{"id":610,"date":"2025-03-01T14:09:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T19:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvbt.local\/?post_type=battlefields&p=610"},"modified":"2025-04-08T11:41:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T15:41:20","slug":"wilderness-crossroads-i","status":"publish","type":"battlefields","link":"https:\/\/cvbt.org\/battlefields\/wilderness-crossroads-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilderness Crossroads I"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wilderness Crossroads I<\/h2>\n<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n
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The Historic Crossroads of the Germanna Plank Road and the Orange Turnpike<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the Union soldiers who attempted to slow the tide of Gen. Thomas \u201cStonewall\u201d Jackson\u2019s May 2, 1863, Chancellorsville flank attack would not revisit the area a year later for the opening of the Wilderness Campaign. Sent west to help Federal campaigns in Tennessee and Georgia, the Eleventh Corps and its commander, Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, did not have to experience the two-day (May 5-6, 1864) bedlam-like slugfest that unfolded near where they endured Jackson\u2019s fierce assault the year before.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Leading the way forward into the area in 1864 was the Army of the Potomac\u2019s Fifth Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren. Leaving their winter quarter camps in Culpeper County at about midnight, May 4, Warren\u2019s men made good time. They crossed the Rapidan River at Germanna Ford at about 6:00 a.m. and reached the area near the Wilderness Tavern complex, consolidating by about 3:00 p.m. and went into camp. Warren\u2019s May 3 orders were to reach Wilderness Tavern on May 4, \u201ctaking up position there. . . .\u201d Having trekked over 20 miles, the men rested. In addition, it was important to keep the army\u2019s supply wagons and ambulances from getting too strung out. The Fifth Corps camped, planning to move on through the Wilderness the following day.Over the next few days, the land around Wilderness Tavern became a beehive of activity as the Army of the Potomac entered the Battle of the Wilderness. Ordnance, commissary, and medical supplies found a temporary home here, too. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Maj. Gen. George G. Mead and their staff officers managed much of the army\u2019s movement from Grant\u2019s nearby headquarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Before the war, the Wilderness Tavern complex took advantage of its location at the intersection of the Germanna Plank Road and Orange Turnpike. Owed most recently by William M. Simms, Wilderness Tavern and its several associated outbuildings were just east of \u201cEllwood\u201d the J. Horace Lacy House. Wilderness Run meandered between the two locations.Gen. Warren, who would soon make his headquarters at nearby Ellwood, sent a message to Gen. Meade, via Gen. Humphreys at 5:00 am on May 5 from Wilderness Tavern that, \u201cMy command is starting out.\u201d An hour later, Warren reported that he just received word \u201cthat a force of the enemy has been reported . . . coming down the [Orange] turnpike.\u201d These Confederates from Gen. Richard S. Ewell\u2019s corps were hustling east to block Warren\u2019s advance. The next 48 hours produced a virtual hell on earth for the Union and Confederate soldiers asked to fight the Battle of the Wilderness.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Preservation Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prompted to preserve this site when Walmart attempted to locate a large superstore at the nearby intersection of Plank Road\/Route 3 and Constitution Highway\/Route 20, CVBT moved to protect nearby terrain from ancillary commercial development. In 2009, CVBT acquired 93 acres on the south side of Route 3 containing land where part of the Wilderness Tavern complex once stood. Some of this property fell within the authorized boundary of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, so in 2011, CVBT conveyed 31 acres to the National Park Service. CVBT retains the eastern 62 acres of the original tract and leases most of it for farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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