Battle of the Wilderness - Scenes from Wicked Spring

NOTE: THIS VIDEO CLIP DEPICTS RECREATIONS OF A VICIOUS CIVIL-WAR BATTLE IN WHICH MANY UNION AND CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS DIED OR WERE GRAVELY WOUNDED. IT IS NOT EASY TO WATCH. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

In May of 1864, Ulysses S. Grant and his Union troops engaged Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia in a densely wooded area known as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania. The battle, over a three-day period, ended essentially in a draw - with massive casualties on both sides.

One year earlier, in the same general area, the Confederates launched a devastating attack on the Union's right flank. In that battle of Chancellorsville, which closely followed another major Confederate victory at Fredericksburg, Lee and his men caused heavy Union losses.

Following the Wilderness Campaign, both sides fought a vicious war of attrition for another eleven months before Lee surrendered his forces at Appomatox Courthouse.