Grant’s Headquarters
The Battle of the Wilderness
On May 5, 1864, this knoll was bordered by a second growth of scraggly pines and scrub oak. From here Grant and Meade could see little of the battle. Instead, they relied on subordinates to keep them apprised of the situation at the front. In the evenings the generals retired to their camp at the foot of the knoll, between here and the Germanna Plank Road (Modern Route 3). Otherwise, they rarely left this spot.
Over the next three days, as the two armies grappled in the deep woods, Grant and Meade remained at this knoll, sending and receiving dispatches as they fed troops into the battle. More than once Meade lost his temper. Outwardly Grant remained calm, but his nervous puffing of cigars and whittling of sticks showed that he too felt the strain.
“Grant and Meade…spent most of the day at their post on the hill, waiting for further intelligence. They sat or lay on the ground, and discussed the chances, and studied their maps, and read the dispatches…and listened constantly for the outburst of musketry which should tell that the battle was renewed.”
- Adam Badeau, Aide-de-camp
Marker can be reached from Constitution Highway (Virginia Route 20), on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
