Wilderness: Grant's HQ

• Target Property: Grant's Headquarters

  

  The Civil War Trust is currently working to acquire this piece of land where Gen. Ulysses S. Grant made his headquarters during the Battle of the Wilderness

  Rob Shenk

• Busy Highway

  

  Union troops marched along the Orange Turnpike (modern day Route 20) on their way to the fight at Saunders Field. The Highway 20 corridor brings much heavy traffic through this historic region.

  Rob Shenk

• Entering the Wilderness

  

  The site of Grant's command post is located just inside the boundaries of the National Park. The Trust's current target property adjoins this land, preserving the entirety of Union Army's nerve center during the battle.

  Rob Shenk

• Satellite Image: Grant's Headquarters

  

  This satellite view shows the region in yellow where our target tract is located and the nearby modern development in this area.

  Google Earth

• Satellite: Headquarters Knoll

  

  This satellite image shows the 1.4 acre Grant's HQ tract that we are working to save. Several modern structures dot this tract today.

  Google Earth

• Highway 20 Near Grant's Headquarters

  

  Route 20 passes along the Grant HQ tract on its way towards Saunder's Field and the rest of the Wilderness Battlefield.

  Rob Shenk

• Grant at His Tent

  

  Civil War era photo showing Grant outside of a tent at City Point, near Petersburg.

  Library of Congress

• Meade's Headquarters Site

  

  Maj. Gen. George Meade's large Army of the Potomac headquarters was likely located at the intersection of Highway 20 and Highway 3, just down the road from Grant's headquarters.

  Rob Shenk

• Development in the Wilderness

  

  Once the site of Meade's Headquarters, the intersection of modern day Route 3 and Route 20 is now host to this gas station and convenience store.

  Rob Shenk

• Map: The land at the Wilderness

  

  This map denotes the location of our current target property in relation to other parcels near the Wilderness Battlefield

  Map by Erin Wetherley, Civil War Trust

• General U. S. Grant in the Wilderness

  

  Despite the tough and bloody fight in The Wilderness, Union troops cheered the General-in-Chief when it became known that they would not retreat back above the Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers as other Union commanders had done in previous years.

  Library of Congress