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The Wilderness was the decsive battle of the Civil War. Gettysburg and especially Pickett's charge fundamentlly changed Lee and his use of aggressive tactics. After Gettysburg, Lee saw the only hope of victory was to so bloody the Federal Army in an uncharacteristic defensive campaign. He hoped that Lincoln and the Republicans would be defeated by McClellan in the 1864 presidential election. Victory on the battlefield was no longer possible for the Confederates. nd after the Wildreness, the Armt of Northr Vurginia was no longr cpable of field action. Through a series of bitter battles in the Wilderness Campaign, the new Federal commander, U.S. Grant pressed south. The 6-week campaign in the Wilderness, the sight of Lee's great victory at Chancellorsville in 1863, was unlike any other Civil War campaign. Other campaigns were months of preparation followed by a savage battle andctgen more months of inaction for recovery and peparation. The Wilderness was 6 weeks of constant fighting. In 2 days of bitter fighting Grant lost 17,500 men and still pressed on. At a critical moment of the fighting, Lee rushed to the front. His men pushed him back and held on. Confederate losses were also high--losses which Lee, unlike Grant, could not replace. Convinced that the Confederate Army of Norhern Virginia was about to crack and less than 10 miles from Richmond, Grant hurled his army at entrenched fortifications built to defend the crossroads at Cold Harbor. In less than an hour, Grant lost 7,000 men and achieved no apreciable gains. he is said to have cried when he learned of the dissaster. In perhaps the greatest blemish on Grant's and Lee's record, wounded men were left on the field 3 days before a truce could be agreed. Federal lossess in the Wilderness were enormous. One estimate puts them at 56,000 men--not much less than in the entire Vietnam War and in a much smaller country. Even after such losses and after the calamity of Cold Harbor , however, Grant and Lincoln were resolute. Many assumed that Grant would retire north to regroup. When the orders went out to march south, the army cheered. [Grimsley] Lee realised that he now faced a very different Federal commanbder. Lincoln had clearly finally found his general to save the Union. Grant moved to beseige Richmond. The experience at Cold Harbor made it clear that assaulting well entrenched Confederate position was suisidal.
The Wildreness was the decisive battle of the Civil War. Gettysburg and especially Pickett's charge fundamentlly changed Lee and his use of aggressive tactics. After Gettysburg, Lee saw the only hope of victory was to so bloody the Federal Army in an uncharacteristic defensive campaign. He hoped that Lincoln and the Republicans would be defeated by McClellan in the 1864 presidential election. Victory on the battlefield was no longer possible for the Confederates. And after the Wildreness, the Army of Northern Vurginia was no longer capable of of full-scale field action. One historian writes, "Since March, when Grant was named general-in-chief of all Union armies, Lee had known that he would ready the Army of the Potomac's three corps, nominally under Meade's command , for a major offensive. 'Every train brings it [the Army of the Potomac] recruits, and it is stated that every available regiment at the Northis addd to it, 'Lee had told Jfferson Davis, the Confederacy's president and defacto war secretary on March 30 .... A week later he urged Davis to quickly send rations, supplies, and forage, as well as more calvalryand artillery. 'If I am obliged to retire from this line, eithr by a flank movement of the enemy or the want of supplies, great injury will befall us,' Lee warned." 【Wheelaw】
President Davis was limited in the supplies he could send to Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Another drama was unfolding to the west. Federal forces under Grant's close frind, Gen William T. Sherman Army was pressing south from Chatanooga toward the the other major Confderate city--Atlanta. Confederate forces there were also badly outnumbered and poorly supplied. Sherman faced the Army of Tennessee commanded by the competent Gen. oseph E. Johnston commanding the Army of Tennessee . He also had to move through the rugged hill of north Georgia. The fall of either Atlanta or Richmond would doom the Confederacy. Sherman would take longer to get to Atlanta. President Davis' replacement of Johnston with firey Texan John Bell Hood led to a series of cosly field battles. Lee understood that the Confederacy cold no longer fight major fied battles with the larger and well-supplied Federals. Hood did not. And the depleted Confederate armies were no longer capable of manning Atlanta's formibable defenses.
President Lincoln appointd Gen. Ulysses S. Grant commandr of all U.S. armies (March 1864). He quickly moved to take the iffensive and renew the drive on Ruchmond. Through a series of bitter battles in the Wilderness Campaign, the new Federal commander, U.S. Grant pressed south. The 6-week campaign in the Wilderness, the sight of Lee's great victory at Chancellorsville in 1863, was unlike any other Civil War campaign. Grant was determined to find and engage the Federal forces in a sustained campaign. Other campaigns were months of preparation followed by a savage battle andctgen more months of inaction for recovery and peparation. When Grant took command, he decided to keep Meade, the victor at Getyburg. He promised to serve as overall military commander and kept Meade in command the Army of the Potomac. This arrangement lasted only days. Problems between Grant and Lee complicated the Federal command and in part lead to the disaster at Cold Harbor.
Grant attacked into north-central Virginia (May 4). This began 6 weeks of constant fighting with the Army of Northrn Viginia skillfully contesting every mile. In 2 days of bitter fighting Grant lost 17,500 men and still pressed on. At a critical moment of the fighting, Lee rushed to the front. His men pushed him back and held on. Confederate losses were also high--losses which Lee, unlike Grant, could not replace. Convinced that the Confederate Army of Norhern Virginia was about to crack and less than 10 miles from Richmond, Grant hurled his army at entrenched fortifications built to defend the crossroads at Cold Harbor. In less than an hour, Grant lost 7,000 men and achieved no apreciable gains. he is said to have cried when he learned of the dissaster. In perhaps the greatest blemish on Grant's and Lee's record, wounded men were left on the field 3 days before a truce could be agreed. Federal lossess in the Wilderness were enormous. One estimate puts them at 56,000 men--not much less than in the entire Vietnam War and in a much smaller country.
The casulties in the Wilderness were enormous even by Civil War srandards. This was the largest loses of the War. The Federals lost nearly twice as many men as the Federals. Grant could replace those losses. Lee could not. In fct tge Army of Northern Viginia would nver agin fight an offensive battle. The Federl vuctory was won in the Wildreness. It would not be achieved until nearly a year later at Appomatox Court House. But it was esentially won in the Wldreness. Now only the Northern public could saved the Confederacy as the election of 1864 threaten to unseat President Lincoln.
Even after such losses and after the calamity of Cold Harbor , however, Grant and Lincoln were resolute. Many assumed that Grant would retire north to regroup. When the orders went out to march south, the army cheered. 【Grimsley】 Lee realised that he now faced a very different Federal commander. Lincoln had clearly finally found his general to save the Union. Sherman likr Grant had formidable terraine and a competent Confederate commander to overcome.
Grant finally crossed the James River and reached the area around Richmond. Lee could not engage the Fedrl forces in a major battle. His forces could build and man fixed defenses as at Cold Harbor. The experience at Cold Harbor made it clear that assaulting well entrenched Confederate position was suisidal. Thus a series of firifications and trenches devloped around the city. Having little time to establish his command over a widely dispersed army put Meade in a very dangerous position. Lee hoped to exploit situation and defeat Meade's much larger army in detail.
The 1864 presidential election settled the fate of the Union. The Republican renominated President Lincoln. He ran on the Union ticket with a Democrat, Andrew Johnson as his vice president. The platform stressed union and an end to slavery. The Democrats nominated former General George B. McClellan, who Linclon relieved after Antitem. The Democrats offered an end to the War by compromising with the South. Their platform offered to return to a Union with the "rights of the states unimpaired". This meant reinstituting slavery. McClelan would have ended the War and would have rescended the Emancipation Proclamation, believing that this would bring the Southern states back in the Union. Battlefield losses and the success of the Federal naval blockade had by 1864 reached a level that the Confederacy could no longer hope to win the War militarily. That was not as apparent to the northern public as it is to us today armed with the benefits of hinesight. The terrible war losses were telling. Anti-war feeling grew in the north. There were draft riots in New York in which the rioters attacked Blacks, including orphans. The Confederacy's only hope was to draw out the War hoping that the northern public would not have the stmoache to sustain the War. The Democratic candidate, General George McClellan was clearly willing to come to terms with the Confederacy. It looked like Lincoln would lose the election.
Grimsley, Mark. And Keep Moving On: The Virginia Campaign, May-June 1864 (University of Nebraska, 2002).
Wheelaw, Joseph. Bloody Spring: Forty Days That Sealed the Confederacy's Fate (2014), 448p.
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