American Civil War, Battle of the Wilderness, 1864

Lithograph entitled and captioned: The Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, May 5th 6th, 1864. This was one of the most desperate battles of modern times, and was fought between the gallant Army of the Potomac, under the immediate command of that great hero, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and the Rebel Army of Virginia under Lee and others. On Wednesday, May 4th, the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan and on the 5th attacked the Rebels with great fury, and after two days of desperate fighting, in which the losses on both sides were immense, the Rebel hordes were compelled to give way, and Saturday, the 7th were glad to save themselves in flight to the South. The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5-7, 1864, was the first battle of General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive

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Casualties Confederacy Confederate Currier Ives Overland Potomac Secession

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