M.B. HENRY 
Fire in the Wilderness
May, 1864.
Spring had arrived in the state of Virginia, but so had the Union army. It wasn’t the first time, either. Since 1861, the boys in blue had slugged it out, and lost, against the formidable General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. These fights carried a heavy price tag too. Thousands of soldiers lay buried under Virginia’s thick soil. Countless more bore wounds from physical scars, or the painful emotional blows from the hell they endured. That said nothing of the civilians caught in the crossfire, who lost their lives, their homes, and their precious family members who never returned from the fields. Few tables across the country escaped the tragic vacant chair.
While the losses stacked up in the Eastern Theater, one general in the West had quietly started beating the odds. General Ulysses S. Grant gained his first victories early in the war, with the captures of Forts Henry and Donelson. Although the bloody battle of Shiloh proved a bit of a setback (rumor had it rebel forces caught him drunk and unawares), the rest of Grant’s Civil War record was pretty clean. His crowning achievement came with the battle of Vicksburg. A months-long siege ended on July 4th, 1863 with a victorious Grant, and a city that refused to celebrate Independence Day for more than eighty years after the war.
Trenches in the Wilderness
As 1863 waned into 1864, and the Army of the Potomac suffered more and more setbacks, Abe Lincoln took notice of the hardened General Grant. By then, he went by the nickname “Unconditional Surrender.” Despite his rumored Achilles heel of alcohol, Abe Lincoln had found a fighter. He turned to Grant to take the reins of the embattled Army of the Potomac. Someone had to beat General Lee.
That’s just what Grant marched into Virginia to do. By May of 1864, spring had thawed the grasslands. Wildflower super blooms marked the places of last year’s fallen. Buds appeared on the trees, especially in a place known locally as “the Wilderness.”
Unsuitable for farming or even habitation, the Wilderness was a tangled mess of giant evergreens, young saplings, vines, and undergrowth. No one could navigate through the thick, snarled branches. People couldn’t see in the dim forest, with no carved-out paths or trails. The thick shrubs left little room for marching or battle formations. It was, to sum it up, a horrible place to even think about fighting a battle. Yet, in the opening offensive of 1864, Lee and Grant clashed here for the first time.
While Lee and Grant had never faced off before, veterans of both armies stood on familiar ground. Just a year previous, the Union had suffered one of its worst defeats in this exact area. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, storming rebels in gray had routed the entire Union flank. Although it cost them one of their best generals, the Confederacy marched away victorious. Now, almost a year later, the rebs were ready for another go, and they had the upper hand. Many of their soldiers were hunters and woodsmen who knew the area cold. They were also hardened veterans who wouldn’t back down from a fight.
As for the Union army, death and injury had severely thinned its veteran ranks. Although they had massive amounts of replacements, they weren’t exactly the cream of the crop of soldiers. Criminals and bounty hunters formed a large share of the new ranks. Boys who hadn’t even set foot near a battlefield plugged the empty gaps. Amongst more experienced men, morale had hit an all-time low. A bloody offensive was the last thing they wanted or needed. Grant, as tough as he was, had his work cut out.
The first shots of the Battle of the Wilderness opened on May 5, 1864. As could be expected, it didn’t take long for the Union army to get bogged down in the treacherous ground. They lost track of all battle lines and formal commands. The thick trees scattered the regiments and ranks. Fighting broke down to every man for himself, and they had nothing to go on except the scatters of light from enemy rifles. And there were plenty of rifles, and cannons, and artillery. So much lead flew around the forest that leaves and twigs fell like a rain shower. Smoke billowed through the trees and further restricted visibility. It was much more than any soldier had bargained for.
R.E. McBride of the Union Blue writes – “… All we could see of the enemy was the flash of their guns. … From 4 o’clock on we were into it all along the line, hot and heavy, teeth and nails, nip and tuck. It was a continuous roar of musketry, rising and swelling like the sound of surf pounding on the shore…. About dark, the roar died away and we began to look around… Matters are exceedingly confused, and some of our men sleep in the Rebel lines but not as prisoners.”
Charles Weygant of the 124th New York didn’t experience it any better – “The terrible tempest of disaster swept on down the Union line, beating back brigade after brigade… until upwards of twenty thousand veterans were fleeing, every man for himself, through the disorganizing and already blood-stained woods toward the Union rear… Hancock’s officers… planted their colors on nearly every rising piece of ground they came to; and, waving their swords and gnashing their teeth shrieked the order “Rally, men, rally,” but to no purpose.”
By the time night fell, Union losses had mounted to horrific heights. They had given up most of their ground, and countless bodies in blue rags speckled the Wilderness. The forest’s cloak of darkness refused entrance to medical units. Disembodied cries echoed through the woods, lost soldiers stumbled around to find their regiments, and scattered sniper fire kept everyone on their toes. That would be bad enough on its own, but for an unfortunate many deep in the woods, things grew ten times worse.
During the heat of the battle, spark showers from thousands of rifles had ignited the dead leaves and underbrush in the Wilderness. With all the branches and twigs around, the fire had plenty of food, and it fast grew out of control. The Wilderness went from the hell of a battlefield to the hell of a burning inferno.
Blue or gray, soldiers scattered in any direction they hoped was away from the flames, which took down anything in their path. The woods grew so hot that many an unlucky soldier had his ammunition pouch ignited on his waist. Smoke choked off the exits, as did crashing limbs and falling embers. The wounded had it the worst of all. Since most were incapacitated, they could do nothing but scream as the flames closed in on them, and then devoured them, one by one.
“…With crackling roar like an army… it came down upon the Union line,” writes Union Private Warren Lee Goss of the fires. “The wind drove the blinding smoke and suffocating heat into our faces. This, added to the oppressive heat of the weather, was almost unendurable…The men fought the enemy and the flames at the same time. Their hair and beards were singed and their faces blistered….”
It’s a hellish scenario that is hard to even imagine. Two enemy armies desperate to escape, while the heat of the flames pressed in, and human screams cut the air. Yet, these moments of darkness can also set the stage for unprecedented acts of human compassion.
In 2016, my husband and I toured many of the Civil War battlefields, including the Wilderness. I’d say it’s a hollowed ground that’s not well known today. Fights like Gettysburg, and the bloody climax of the war’s final days, sort of overshadow it. Perhaps that’s why we didn’t encounter many others as we walked through the quiet woods, took in the fading trenches and cannon emplacements, and wondered what it must have been like all those years ago.
While we walked about, we came upon a plaque that told about the fires of May 5. Relegated to a side note in many histories of this battle, this plaque reminded viewers of the horrors of that night. It also stated that “both sides” worked together to try and carry wounded out of the flames.
Both sides. Boy did that get my wheels turning. The thought moved me almost to tears as I imagined blue and gray-clad soldiers throwing their weapons down and picking up anything they could use as a stretcher instead. I imagined the peril they put their own lives in to try and rescue their fellow soldiers, no matter what side they fought for.
As powerful as that must have been, it’s one of the few known instances of fraternizing between these two armies in the Overland Campaign. Just a few days after his troops had been beaten bloody and incinerated in the Wilderness, Grant put them back on the march toward Spotsylvania, which devolved into an even bigger bloodbath (click here to read about it).
With the Overland Campaign, Grant brought the Eastern Theater a whole new type of war. Grand marches, pompous parades, and mass army movements disappeared. Strutting and feather-preening for fancy officers became a thing of the past. There was no more withdrawing and licking wounds after every defeat. Instead, Grant pushed attack after attack after attack. A soldier’s shovel became just as important as his gun. For the entirety of May and into June, men on both sides got fed to the cannons until the war settled down to a siege in Petersburg, and Trench Warfare was born.
It is an ugly chapter of history, but I couldn’t stop thinking about that plaque in the Wilderness. That quiet plaque that made a scant mention of something that should never be forgotten. The fact that even when the world burns around us, humans know what the right thing to do is. It moves something deep down inside.
It was a strange (and heartbreaking) coincidence that as I researched and wrote this article, the beloved Cathedral Notre Dame in Paris burned. As I watched the updates, I could only sob. It was devastating for all of us. Yet, in the middle of that terrible day came unity. In a time of great division, people from all over the world reached out to France. French people banded together and prayed and sang hymns in the streets. Thousands of people asked how they could help. Because that’s what being a human is.
Moments like this, and the story of the fires in the Wilderness, give me profound hope in human kind. There is so much pain in the world, and it sometimes forces many innocent people into impossible situations. Yet, even in those darkest hours, the light emerges. People cast off their guns and put out a helping hand. Even though it feels like the world is on fire, I know there are people who will spread the light. Whether in blue, or whether in gray.
BONUS ROUND! Some of you might have heard of the fantastic, and out-of-this-world super bloom that went on with the California Poppies this year. My husband and I were fortunate to be able to go and see them. It was like nothing I have ever seen. Please enjoy the photos by clicking here.
SOURCES
“The Battle of the Wilderness” – G.C. Rhea
“Bloody Roads South” – N.A. Trudeau
“Atlas of the Civil War” – National Geographic
“Recollections of a Private: A Story of the Army of the Potomac” – W.L. Goss
“Recollections of a Private Soldier in the Army of the Potomac” – F. Wilkeson
The Wilderness National Battlefield
All photos by M.B. Henry
Riveting post, MB. This is a Civil War battle I had barely heard of, and you chronicled it expertly. Nice that there were some decent actions after the inferno, but one is still struck by the inhumanity of it all — so much killing, and the Confederacy basically fighting to save the ghastly institution of slavery.
I agree – it is hard to read about it day in and day out. Especially the Civil War – both the causes of and the horrid results. Yet, these bright spots are a welcome relief. They are good reminders that sometimes, we humans are capable of doing the right thing!
It’s truly amazing the extremes of humanity, to both cause destruction and also bring light in the face of tragedy.
I couldn’t agree more – such an illustration of the light and dark we all have.
Excellent history!
Thank you! <3
Seems Satan brought his own flames of hell to the battle. “There weren’t many tables across the country that didn’t have the tragic vacant chair.” Poetic and well said. I have read it would be rare to find a family in the nation that had not lost a soldier in the Civil War.
Yes – satan’s flames are a very good way to describe what happened that night! Very well put. It was indeed rare – over 600,000 soldiers were killed in that war. That says nothing of civilians.
Very well written! I was there a number of years ago but never had a camera then. Should have.
Glad you liked it! It’s a pretty interesting place to visit – lots of history with both Chancellorsville and Wilderness. Hope you get a chance to go again!
I just might get there!
so thankful you survived
the battle & the blossoms 🙂
Me too! 🙂 Glad you stopped by for a read and a view!
Such pain and sadness! How I wish school history books had been written with this sense feeling of being there. I would have been so much more interested.
I totally agree -when the history is colored with emotion and the real lives of real, every day people, it makes it so much easier to connect with.
Absolutely! A teacher who loves the subject helps immensely too. All too often they are so overworked that the enthusiasm fails them. Thank you for the work you are doing in making history come alive.
It is my pleasure. I’ve always kind of felt it was a calling. And I was most fortunate to have a very enthusiastic history teacher in school.
Quite a tale and you did a marvelous job telling it.
Thank you very much!
I love the way you blend the personal and the historical. I am always happy when I see you have a new post. Keep up the good work. Can’t wait for your next one.
Thank you so much!! Glad you enjoy the posts. Your compliments gave me a big smile! 🙂
This is history as it should be written; descriptive, sensitive, and humane. You take us there
Thank you – that is very flattering! I’m glad it moved you.
I’m not a christian, but i was sad, and shocked, when i heard about Notre Dame. I’m not american either (and although the war stories aren’t new), I always learn something from your posts. What’s the wilderness today?
That is very flattering, thank you for sharing that. I love being able to help people learn. I’d say the Wilderness of today, at least through my eyes, is how divided people are across the board.
hmmm, I meant in Virginia, what’s that wilderness now? A school, a closed in community, the highway?
Oh hahaha! Sorry, I read into that question wrong! 🙂 Today, the Wilderness is preserved as a National Battlefield and historic site. Many of the trenches are still there, as are the cannon emplacements. It’s quite interesting to walk through. (Sorry it took me so long to answer this question for you, for some reason, it went into my spam folder).
Excellent lesson in history.
Thank you!
M.B, I absolutely loved your post! Well done, it’s beautifully written, with drama, suspense, and an emotional finale. And those poppies gave me goosebumps. They’re just gorgeous and their symbolism made me think of WWI fallen soldiers. It’s hard not to get emotional. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful, moving story.
They made me think of that too! Great minds do think alike 🙂 I’ve read in a lot of WWI books and memoirs that 1918 saw one of the most incredible poppy superblooms across Flanders Fields bc of the fallen buried underneath. It made me think of that a lot. But don’t get me started on WWI I have a hard time shutting up once I get going hahaha. Thanks so much for your kind words – glad you liked the poppies!
Very well-written post. I’ve visited two of the Civil War battlefields (Gettysburg and Vicksburg) but would like to see more. Have you read Cherow’s biography of Grant? Really excellent. Grant’s legacy is underestimated, I think, both as general and president.
I’ve been to Gettysburg as well, but not Vicksburg. I’d love to go visit someday. And I have read Chernow’s book, and I thought it was excellent. I had a hard time putting it down. Not that I would expect anything less from Chernow he has so many great books. Such a wonderful coverage of Grant – and I totally agree, underestimated is a great word to use when it comes to General Grant.
Wonderfully written account! There were certainly lots of heart-wrenching decisions made during that fire. I can’t imagine the feelings and the actions of those involved.
Me neither 🙁 It’s a story that has always stuck with me!
Thank you for your touching post on this (forgotten) Civil War battle. I wish I could write so vividly as you do. I am too very fascinated by how it could be to be alive through these battles long ago. We have letters, books and photos from the time to help us understand.
Yes -those letters and memoirs are an excellent source to draw on for the personal experience. Thank you for your very kind words!
Your stories are always so captivating, and I like how you find a bright spot in an ugly situation. Thanks for enlightening me about this event.
I’m glad it moved you 🙂 We must always look for those bright spots, it’s the only way to make it through!
This is fascinating! Thanks for sharing it.
You are most welcome! Thank you for reading
🙂
Your descriptive writing is amazing. I could picture in my mind how horrific that battle must have been. I loved how you tied this part of history in with the Notre Dame fire, and the amazing display of humanity brought about in these events that are now a part of history. Your knowledge of history is a gift for us all. Thank you.
Thanks!
Another great post
Thank you!
Beautiful post!
Thank you!
I didn’t realize both sides were helping to carry the wounded away to safety. It’s those kinds of stories that give you hope.
It must have been an emotional experience to be there and see the terrain. A previous commenter said he liked how you combine your thoughts with history, and I agree. It’s one of the things that make your writing so engaging.
The US Civil War especially has a lot of examples of both sides putting their swords away for the cause of humanity. Probably bc it was family fighting each other in a painful amount of circumstances 🙁 yet it does give me a lot of hope for the good in humanity! Visiting battlefields is always a powerful experience too. I’m so glad you enjoy the posts, it means a lot! 🙂
This is a powerful story well told, M.B. Instances of human kindness like this one, or the one of soldiers during WWI putting down their arms to celebrate Christmas together (only to resume fighting shortly thereafter), do provide glimmers of hope. I often don’t share your optimistic outlook about humankind, even though I want (and need) to.
Best wishes,
Tanja
It’s not always easy, is it? 🙁 We must cling to those little glimmers of hope, and sometimes I have to REALLY cling to them! Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts.
I can relate. Let’s cling together! 😊
Yes! Sounds good! 🙂
How I missed this, I will never know.
At The Wilderness, three forces clashed: the union, the confederacy and nature. The fire of The Wilderness was like the mud of Verdun, it was an enemy that no one expected and could not be beat.
Couldn’t have said it better myself! Those “third armies” so often have the final say too. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts
Powerfully written as always. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how these times must have been, filled with so much uncertainty. Thank you for always giving me a glimpse into history and those places of a time long past.
It is indeed hard to imagine, but it also gives me hope in a weird way. If they got through that, we can get through our own challenges too! So glad you came by and shared your thoughts, I always love hearing from you! <3
Absolutely. Thank you again for sharing such powerful stories with us. I am sorry to have been so absent. Your writing does mean a lot to me. Much love to you and thank you for all you do. ❤️
No apologies necessary <3 There's a lot going on in life these days! I'm just always glad to hear from you whenever that may be, because your thoughts are always wonderful!
Thank you so much for understanding. However I will always come around as you and your writing is important to me. Have a wonderful day my friend. Hugs
<3 You too!
I can barely imagine the horrors of this event. Your vivid details help bring it to life, and although it is terrifying, it is also important to remember what these men suffered. Thank you for your writing, Friend.
That is very nice of you to say 🙂 Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts!
You’re so welcome! Thank you for writing it.
<3
Even though these battles were a part of my education as a Virginian, your telling of details make it come alive and more tragic than just learning the facts in a book.
That is incredibly flattering! Thank you so much, you’ve made my day 🙂
Years ago I lived in the Allegheny Mountains in a tiny village called Hot Springs, Virginia. I had no idea I was so close to such historical landmarks. Thank you for sharing. 🙏🏻
You are most welcome! Glad you enjoyed it. I would love to live closer to Virginia! I guess I shall just have to visit more often
Sounds like you are a real war buff …
I read about it a lot! 🙂
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