John Reeves - A Fire in the Wilderness: The First Battle Between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee

A Fire in the Wilderness

The First Battle Between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee

John Reeves

"Hauntingly evokes the human drama of one of the Civil War's most horrific battles."

Brian Matthew Jordan, Pulitzer Prize Finalist

A FIRE IN THE WILDERNESS

Pegasus Books, Ltd.

148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor

New York, NY 10018

Copyright 2021 by John Reeves

First Pegasus Books cloth edition May 2021

All images unless otherwise noted, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Interior design by Maria Fernandez

Jacket design: Faceout Studio, Amanda Hudson

Imagery: Bridgeman Images

Author photo credit: Laurence Genon

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-64313-700-1

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-64313-701-8

Distributed by Simon & Schuster

www.pegasusbooks.com

To Justine with gratitude

Those hot, sad, wrenching timesthe army of volunteers, all States,or North or Souththe wounded, suffering, dyingthe exhausting, sweating summers, marches, battles, carnagethose trenches hurriedly heapd by the corpse-thousands, mainly unknownWill the America of the futurewill this vast rich Union ever realize what itself cost, back there after all?those hecatombs of battle-deathsThose times of which, O far-off reader, this whole book is indeed finally but a reminiscent memorial from thence by me to you?

Walt Whitman

Organization of Union forces under Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant on the morning of May 4, 1864.

ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

Major General George G. Meade

SECOND ARMY CORPS

Major General Winfield S. Hancock

FIRST DIVISION

Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow

SECOND DIVISION

Brigadier General John Gibbon

THIRD DIVISION

Major General David B. Birney

FOURTH DIVISION

Brigadier General Gershom Mott

FIFTH ARMY CORPS

Major General Gouverneur K. Warren

FIRST DIVISION

Brigadier General Charles Griffin

SECOND DIVISION

Brigadier General John C. Robinson

THIRD DIVISION

Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford

FOURTH DIVISION

Brigadier General James Wadsworth

SIXTH ARMY CORPS

Major General John Sedgwick

FIRST DIVISION

Brigadier General Horatio G. Wright

SECOND DIVISION

Brigadier General George W. Getty

THIRD DIVISION

Brigadier General James B. Ricketts

NINTH ARMY CORPS (reporting directly to Gen. Grant)

Major General Ambrose E. Burnside

FIRST DIVISION

Brigadier General Thomas G. Stevenson

SECOND DIVISION

Brigadier General Robert B. Potter

THIRD DIVISION

Brigadier General Orlando B. Willcox

FOURTH DIVISION

Brigadier General Edward Ferrero

CAVALRY CORPS

Major General Philip H. Sheridan

FIRST DIVISION

Brigadier General Alfred T. A. Torbert

SECOND DIVISION

Brigadier General David McMurtrie Gregg

THIRD DIVISION

Brigadier General James H. Wilson

It is an approved maxim in war, never to do what the enemy wishes you to do, for this reason alone, that he desires it. A field of battle, therefore, which he has previously studied and reconnoitered, should be avoided, and double care should be taken where he has had time to fortify or entrench.

Napoleon Bonaparte

T he Army of the Potomac began to move during the early morning hours of Wednesday, May 4, 1864. The general-in-chief of the Union Army, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, believed a head start under the cover of darkness might allow his troops to cross the Rapidan River quickly and then pass through the Wildernessa tangled forest of underbrush and thicketsbefore a battle could take place with General Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia. The coming spring campaign would be the first contest between Grant and Lee, the two most successful military leaders of the war. Not since Napoleon fought the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo in 1815 had two such celebrated commanders faced one another in the field.

As the soldiers marched in long, blue columns during a pleasantly warm morning, they knew a murderous struggle was imminent. Before breaking camp, many of the men had notified their loved ones about what lay ahead. In a few days you will probably hear of the greatest battle yet fought in America, Lieutenant Uberto Burnham of the 76th New York Infantry informed his mother. If successful, Richmond and all Virginia will soon be ours. If we are defeated, Lee will probably again invade the northern states.

Private Charles Biddlecom, who served in Rices brigade, tried to be philosophical in a letter to his wife, Everything indicates an early move and when you will hear from me again I cannot tell. Perhaps never, but I will try and not expose myself to danger that can be avoided. Esther, if I am killed do not mourn, but try and think that everything is ordained for the best. Teach my children to believe that Charlie died a glorious death and above all things, teach them to hate and despise a slaveholder as the meanest of beings.

Across the North and South, everyone wondered if this might be the last campaign of the war. General Lee, lacking in provisions and a sustainable supply of fresh troops, hoped to encourage the peace movement in the North by delivering a quick and decisive blow against Grants army. In a letter to his son, Rooney, in late April, Lee wrote, Our Country demands all our thoughts, all our energies. To resist the powerful Combination now forming against us, will require every man at his place. If victorious we have everything to hope for in the future. If defeated, nothing will be left us to live for. The Confederate general added, This week will in all probability bring us active work & we must strike fast & strong. My whole trust is in God, & I am ready for whatever he may ordain. The stakes for this battle were especially high for Lee personally. At that moment, Union troops occupied his beloved estate at Arlington, Virginia.

Unfortunately for Grant, only the complete destruction of the Army of Northern Virginia would be viewed as a success by his countrymen, who were tired of war. Failure would lead to cries for an armistice and might even result in the victory of a peace candidate in the fall presidential election. Quite simply, if the Rebels drove Grant back across the river, as they had Union Generals George McClellan, Ambrose Burnside, and Joseph Hooker before him, it could mean the end of the Union. Understandably, soldiers and citizens from all parts of America were apprehensive on the eve of the spring campaign. As Grant succinctly put it, The two armies had been confronting each other so long, without any decisive result, that they hardly knew which could whip.