus P. Martin Battery E, Massachusetts Light: Cpt Charles A. Phillips Battery D, 1st New York Light: Cpt George B. Winslow Batteries E and L, 1st New York Light: Lt George Breck Battery H, 1st New York Light: Cpt Charles E. Mink 2nd Battalion, 4th New York Heavy: Maj William Arthur Battery B, 1st Pennsylvania Light: Cpt James H. Cooper Battery B, 4th United States: Lt James Stewart Battery D, 5th United States: Lt Benjamin F. Rittenhouse

VI Corps

MG John Sedgwick

Escort

8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company A: Cpt Charles E. Fellows

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
First Division BG Horatio Wright	1st Brigade (First New Jersey Brigade) Col Henry W. Brown	1st New Jersey: Ltc William Henry, Jr. 2nd New Jersey: Ltc Charles Wiebecke 3rd New Jersey: Cpt Samuel T. DuBois 4th New Jersey: Ltc Charles Ewing 10th New Jersey: Col Henry O. Ryerson 15th New Jersey: Col William H. Penrose
	2nd Brigade Col Emory Upton	5th Maine: Col Clark S. Edwards 121st New York: Ltc Egbert Olcott 95th Pennsylvania: Ltc Edward Carroll 96th Pennsylvania: Ltc William H. Lessig
	2nd Brigade BG David Allen Russell	6th Maine: Maj George Fuller 49th Pennsylvania: Col Thomas Hulings 119th Pennsylvania: Maj Henry P. Truefitt, Jr. 5th Wisconsin: Ltc Theodore B. Catlin
	4th Brigade BG Alexander Shaler	65th New York: Col Joseph E. Hamblin 67th New York: Col Nelson Cross 122nd New York: Ltc Augustus W. Dwight 82nd Pennsylvania (detachment)
Second Division BG George W. Getty	1st Brigade BG Frank Wheaton	62nd New York: Col David J. Nevin 93rd Pennsylvania: Ltc John S. Long 98th Pennsylvania: Col John F. Ballier 102nd Pennsylvania: Col John W. Patterson 139th Pennsylvania: Ltc William H. Moody
	2nd Brigade (1st Vermont Brigade) Col Lewis A. Grant	2nd Vermont: Col Newton Stone 3rd Vermont: Col Thomas O. Seaver 4th Vermont: Col George P. Foster 5th Vermont: Ltc John R. Lewis 6th Vermont: Col Elisha L. Barney
	3rd Brigade BG Thomas H. Neill	7th Maine: Col Edwin C. Mason 43rd New York: Ltc John Wilson 49th New York: Col Daniel D. Bidwell 77th New York: Maj Nathan S. Babcock 61st Pennsylvania: Col George F. Smith
	4th Brigade BG Henry L. Eustis	7th Massachusetts: Col Thomas D. Johns 10th Massachusetts: Ltc Joseph B. Parsons 37th Massachusetts: Col Oliver Edwards 2nd Rhode Island: Ltc Samuel B. M. Read
Third Division BG James B. Ricketts	1st Brigade BG William H. Morris	14th New Jersey: Ltc Caldwell K. Hall 106th New York: Ltc Charles Townsend 151st New York: Ltc Thomas M. Fay 87th Pennsylvania: Col John W. Schall 10th Vermont: Ltc William W. Henry
Third Division BG James B. Ricketts	2nd Brigade BG Truman Seymour	6th Maryland: Col John W. Horn 110th Ohio: Col J. Warren Keifer 122nd Ohio: Col William H. Ball 126th Ohio: Col Benjamin F. Smith 67th Pennsylvania (detachment): Cpt George W. Guss 138th Pennsylvania: Col Matthew R. McClennan
Artillery Brigade Col Charles H. Tompkins	4th Battery (D), Maine Light: Lt Melville C. Kimball 1st Battery (A), Massachusetts Light: Cpt William H. McCartney 1st Battery, New York Light: Cpt Andrew Cowan 3rd Battery, New York Light: Cpt William A. Harn 1st Battalion, 4th New York Heavy: Maj Thomas D. Sears Battery C, 1st Rhode Island Light: Cpt Richard Waterman Battery E, 1st Rhode Island Light: Cpt William B. Rhodes Battery G, 1st Rhode Island Light: Cpt George W. Adams Battery M, 5th United States: Cpt James McKnight

Cavalry Corps

MG Philip Sheridan

Escort

6th United States: Cpt Ira W. Claflin

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
First Division BG Alfred T. A. Torbert	1st Brigade (Michigan Brigade) BG George A. Custer	1st Michigan: Ltc Peter Stagg 5th Michigan: Col Russell A. Alger 6th Michigan: Maj James H. Kidd 7th Michigan: Maj Henry W. Granger
	2nd Brigade Col Thomas Devin	4th New York: Ltc William R. Parnell 6th New York: Ltc William H. Crocker 9th New York: Col William Sackett 17th Pennsylvania: Ltc James Q. Anderson
	Reserve Brigade BG Wesley Merritt	19th New York (1st Dragoons): Col Alfred Gibbs 6th Pennsylvania: Maj James Starr 1st United States: Cpt Nelson B. Sweitzer 2nd United States: Cpt Theophilus F. Rodenbough 5th United States: Cpt Abraham K. Arnold
Second Division BG David McM. Gregg	1st Brigade BG Henry E. Davies, Jr.	1st Massachusetts: Maj Lucius M. Sargent 1st New Jersey: Ltc John W. Kester 6th Ohio: Col William Stedman 1st Pennsylvania: Col John P. Taylor
Second Division BG David McM. Gregg	2nd Brigade Col John Irvin Gregg	1st Maine: Col Charles H. Smith 10th New York: Maj M. Henry Avery 2nd Pennsylvania: Ltc Joseph P. Brinton 4th Pennsylvania: Ltc George H. Covode 8th Pennsylvania: Ltc Samuel Wilson 16th Pennsylvania: Ltc John K. Robison
Third Division BG James H. Wilson Escort 8th Illinois (detachment): Lt William W. Long	1st Brigade Col Timothy M. Bryan, Jr. Col John Baillie McIntosh	1st Connecticut: Maj Erastus Blakeslee 2nd New York: Col Otto Harhaus 5th New York: Ltc John Hammond 18th Pennsylvania: Ltc William P. Brinton
	2nd Brigade Col George H. Chapman	3rd Indiana: Maj William Patton 8th New York: Ltc William H. Benjamin 1st Vermont: Ltc Addison W. Preston
Horse Artillery	1st Brigade Cpt James M. Robertson	6th Battery, New York Light: Cpt Joseph W. Martin Batteries B and L, 2nd United States: Lt Edward Heaton Battery D, 2nd United States: Lt Edward B. Williston Battery M, 2nd United States: Lt Alexander C. M. Pennington, Jr. Battery A, 4th United States: Lt Rufus King, Jr. Batteries C and E, 4th United States: Lt Charles L. Fitzhugh
Horse Artillery	2nd Brigade Cpt Dunbar R. Ransom	Batteries E and G, 1st United States: Lt Frank S. French Batteries H and I, 1st United States: Cpt Alanson M. Randol Battery K, 1st United States: Lt John Egan Battery A, 2nd United States: Lt Robert Clarke Battery G, 2nd United States: Lt William N. Dennison Batteries C, F, and K, 3rd United States: Lt James R. Kelly

* The Army of the Potomac and the IX Corps were treated as separate commands at the start of the Overland Campaign. This was done since Burnside was senior in rank to Meade and would therefore assume command of the army if the IX Corps was assigned to it. Grant wished to retain Meade in command of the army, so he had both men report directly to himself. This created troubles in coordinating attacks and movements between the two commands, so on May 24, 1864, Burnside agreed to be placed under the command of Meade.

Key

Military Rank
Gen = General
LTG = Lieutenant General
MG = Major General
BG = Brigadier General
Col = Colonel
Ltc = Lieutenant Colonel
Maj = Major
Cpt = Captain
Lt = Lieutenant

Other
w = wounded
mw = mortally wounded
k = killed
c = capture

References: Rhea, Gordon C. The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7-12, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997; ----- To The North Anna River: Grant and Lee May 13-25, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000; Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.

Recommended Reading: Battle in the Wilderness: Grant Meets Lee (Civil War Campaigns and Commanders), by Grady McWhiney. Description: Designed for those beginning to cultivate an interest in the Civil War, enthusiasts and scholars alike will soon discover the treasure of information contained within the pages of these books. Photographs, biographical sketches and detailed maps are used to illustrate the events of the unfolding drama as each author remains sharply focused on the particular story at hand. Separate and complete, each book conveys the agony, glory, death and wreckage of America's greatest tragedy.

Advance to:

Battle of the Wilderness

Battle of the Wilderness: Confederate Army Order of Battle: Army of Northern Virginia

Overland Campaign

Battle of the Wilderness: Virginia and the Civil War

Virginia Civil War History

Battle of the Wilderness (Overview)

Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia

Battle of the Wilderness: Timeline

Battle of the Wilderness: Battlefield Positions

Battle of Todd's Tavern

Recommended Reading: The Battle Of The Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864, by Gordon C. Rhea. From Publishers Weekly: Rhea, a Virginia attorney, offers what will likely become the definitive account of one of the Civil War's most confusing engagements: the Battle of the Wilderness, the first encounter between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, fought in Virginia. The author's reconstruction of the fighting highlights the difficulties of controlling troops once they had been committed to action. Grant's original plan was to maneuver Lee out of his defensive position along the Rapidan River, then crush his troops with superior numbers. Instead, Rhea notes, the Wilderness became a "soldiers' battle," with raw courage compensating for inadequate generalship on both sides. Continued below…

Grant relied too heavily on the Army of the Potomac's commander, George Gordon Meade, who failed to coordinate the movements of subordinates disoriented by the broken ground they fought over. Rhea also criticizes Lee for consistently taking the offensive with an army that could not afford the major losses it sustained in attacking. History Book Club main selection.

Recommended Reading: Commanding the Army of the Potomac (Modern War Studies) (Hardcover). Description: During the Civil War, thirty-six officers in the Army of the Potomac were assigned corps commands of up to 30,000 men. Collectively charged with leading the Union's most significant field army, these leaders proved their courage in countless battlefields from Gettysburg to Antietam to Cold Harbor. Unfortunately, courage alone was not enough. Their often dismal performances played a major role in producing this army's tragic record, one that included more defeats than victories despite its numerical and materiel superiority. Stephen Taaffe takes a close look at this command cadre, examining who was appointed to these positions, why they were appointed, and why so many of them ultimately failed to fulfill their responsibilities. He demonstrates that ambitious officers such as Gouverneur Warren, John Reynolds, and Winfield Scott Hancock employed all the weapons at their disposal, from personal connections to exaggerated accounts of prowess in combat, to claw their way into these important posts. Continued below...

Once appointed, however, Taaffe reveals that many of these officers failed to navigate the tricky and ever-changing political currents that swirled around the Army of the Potomac. As a result, only three of them managed to retain their commands for more than a year, and their machinations caused considerable turmoil in the army's high command structure. Taaffe also shows that their ability or inability to get along with generals such as George McClellan, Ambrose Burnside, Joseph Hooker, George Meade, and Ulysses Grant played a big role in their professional destinies. In analyzing the Army of the Potomac's corps commanders as a group, Taaffe provides a new way of detailing this army's chronic difficulties-one that, until now, has been largely neglected in the literature of the Civil War.

Recommended Reading: Trench Warfare under Grant and Lee: Field Fortifications in the Overland Campaign (Civil War America) (Hardcover). Description: In the study of field fortifications in the Civil War that began with Field Armies and Fortifications in the Civil War, Hess turns to the 1864 Overland campaign to cover battles from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor. Drawing on meticulous research in primary sources and careful examination of trench remnants at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, and Bermuda Hundred, Hess describes Union and Confederate earthworks and how Grant and Lee used them in this new era of field entrenchments.

Recommended Reading: In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee: The Wilderness Through Cold Harbor (Hardcover), by Gordon C. Rhea (Author), Chris E. Heisey (Photographer). Description: In early May 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant initiated a drive through central Virginia to crush Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. For forty days, the armies fought a grinding campaign from the Rapidan River to the James River that helped decide the course of the Civil War. Several of the war's bloodiest engagements occurred in this brief period: the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the North Anna River, Totopotomoy Creek, Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor. Pitting Grant and Lee against one another for the first time in the war, the Overland Campaign, as this series of battles and maneuvers came to be called, represents military history at its most intense. In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee, a unique blend of narrative and photographic journalism from Gordon C. Rhea, the foremost authority on the Overland Campaign, and Chris E. Heisey, a leading photographer of Civil War battlefields, provides a stunning, stirring account of this deadly game of wits and will between the Civil War's foremost military commanders. Continued below…

Here, Grant fought and maneuvered to flank Lee out of his heavily fortified earthworks. And Lee demonstrated his genius as a defensive commander, countering Grant's every move. Adding to the melee were cavalry brawls among the likes of Philip H. Sheridan, George A. Custer, James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, and Wade Hampton. Forty days of combat produced horrific casualties, some 55,000 on the Union side and 35,000 on the Confederate. By the time Grant crossed the James and began the Siege of Petersburg, marking an end to this maneuver, both armies had sustained significant losses that dramatically reduced their numbers. Rhea provides a rich, fast-paced narrative, movingly illustrated by more than sixty powerful color images from Heisey, who captures the many moods of these hallowed battlegrounds as they appear today. Heisey made scores of visits to the areas where Grant and Lee clashed, giving special attention to lesser-known sites on byways and private property. He captures some of central Virginia's most stunning landscapes, reminding us that though battlefields conjure visions of violence, death, and sorrow, they can also be places of beauty and contemplation. Accompanying the modern pictures are more than twenty contemporary photographs taken during the campaign or shortly afterwards, some of them never before published. At once an engaging military history and a vivid pictorial journey, In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee offers a fresh vision of some of the country's most significant historic sites. Includes 61 color illustrations and 15 maps.

Recommended Reading: Bloody Roads South: The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, May-June 1864, by Noah Andre Trudeau. From Publishers Weekly: Ulysses Grant's relentless hammering tactics prevented Robert E. Lee from regaining the strategic initiative in 1864, although the Southern general's defensive operations during May-June of that year are regarded by many as his greatest military accomplishment. It was during this campaign that Grant came to be called "The Butcher" because of the horrendous casualties he was willing to accept as he ordered assault after assault. Continued below…

He did not retreat after suffering tactical defeats in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse and Cold Harbor, but continued to push his troops ever closer to the rebel capital of Richmond. Not a formal campaign study, this is a dramatic account told through the eyes of soldiers, civilians and government leaders. One of the elements that historian Trudeau dramatizes is the shifting emotional reaction of President Lincoln as he worried whether Grant would prove as faint-hearted as other generals who had faced Lee in the field. When word was brought from Grant that "There is no turning back," the president literally kissed the messenger, for this was probably the most important of several historic turning-points in the four-year Civil War. Includes numerous illustrations.

Recommended Reading: The Wilderness Campaign (Military Campaigns of the Civil War), Gary W. Gallagher (ed.). Description: In the spring of 1864, in the vast Virginia scrub forest known as the Wilderness, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee first met in battle. The Wilderness campaign of May 5-6 initiated an epic confrontation between these two Civil War commanders—one that would finally end, eleven months later, with Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Continued below…

The eight essays here assembled explore aspects of the background, conduct, and repercussions of the fighting in the Wilderness. Through an often-revisionist lens, contributors to this volume focus on topics such as civilian expectations for the campaign, morale in the two armies, and the generalship of Lee, Grant, Philip H. Sheridan, Richard S. Ewell, A. P. Hill, James Longstreet, and Lewis Armistead. Taken together, these essays revise and enhance existing work on the battle, highlighting ways in which the military and nonmilitary spheres of war intersected in the Wilderness.

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