The battlefield was the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, an expanse of impenetrable scrub growth and rough terrain that encompassed more than 70 square miles (181 km²) of Spotsylvania County and Orange County in central Virginia. A number of battles were fought in the vicinity between 1862 and 1864, including the bloody Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. It is often said that the Wilderness and Chancellorsville were fought in the same spot, but the 1864 battle was actually fought a few miles to the west, and only overlapped the old battlefield along the Brock Road on the Union army's left flank.
On May 2, 1864, the Army of the Potomac, nominally under the command of Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, but taking orders from Grant, crossed the Rapidan River at three separate points and converged on the Wilderness Tavern, which had been the concentration point for the Confederates one year to the day earlier when they launched their devastating attack on the Union right flank at Chancellorsville. But Grant chose to set up his camps to the west of the old battle site before moving southward. Unlike the Union army of a year before, Grant had no desire to fight in the Wilderness.
The Battle of the Wilderness, fought from May 5 to May 7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.
On the other hand, for Lee, who was massively outnumbered (61,000 men to Grant's 101,000), accosting Grant in the Wilderness was imperative for the same reason as the year beforein a battle contested in the tangled woods, the value of artillery was limited. Lee's artillery possessed fewer guns than Grant's, whose were often of superior craftsmanship.
While waiting for the arrival of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's First Corps, which had been posted 25 miles (40 km) to the west to guard the crucial railroad junction of Gordonsville, Lee pushed forward his Second Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, and the Third Corps under the command of Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill, in an effort to engage Grant before he moved south. The Confederates were able to do this, and on May 5, both Ewell, on Lee's left flank, and Hill on the right, clashed with Union soldiers.
Both Armies repositioned their artillery to the most advantageous position but it appeared that the Army of Northern Virginia had surrounded the Army of the Potomac but in a less defensible position. When two Armies meet on a battlefield the overall objective is to eliminate the opposition, so one of them would have to make a move. Lee ordered Generals Longstreet and Ewell to attack but due to a lack of decisive action on Longstreet’s part, the day would end in the bloodiest offensive of the battle and Longstreet would suffer great losses by Cemetery Hill .
Once there the Union formed a strong defensive position that resembled that of a fishhook, with Culp's Hill and the two Round Tops anchoring each end. After reinforcements had arrived the Union position was three miles long. Meanwhile, the Confederate troops occupied Gettysburg and Seminary Ridge to the west. Lee did not dig his army in a defensive position at all. He believed that his own army was invincible, even though they were without out their cavalry, which was off somewhere harassing other Union soldier, but on the first day of battle, the confederates are victorious
The battle of Gettysburg occurred over three hot summer days, July 1 to July 3, 1863, around the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It began as a meeting engagement, but by its end involved approximately 170,000 Americans. The battle is considered to be the turning point in the American Civil War and is one of the most studied battles in American history. The events that took place at Gettysburg had a tremendous impact on the outcome of the Civil War and the fate of the United States. It is far easier for us in the present than it was for those at Gettysburg, to look back and determine the path that the leaders should have taken.
The Shenandoah Valley is located in the western part of Virginia. The valley lies between the Allegheny Mountains, Shenandoah Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains with the Potomac River being the northern boundary to the valley. The Valley offered two tactical advantages to the Confederates with the Union having knowledge of this. The first is a Northern Army invading Virginia would be vulnerable to a Confederate flanking attacks pouring through the many winding gaps across the Blue Ridge Mountains. The other is that the Valley offers a sheltered avenue that would allow any Confederate army to head north into Pennsylvania uncontested. The Shenandoah Valley also contains twelve bridges that are of significance to any maneuvering army of the day and the valley is only 25 miles wide. The valley represented to the Army of the Potomac (Union) a direct approach to the CSA capital of Richmond, Virginia during the Civil War (Keeg...
... Northern Virginia, they have to move into open spaces and climb hilly and rocky terrain. Obviously, Shaara's use of geography is apparent in his outlining of the events at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Lee’s first military campaign was in West Virginia during the Civil War. There he took command of the Eastern Army of Virginia but, only after General Johnson was injured. Lee was greatly outnumbered by the Union Army. Lee came up with a plan to make up for his numbers by attacking General McClellan’s army. In the next days there were a number of skirmishes between Lee’s advancing forces and against McClellan’s army which became know as the Days Battle. After Lee’s success at the Days Battle, Lee gained control of the Army of North Virginia, the biggest army in Virginia.
...ew the war he was fighting was not an epic Napoleonic battle but a war of attrition. He proceeded with his plan to slowly shrink Confederate territory and destroy Lee's army to the point that the South could no longer mount a viable defense. Eventually Grant succeeded and Lee's men were all that remained of the Confederate army. Grant surrounded them in trenches at Richmond until Lee was forced to surrender.
While Burnside waited, Lee was positioning himself for the best way to attack. Lee also had help from Stonewall; Stonewall was positioned down stream on the Rappahannock River. Stonewall had two regiments by the creek and two regiments by the railroad. Lee also had help from General Longstreet, who was positioned by the Rappahannock River and the railroad. The position that Lee had set up was good because he was on higher ground looking down on the Union. Lee, with the major adv...
Fort Donelson, Tennessee, guarding the Cumberland River, became the site of the first major Confederate defeat in the Civil War. Victory at Donelson started Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant on his road to Appomattox and the White House. His cool judgment under pressure saved the day after the Confederates threatened to break his troop lines, yet errors by his opponents handed him a victory that he did not fully earn on his own.
The journey of exploration to the western territories brought the white man many great things, but they did face some opposition. The US government made plans to explore the Black Hills, after hearing of the gold it contained. This was not an easy task. The Sioux, with strong force, were not giving up their sacred land easily. The only way to gain the territory of the Black Hills was to wage war against the Sioux. The Battle of the Little Big Horn was one battle that the US will never forget. General George Custer led an army of men to take out the Sioux, one of the battalions was completely wiped out including Custer. The Sioux were very strong, but US had a lot more power and technology. Why did we get massacred? This question has been a mystery to many people throughout the years. Sergeant Windolph, of Benteen’s cavalry, and John F. Finerty, from General Crooks cavalry, bring us some personal accounts and memories of this tragedy.
Grant's following campaigns revealed his determination to apply merciless pressure against the Confederacy by coordinating the Union armies and exploiting the economic strength of the North. While Grant accompanied the Army of the Potomac in its ov...
He neglected the location and speed of Confederate forces in the area. Following the Battle of Antietam, Lee’s Corps under Generals Longstreet and Jackson were separated. Burnside believed he could cut off Lee’s supply in Richmond prior to the two Rebel commanders uniting. His aggressive maneuver did not factor in the effects Lee’s forces could inflict if they presented a united front. Burnside did not comprehend that this was possible and he was ignorant of the presence of Confederate reconnaissance assets in Fredericksburg.
The battle I will be discussing is the battle of Tora Bora. The engagement took place in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan from December 12, 2001 to December 17, 2001. The units involved were from the CIA, numerous Special Forces groups, Pakistani soldiers and local anti-Taliban fighters. The mission given to the forces was to kill Osama bin Laden from the caves, leave the body with the Taliban and disrupt the Al Qaeda organization by removing their leader. The intent was to infiltrate the cave system, remove bin Laden and return home.
Both forces were moving towards Pennsylvania, when they converged upon Gettysburg. General Lee decided to take the fighting to Northern soil, and moved his troops to Maryland. While heading north, the two forces converged at Gettysburg, and the fighting began soon thereafter. After news of the fighting, General Meade arrived on the battlefield on the second day of battle..
Robert Lee makes bold moves to win victories. Lee was outnumbered two to one at Chancellorsville in May 1863; instead of just defending against the Union armies, he made an audacious move and split his army into two to encircle the enemy. Without Lee’s courageous move, the Confederacy might have lost another battle. But even if Lee was defeated, his performance would still stay on tract. When Lee was defeated at Antietam in September 1862, he quickly withdrew the remnants of his forces across the Potomac, reorganized his army, and res...