Battle of the Wilderness Confederate Army Civil War Virginia

Confederate Army Order of Battle

Army of Northern Virginia

Gen Robert E. Lee, commanding

First Corps

LTG James Longstreet (w)
MG Richard H. Anderson

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
Kershaw's Division BG Joseph B. Kershaw	Kershaw's Brigade Col John W. Henagan	2nd South Carolina: Ltc Franklin Gaillard 3rd South Carolina: Col James D. Nance 7th South Carolina: Cpt James Mitchell 8th South Carolina: Ltc Eli T. Stackhouse 15th South Carolina: Col John B. Davis 3rd South Carolina Battalion: Cpt B. M. Whitener
	Wofford's Brigade BG William T. Wofford	16th Georgia 18th Georgia 24th Georgia Cobb's (Georgia) Legion Phillips (Georgia) Legion 3rd Georgia Battalion Sharpshooters
	Humphreys' Brigade BG Benjamin G. Humphreys	13th Mississippi: Maj George L. Donald 17th Mississippi 18th Mississippi: Cpt William H. Lewis 21st Mississippi: Col D. N. Moody
	Bryan's Brigade BG Goode Bryan	10th Georgia: Col Willis C. Holt 50th Georgia: Col Peter McGlashan 51st Georgia: Col Edward Ball 53rd Georgia: Col James P. Simms
Field's Division MG Charles W. Field	Jenkins' Brigade BG Micah Jenkins (k) Col John Bratton	1st South Carolina: Col James R. Hagood 2nd South Carolina (Rifles): Col Robert E. Bowen 5th South Carolina: Col Asbury Coward 6th South Carolina: Col John Bratton Palmetto (South Carolina) Sharpshooters: Col Joseph Walker
	Law's Brigade BG Evander M. Law	4th Alabama: Col Pickney D. Bowles 15th Alabama 44th Alabama: Col William F. Perry 47th Alabama 48th Alabama: Ltc William M. Hardwick
	Anderson's Brigade BG Goerge T. Anderson	7th Georgia 8th Georgia 9th Georgia 11th Georgia 59th Georgia: Lt Bolivar H. Gee
	Gregg's Brigade BG John Gregg	3rd Arkansas: Col Van H. Manning 1st Texas 4th Texas: Col John P. Bane 5th Texas: Ltc King Bryan
	Benning's Brigade BG Henry L. Benning (w) Col Dudley M. Du Bose	2nd Georgia 15th Georgia: Col Dudley M. Du Bose 17th Georgia 20th Georgia
Artillery BG Edward Porter Alexander	Huger's Battalion Ltc Frank Huger	Fickling's (South Carolina) Battery Moody's (Louisiana) Battery Parker's (Virginia) Battery Smith's, J. D. (Virginia), Battery Taylor's (Virginia) Battery Woolfolk's (Virginia) Battery
	Haskell's Battalion Maj John C. Haskell	Flanner's (North Carolina) Battery Garden's (South Carolina) Battery Lamkin's (Virginia) Battery (unequipped) Ramsay's (North Carolina) Battery
	Cabell's Battalion Col Henry C. Cabell	Callaway's (Georgia) Battery Carlton's (Georgia) Battery McCarthy's (Virginia) Battery Manly's (North Carolina) Battery

Second Corps

LTG Richard S. Ewell

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
Early's Division MG Jubal A. Early BG John B. Gordon	Hays' Brigade BG Harry T. Hays	5th Louisiana: Ltc Bruce Menger 6th Louisiana: Maj William H. Manning 7th Louisiana: Maj J. Moore Wilson 8th Louisiana 9th Louisiana
	Pegram's Brigade BG John Pegram	13th Virginia: Col James B. Terrill 31st Virginia: Col John S. Hoffman 49th Virginia: Col J. Catlett Gibson 52nd Virginia 58th Virginia: Col. Francis H. Board
	Gordon's Brigade BG John B. Gordon Col Clement A. Evans	13th Georgia 26th Georgia: Col Edmund N. Atkinson 31st Georgia: Col Clement A. Evans 38th Georgia 60th Georgia: Ltc Thomas J. Berry 61st Georgia
Johnson's Division MG Edward Johnson	Stonewall Brigade BG James A. Walker	2nd Virginia: Cpt Charles H. Stewart 4th Virginia: Col William Terry 5th Virginia 27th Virginia: Ltc Charles L. Haynes 33rd Virginia
	Jones' Brigade BG John M. Jones (k) Col William Witcher	21st Virginia 25th Virginia: Col John C. Higginbotham 42nd Virginia 44th Virginia 48th Virginia 50th Virginia
	Steuart's Brigade BG George H. Steuart	1st North Carolina: Col Hamilton A. Brown 3rd North Carolina: Col Stephen D. Thruston 10th Virginia 23rd Virginia 37th Virginia
	Stafford's Brigade BG Leroy A. Stafford (mw) Col Zebulon York	1st Louisiana 2nd Louisiana: Col Jesse M. Williams 10th Louisiana 14th Louisiana 15th Louisiana
Rodes' Division MG Robert E. Rodes	Daniel's Brigade BG Junius Daniel	32nd North Carolina 43rd North Carolina 45th North Carolina 53rd North Carolina 2nd North Carolina Battalion
	Doles' Brigade BG George P. Doles	4th Georgia: Col Philip Cook 12th Georgia: Col Edward Willis 44th Georgia: Col William H. Peebles
	Ramseur's Brigade BG Stephen D. Ramseur	2nd North Carolina: Col William R. Cox 4th North Carolina: Col Bryan Grimes 14th North Carolina: Col R. Tyloer Bennett 30th North Carolina: Col Francis M. Parker
	Battle's Brigade BG Cullen A. Battle	3rd Alabama: Col Charles Forsyth 5th Alabama 6th Alabama 12th Alabama 61st Alabama
	Johnston's Brigade BG Robert D. Johnston	5th North Carolina: Col Thomas M. Garrett 12th North Carolina: Col Henry E. Coleman 20th North Carolina: Col Thomas F. Toon 23rd North Carolina
Artillery BG Armistead L. Long	Hardaway's Battalion Ltc Robert A. Hardaway	Dance's (Virginia) Battery Graham's (Virginia) Battery Griffin's, C. B. (Virginia), Battery Jones' (Virginia) Battery Smith's, B. H. (Virginia), Battery
	Braxton's Battalion Ltc Carter M. Braxton	Carpenter's (Virginia) Battery Cooper's (Virginia) Battery Hardwicke's (Virginia) Battery
	Nelson's Battalion Ltc William Nelson	Kirkpatrick's (Virginia) Battery Massie's (Virginia) Battery Milledge's (Georgia) Battery
	Cutshaw's Battalion Maj Wilfred E. Cutshaw	Carrington's (Virginia) Battery Garber's, A. W. (Virginia), Battery Tanner's (Virginia) Battery
	Page's Battalion Maj Richard C. M. Page	Carter's, W. P. (Virginia), Battery Fry's (Virginia) Battery Page's (Virginia) Battery Reese's (Alabama) Battery

Third Corps

LTG A. P. Hill
MG Jubal A. Early

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
Anderson's Division MG Richard H. Anderson BG William Mahone	Perrin's Brigade BG Abner Perrin	8th Alabama 9th Alabama 10th Alabama 11th Alabama 14th Alabama
	Harris' Brigade BG Nathaniel H. Harms	12th Mississippi 16th Mississippi: Col Samuel E. Baker 19th Mississippi: Col Thomas J. Hardin 48th Mississippi
	Mahone's Brigade BG William Mahone Col David A. Weisiger	6th Virginia: Ltc Henry W. Williamson 12th Virginia: Col David A. Weisiger 16th Virginia: Ltc Richard O. Whitehead 41st Virginia 61st Virginia: Col Virginius D. Groner
	Wright' s Brigade BG Ambrose R. Wright	3rd Georgia 22nd Georgia 48th Georgia 2nd Georgia Battalion: Maj Charles J. Moffett 10th Georgia Battalion: Major J.E. Rylander
	Perry's Brigade BG Edward A. Perry (w)	2nd Florida 5th Florida 8th Florida
Heth's Division MG Henry Heth	Davis' Brigade BG Joseph R. Davis	1st Confederate Battalion 2nd Mississippi 11th Mississippi 26th Mississippi: Col Arthur E. Reynolds 42nd Mississippi 55th North Carolina
	Cooke's Brigade BG John Rogers Cooke	15th North Carolina 27th North Carolina 46th North Carolina 48th North Carolina
	Kirkland's Brigade BG William Whedbee Kirkland	11th North Carolina 26th North Carolina: Col. John R. Lane (w) Ltc. John T. Jones (mw) 44th North Carolina 47th North Carolina 52nd North Carolina
	Walker' s Brigade BG Henry H. Walker	40th Virginia 47th Virginia: Col Robert M. Mayo 55th Virginia: Col William S. Christian 22nd Virginia Battalion 13th Alabama 1st Tennessee (Provisional Army): Maj Felix G. Buchanan 7th Tennessee: Ltc Samuel G. Shepard 14th Tennessee: Col William McComb
Wilcox's Division MG Cadmus M. Wilcox	Lane' s Brigade BG James H. Lane	7th North Carolina: Ltc William Lee Davidson 18th North Carolina: Col John D. Barry 28th North Carolina 33rd North Carolina: Ltc Robert V. Cowan 37th North Carolina: Col William M. Barbour
	Scales' Brigade BG Alfred M. Scales	13th North Carolina: Col Joseph H. Hyman 16th North Carolina: Col William A. Stowe 22nd North Carolina 34th North Carolina: Col William Lee J. Lowrance 38th North Carolina: Ltc John Ashford
	McGowan' s Brigade BG Samuel McGowan	1st South Carolina(Provisional Army): Ltc Washington P. Shooter 1st South Carolina (Orr's Rifles): Ltc George McD. Miller 12th South Carolina: Col John L. Miller 13th South Carolina: Col Benjamin T. Brockman 14th South Carolina: Col Joseph N. Brown
	Thomas' Brigade BG Edward L. Thomas	14th Georgia 35th Georgia 45th Georgia 49th Georgia: Ltc John T. Jordan
Artillery Col R. Lindsay Walker	Poague's Battalion Ltc William T. Poague	Richards' (Mississippi) Battery Utterback's (Virginia) Battery Williams' (North Carolina) Battery Wyatt's (Virginia) Battery
	Pegram's Battalion Ltc William J. Pegram	Brander's (Virginia) Battery Cayce's (Virginia) Battery Ellett's (Virginia) Battery Marye's (Virginia) Battery Zimmerman's (South Carolina) Battery
	McIntosh' s Battalion Ltc David G. McIntosh	Clutter's (Virginia) Battery Donald's (Virginia) Battery Hurt's (Alabama) Battery Price's (Virginia) Battery
	Cutts' Battalion Col Allen S. Cutts	Patterson's (Georgia) Battery Ross' (Georgia) Battery Wingfield's (Georgia) Battery
	Richardson's Battalion Ltc Charles Richardson	Grandy's (Virginia) Battery Landry's (Louisiana) Battery Moore's (Virginia) Battery Penick's (Virginia) Battery

Cavalry Corps

MG JEB Stuart

Division	Brigade	Regiments and Others
Hampton's Division MG Wade Hampton	Young's Brigade BG Pierce M. B. Young	7th Georgia: Col William P. White Cobb's (Georgia) Legion: Col G. J. Wright Phillips (Georgia) Legion 20th Georgia Battalion: Ltc John M. Millen Jeff Davis (Mississippi) Legion
	Rosser's Brigade BG Thomas L. Rosser	7th Virginia: Col Richard H. Dulany 11th Virginia 12th Virginia: Ltc Thomas B. Massie 35th Virginia Battalion
	Butler's Brigade BG Matthew Butler	4th South Carolina: Col B. Huger Rutledge 5th South Carolina: Col John Dunovant 6rh South Carolina: Col Hugh K. Aiken
Fitzhugh Lee's Division MG Fitzhugh Lee	Lomax's Brigade BG Lundsford L. Lomax	5th Virginia: Col Henry C. Pate 6th Virginia: Col John S. Green 15th Virginia: Col Charles R. Collins
Fitzhugh Lee's Division MG Fitzhugh Lee	Wickham's Brigade BG Williams C. Wickham	1st Virginia 2nd Virginia: Col Thomas T. Munford 3rd Virginia: Col Thomas H. Owen 4th Virginia
W.H.F. Lee's Division MG W. H. F. Lee	Chambliss' Brigade BG John R. Chambliss	9th Virginia 10th Virginia 13th Virginia
W.H.F. Lee's Division MG W. H. F. Lee	Gordon's Brigade BG James B. Gordon	1st North Carolina 2nd North Carolina: Col Clinton M. Andrews 5th North Carolina: Col Stephen B. Evans
Horse Artillery Maj R. Preston Chew	Breathed's Battalion Maj James Breathed	Hart's (South Carolina) Battery Johnston's (Virginia) Battery McGregor's (Virginia) Battery Shoemaker's (Virginia) Battery Thomson's (Virginia) Battery

Key

Military Rank
Gen = General
LTG = Lieutenant General
MG = Major General
BG = Brigadier General
Col = Colonel
Ltc = Lieutenant Colonel
Maj = Major
Cpt = Captain
Lt = Lieutenant

Other
w = wounded
mw = mortally wounded
k = killed
c = capture

References: Rhea, Gordon C. The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7-12, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997; ----- To The North Anna River: Grant and Lee May 13-25, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000; Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.

Recommended Reading: Lee's Miserables: Life in the Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Appomattox (Civil War America). Description: Never did so large a proportion of the American population leave home for an extended period and produce such a detailed record of its experiences in the form of correspondence, diaries, and other papers as during the Civil War. Based on research in more than 1,200 wartime letters and diaries by more than 400 Confederate officers and enlisted men, this book offers a compelling social history of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia during its final year, from May 1864 to April 1865. Continued below…

Organized in a chronological framework, the book uses the words of the soldiers themselves to provide a view of the army's experiences in camp, on the march, in combat, and under siege--from the battles in the Wilderness to the final retreat to Appomattox. It sheds new light on such questions as the state of morale in the army, the causes of desertion, ties between the army and the home front, the debate over arming black men in the Confederacy, and the causes of Confederate defeat. Remarkably rich and detailed, Lee's Miserables offers a fresh look at one of the most-studied Civil War armies.

Advance to:

Battle of the Wilderness

Battle of the Wilderness: Virginia and the Civil War

Overland Campaign

Virginia Civil War History

Battle of the Wilderness: Union Army Order of Battle: Army of the Potomac

Battle of the Wilderness (Overview)

Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia

Battle of the Wilderness: Timeline

Battle of the Wilderness: Battlefield Positions

Battle of Todd's Tavern

Recommended Reading: In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee: The Wilderness Through Cold Harbor (Hardcover), by Gordon C. Rhea (Author), Chris E. Heisey (Photographer). Description: In early May 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant initiated a drive through central Virginia to crush Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. For forty days, the armies fought a grinding campaign from the Rapidan River to the James River that helped decide the course of the Civil War. Several of the war's bloodiest engagements occurred in this brief period: the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the North Anna River, Totopotomoy Creek, Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor. Pitting Grant and Lee against one another for the first time in the war, the Overland Campaign, as this series of battles and maneuvers came to be called, represents military history at its most intense. In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee, a unique blend of narrative and photographic journalism from Gordon C. Rhea, the foremost authority on the Overland Campaign, and Chris E. Heisey, a leading photographer of Civil War battlefields, provides a stunning, stirring account of this deadly game of wits and will between the Civil War's foremost military commanders. Continued below…

Here, Grant fought and maneuvered to flank Lee out of his heavily fortified earthworks. And Lee demonstrated his genius as a defensive commander, countering Grant's every move. Adding to the melee were cavalry brawls among the likes of Philip H. Sheridan, George A. Custer, James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, and Wade Hampton. Forty days of combat produced horrific casualties, some 55,000 on the Union side and 35,000 on the Confederate. By the time Grant crossed the James and began the Siege of Petersburg, marking an end to this maneuver, both armies had sustained significant losses that dramatically reduced their numbers. Rhea provides a rich, fast-paced narrative, movingly illustrated by more than sixty powerful color images from Heisey, who captures the many moods of these hallowed battlegrounds as they appear today. Heisey made scores of visits to the areas where Grant and Lee clashed, giving special attention to lesser-known sites on byways and private property. He captures some of central Virginia's most stunning landscapes, reminding us that though battlefields conjure visions of violence, death, and sorrow, they can also be places of beauty and contemplation. Accompanying the modern pictures are more than twenty contemporary photographs taken during the campaign or shortly afterwards, some of them never before published. At once an engaging military history and a vivid pictorial journey, In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee offers a fresh vision of some of the country's most significant historic sites. Includes 61 color illustrations and 15 maps.

Recommended Reading: Trench Warfare under Grant and Lee: Field Fortifications in the Overland Campaign (Civil War America) (Hardcover). Description: In the study of field fortifications in the Civil War that began with Field Armies and Fortifications in the Civil War, Hess turns to the 1864 Overland campaign to cover battles from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor. Drawing on meticulous research in primary sources and careful examination of trench remnants at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, and Bermuda Hundred, Hess describes Union and Confederate earthworks and how Grant and Lee used them in this new era of field entrenchments.

Recommended Reading: The Battle Of The Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864, by Gordon C. Rhea. From Publishers Weekly: Rhea, a Virginia attorney, offers what will likely become the definitive account of one of the Civil War's most confusing engagements: the Battle of the Wilderness, the first encounter between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, fought in Virginia. The author's reconstruction of the fighting highlights the difficulties of controlling troops once they had been committed to action. Grant's original plan was to maneuver Lee out of his defensive position along the Rapidan River, then crush his troops with superior numbers. Instead, Rhea notes, the Wilderness became a "soldiers' battle," with raw courage compensating for inadequate generalship on both sides. Continued below…

Grant relied too heavily on the Army of the Potomac's commander, George Gordon Meade, who failed to coordinate the movements of subordinates disoriented by the broken ground they fought over. Rhea also criticizes Lee for consistently taking the offensive with an army that could not afford the major losses it sustained in attacking. History Book Club main selection.

Recommended Reading: Battle in the Wilderness: Grant Meets Lee (Civil War Campaigns and Commanders), by Grady McWhiney. Description: Designed for those beginning to cultivate an interest in the Civil War, enthusiasts and scholars alike will soon discover the treasure of information contained within the pages of these books. Photographs, biographical sketches and detailed maps are used to illustrate the events of the unfolding drama as each author remains sharply focused on the particular story at hand. Separate and complete, each book conveys the agony, glory, death and wreckage of America's greatest tragedy.

Recommended Reading: The Wilderness Campaign (Military Campaigns of the Civil War), Gary W. Gallagher (ed.). Description: In the spring of 1864, in the vast Virginia scrub forest known as the Wilderness, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee first met in battle. The Wilderness campaign of May 5-6 initiated an epic confrontation between these two Civil War commanders—one that would finally end, eleven months later, with Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Continued below…

The eight essays here assembled explore aspects of the background, conduct, and repercussions of the fighting in the Wilderness. Through an often-revisionist lens, contributors to this volume focus on topics such as civilian expectations for the campaign, morale in the two armies, and the generalship of Lee, Grant, Philip H. Sheridan, Richard S. Ewell, A. P. Hill, James Longstreet, and Lewis Armistead. Taken together, these essays revise and enhance existing work on the battle, highlighting ways in which the military and nonmilitary spheres of war intersected in the Wilderness.

Recommended Reading: Bloody Roads South: The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, May-June 1864, by Noah Andre Trudeau. From Publishers Weekly: Ulysses Grant's relentless hammering tactics prevented Robert E. Lee from regaining the strategic initiative in 1864, although the Southern general's defensive operations during May-June of that year are regarded by many as his greatest military accomplishment. It was during this campaign that Grant came to be called "The Butcher" because of the horrendous casualties he was willing to accept as he ordered assault after assault. Continued below…

He did not retreat after suffering tactical defeats in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse and Cold Harbor, but continued to push his troops ever closer to the rebel capital of Richmond. Not a formal campaign study, this is a dramatic account told through the eyes of soldiers, civilians and government leaders. One of the elements that historian Trudeau dramatizes is the shifting emotional reaction of President Lincoln as he worried whether Grant would prove as faint-hearted as other generals who had faced Lee in the field. When word was brought from Grant that "There is no turning back," the president literally kissed the messenger, for this was probably the most important of several historic turning-points in the four-year Civil War. Includes numerous illustrations.

Recommended Reading: General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse. Review: You cannot say that University of North Carolina professor Glatthaar (Partners in Command) did not do his homework in this massive examination of the Civil War–era lives of the men in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Glatthaar spent nearly 20 years examining and ordering primary source material to ferret out why Lee's men fought, how they lived during the war, how they came close to winning, and why they lost. Continued below...

Glatthaar marshals convincing evidence to challenge the often-expressed notion that the war in the South was a rich man's war and a poor man's fight and that support for slavery was concentrated among the Southern upper class. Lee's army included the rich, poor and middle-class, according to the author, who contends that there was broad support for the war in all economic strata of Confederate society. He also challenges the myth that because Union forces outnumbered and materially outmatched the Confederates, the rebel cause was lost, and articulates Lee and his army's acumen and achievements in the face of this overwhelming opposition. This well-written work provides much food for thought for all Civil War buffs.

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