The Climax
The Battle of the Wilderness
The Battle of the Wilderness climaxed here in the twilight of May 6, 1864. After a day of seesaw fighting in the woods behind you, the Confederates mounted a final effort to take the Plank Road-Brock Road intersection, 100 yards to your left. Thousands of Confederate troops tore through these woods, wrapped in the smoke of burning leaves and underbrush. Thousands of Union soldiers awaited them behind earthworks, the remains of which still stand about 40 yards ahead of you.
As the Confederates reached this point, piles of brush put here by Union soldiers slowed them. Union musket fire whipped through their ranks. Fire creeping eastward toward the Union works prevented their movement forward. Only in one place - the works opposite you - did the Confederates break through the Union line. But a Union counterattack quickly sealed the breach. The final Confederate attack ended in bloody repulse.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of Orange Plank Road (County Route 621) and Brock Road (County Route 613), on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
