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The Battle of the Wilderness, 1864: Grant and Lee's first clash

American Civil War · 5 to 7 May 1864 · Union vs Confederacy · ~6 min read · Updated October 2026

By Echoes of Battle

General Grant at the Battle of the Wilderness, 1864

At a glance

United States (Union)Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant; Maj. Gen. George Meade
vs
Confederate StatesGen. Robert E. Lee
Date
5 to 7 May 1864
Location
The Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Orange Counties, Virginia
Period
American Civil War
Outcome
Inconclusive; Grant advances
By the numbers
SideStrengthLosses
Union~100,000 to 120,0001~17,000 killed, wounded or missing2
Confederacy~60,000~11,000 killed, wounded or missing1

Figures are approximate.

Quick answer

The Battle of the Wilderness, fought from 5 to 7 May 1864 in Virginia2, was the first clash between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee and the opening of the Overland Campaign. In a tangled forest that neutralised Union numbers2 and set the undergrowth ablaze over the wounded, the two armies fought to a bloody standstill. What made it a turning point was Grant's response: instead of retreating, he marched his army deeper south toward Richmond.

Lee chose the ground on purpose: a dense second-growth forest where numbers and artillery counted for little. In the Wilderness, Grant and Lee met for the first time, and when the smoke cleared Grant did what no Union general before him had done. He kept going.

Part of The greatest battles of the Civil War · Before: The Battle of Chickamauga · Next: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House · Key figures: Philip Sheridan

The Overland Campaign begins

In the spring of 1864 Ulysses S. Grant, now general-in-chief, travelled with the Army of the Potomac3 and set out to destroy Lee's army. His men crossed into the Wilderness, the same tangled country near Chancellorsville, where Lee attacked to rob the larger Union army of room to manoeuvre.

Military map with blue Union and red Confederate positions along the roads through the Wilderness
The situation on 5 May 1864, the first day of the Battle of the Wilderness, on a map by the US Army Center of Military History. Public domain

Battle in the thickets

The fighting dissolved into chaos among the trees, where units lost their way, lines of sight vanished, and command broke down. For two days the armies grappled blindly in the brush, attacking and counterattacking with terrible losses and no clear result.

Black and white photograph of dense, splintered woodland with fallen branches
The woods between Palmer's and Spotswood's houses where Union troops carried Confederate entrenchments, photographed by G. O. Brown in 1864 or 1865. Public domain

Fire in the forest

The gunfire set the dry undergrowth alight, and brush fires swept across parts of the battlefield, burning many of the helpless wounded where they lay1, one of the most dreadful scenes of the war. Even so, neither side could drive the other from the field.

Pencil sketch of soldiers carrying a wounded man on a blanket through a burning forest
Wounded escaping from the burning woods of the Wilderness, a pencil drawing made by the battlefield artist Alfred R. Waud in 1864. Public domain
For the first time, a beaten-looking Union army turned south instead of north, and, by many accounts, cheered.

Grant turns south

The battle ended inconclusively, and Lee's men expected the beaten Union army to retreat north as so often before. Instead, Grant ordered the march south, toward Spotsylvania and Richmond.4 The soldiers, realising they were not falling back, are said to have cheered5.

Black and white photograph of General Grant in uniform leaning against a tree beside a tent
Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant beside a tree in front of his tent at Cold Harbor, Virginia, in June 1864, a month after the Wilderness. Photograph from the Mathew Brady collection. Public domain

Why the Wilderness mattered

Tactically the Wilderness was a bloody draw4, but strategically it changed the war in the East. Grant had taken Lee's best blow and kept advancing, beginning a relentless campaign of pressure that Lee could not escape. The next collision came days later at Spotsylvania Court House.

Frequently asked questions

When and where was the Battle of the Wilderness?

It was fought from 5 to 7 May 1864 in the Wilderness, a forested area of Virginia near Chancellorsville.

Who won the Battle of the Wilderness?

The battle was tactically inconclusive and very costly for both sides.

Why is the Wilderness considered a turning point?

Despite the bloody draw, Grant refused to retreat and pressed on toward Richmond, a break from every previous Union commander in the East.

Why was the fighting so terrible?

The dense forest caused chaos and blind combat, and gunfire set brush fires that burned many of the wounded.

What came next?

Grant moved south to Spotsylvania Court House, continuing the Overland Campaign.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

  1. Encyclopedia Virginia (Virginia Humanities), “Battle of the Wilderness” ↩ a b c
  2. American Battlefield Trust, “The Wilderness” ↩ a b c
  3. Gordon C. Rhea, The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864 (Louisiana State University Press, 1994). ↩
  4. James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford University Press, 1988). ↩ a b
  5. Horace Porter, Campaigning with Grant, The Century Co., 1897; Porter's eyewitness account of the troops cheering Grant on the night march south, 7 May 1864. ↩
  6. Wikipedia, “Battle of the Wilderness”

Fight through the Wilderness

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