Audio
Wilderness Driving Tour, #2, Saunders Field Part 1
Transcript
The Wilderness of Spotsylvania County is aptly named. As a result of clear-cutting for farming and iron mining, the woods here consisted of dense second and third growth forest. In addition, most of the land here had been abandoned decades before the war, culminating in a land that was truly wild.
General Winfield Scott Hancock, commanding the US 2nd Corps describing the wilderness said “The immediate region of the wilderness was known to our army and its leadership as one of the most difficult and perplexing in which soldiers were ever called to operate. A region though portions of which troops could not be forced without completely breaking up their formation, over all of which there were few opportunities for the use of artillery. It was a region in which the power of discipline almost disappeared, and in which tactics were practically impossible.”
On the morning of May 5th soldiers of the US 5th Corps prepared to continue their march south. Indeed, a large portion of the corps, the 3rd division under General Samuel Crawford, was already moving. Other soldiers of the corps arrived here, at Saunders’ Field, one of the few clearings in the suffocating Wilderness. As the morning progressed, however, troubling signs appeared on the horizon. Sentries reported dust clouds rising from the Orange Turnpike to the west; it was not long before Confederate soldiers emerged from the dust clouds. Lee's Army was also split into three infantry corps : the 1st Corps under James Longstreet, the 2nd Corps under Richard Ewell, and the 3rd Corps under AP Hill. On May 5, Longstreet's Corps was a day's march away, so Lee only had two-thirds of his Army available. Lee wanted to keep the US from moving further south but did not want to bring on a full battle until Longstreet arrived. Lee took the two Corps he had and started moving them east along two parallel roads, the Orange Plank Road to the south and the Orange Turnpike (modern day route 20) to the north. Both were advancing on intersections the US army would need to pass through; capturing either would stop the Army of the Potomac dead in its tracks. Even just getting close would likely halt the Federal advance, buying time for Longstreet to arrive with the rest of the Army. Here on the Orange Turnpike, General Ewell found the US 5th Corps already in control of the targeted intersection. Heeding his orders from Lee to not bring on a major battle before Longstreet had arrived, Ewell stopped short and had his men start digging into a defensive line. As word filtered up to Grant and Meade, they decided to attack the Confederates. At 730 a.m., the order came down to General G.K. Warren, commanding the 5th Corps, to attack Lee's Army, but this was easier said than done. Before he could attack, Warren needed to form his command into a proper battle line. The process took time in the best of cases, and the Wilderness was not a best case. His command had started marching south first thing in the morning and was spread out over miles. To make matters worse, the dense forest and scarce roads of the Wilderness made any movement slow and communication difficult. Here at Saunders’ Field, Gen. Charles Griffin's division of the 5th Corps, which had been first to see Confederates and raise the alarm, prepared for the now inevitable collision. US soldiers dug trenches and cut down trees to reinforce them, creating a solid series of earthworks. Should they be attacked first, or if their attack failed, they would have a strong position to rally on and fight. To their west, the Confederates were preparing in much the same way, but despite the two armies' closeness to each other, neither could see what the other was doing through the thick foliage. As Captain Amos Judson of the 83rd Pennsylvania described it, "Here were two armies forming line of battle for a desperate struggle, within half a mile of each other, scarcely a movement of either of which could be observed by the other." As Warren struggled to get his command into line, Meade received word of Confederates marching down the Orange Plank Road as well. What Meade initially believed was a diversion on the turnpike that could be quickly snapped up for an easy victory now revealed itself for what it was:, a full-blown Confederate offensive, and Lee was dangerously close to outmaneuvering the Army of the Potomac. For now, that was Meade's problem, as Warren had plenty of his own. While he got his men ready for battle, he hoped for reinforcement from General John Sedgwick's 6th Corps, which had started marching to his aid that morning. However, Sedgwick's advance was slowed by bad roads and hounded by Confederates. By noon Meade had lost his patience and ordered Warren to make the attack with whatever he had on hand. From the east to west, through the field you now stand in, 8500 US soldiers, like a wave off the ocean, swept forth to clash against the Confederate battle line. All would remember the violence of the collision for the rest of their lives.
Description
Part 2 of the Wilderness Battlefield Driving Tour explores the area of Saunders Field near the US lines around the present day Wilderness Battlefield Exhibit Shelter. The US Army initially planned to march through the densely wooded area known as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, but Confederate General Robert E. Lee had other plans. On the morning of May 5, 1864, the battle began as the two armies clashed in this field.
Credit
NPS
Date Created
05/17/2022
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