Spotsylvania Exhibit Shelter

"Nothing in history equals this contest. Desperate, long and deadly, it still goes on. From morn till night, nor ends the carnage there -- all night it goes on too. I cannot tell you any of the particulars. You could not understand it. I do not understand it myself. I doubt if any one does... Who's able to describe these terrific cannonades, tearing men, animals, and the earth and the woods, the fierce charge and shout, the panic and stampede. The crush of horses, vehicles, and men [in] confused masses. The acres of dead and mutilated men? The usual course of feeling seems turned back or suspended..."

Corporal William Taylor

110th Pennsylvania Volunteers

May 17, 1864, letter to his wife

The Armies

The Army of the Potomac

Throughout the winter of 1863-1864, the armies rested and refitted on opposites sides of the Rapidan River. The ranks of the Union army swelled with thousands of new draftees and recruits - soldiers whose commitment to the cause many questioned.

"I determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable...; second, to hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his resources until by mere attrition...there would be nothing left to him."

General Ulysses S. Grant, USA

Commander: Major General George Gordon Meade

Strength: 100,000 men and 344 cannon

The Army of Northern Virginia

The Confederates struggled to keep their existing regiments full. In the Wilderness they would bring to the battle 13,000 fewer men than they had fielded at Gettysburg the year before.

"We had all discussed Grant in camp, and it was well known that he had taken command to hold on and fight until we were worn out. He could lose men and replace them, we could not."

Assistant Surgen Thomas F. Wood,

3rd North Carolina Infantry

Commander: General Robert E. Lee

Strength: 55,000 men and 228 cannon

Marker is on Grant Drive 0.1 miles north of Brock Road (County Route 613), on the left when traveling south.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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