The Wilderness 1864

In 1864 the Army of the Potomac returned to the Wilderness, but this with US Grant in command. The inherent sluggishness of the Army of the Potomac thwarted Grant's plan to get out of the Wilderness before Lee could get ahead of him so once again they fought in the Wilderness, a little west of the Chancellorville battlefield.  Again Lee tried flank attacks, albeit on a small small scale than the year before.  But he was fighting a different beast this time.  Grant did not lose his nerve, he reformed his lines & the armies fought each other to a standstill.  But unlike his predecessors in the Army of the Potomac, stalemate did not mean defeat to Grant.  He moved not backwards, but sideways - towards Richmond.   Once again the Army of the Potomac moved too slow & Lee just managed to get to Spottsylvania Courthouse first.

A feature of both the Wilderness battlefields is the extensive lines of trenches thrown up by both sides.  Dug in a matter of hours they are still there after over 150 years.  By this time both sides automatically dug in if there was any threat of attack.