Flank Attack!
The Battle of the Wilderness
These woods saw some of the heaviest fighting of the Battle of the Wilderness. On May 5, then again on May 6, 1864 ragged Union and Confederate battle lines surged back and forth on both sides of the Orange Plank Road. The stalemate here finally broke late on the morning of May 6, when Confederate General James Longstreet managed to move troops opposite the Union left flank, in front of you.
At 11 a.m., Longstreet’s men surged through the woods ahead of you screaming the rebel yell. Panic gripped the Union army. One after another, Northern soldiers broke ranks and fled through the brush toward the Brock Road, one-half mile to your left. Within minutes, the entire left wing of the Union army was in tatters. Back at the Brock Road, General Winfield Scott Hancock strove to rally the fragments of his shattered command. But would he have time?
Colonel Sorrel, it was splendid; we shall smash them now.
General Micah Jenkins, Confederate staff officer
Marker is at the intersection of Orange Plank Road (Virginia Route 621) and Wilderness Park Drive, on the right when traveling east on Orange Plank Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
