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MAY 5: EWELL SURPRISES WARREN ON ORANGE TURNPIKE
Early on the morning of May 5, the Union Fifth Corps started out a
farm path toward Orange Plank Road, leaving pickets a short way out
Orange Turnpike to sound the alarm if Confederates came from that
direction. As the pickets prepared to move on, they saw a wisp of dust
on the horizon. Soon Ewell's corps appeared, marching straight toward
the enemy.
Warren sent word to Meade that Confederates were approaching. The
army commander in turn notified Grant, who directed that "if any
opportunity presents itself of pitching into a part of Lee's army, do so
without giving time for disposition." Assuming that the unexpected
gray-clad visitors constituted only a small body, Meade halted his army
and directed Warren to attack.
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GRANT WATCHED THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CORPS ACROSS GERMANNA FORD FROM A
BLUFF OVERLOOKING THE RIVER. WHEN ASKED BY A REPORTER HOW LONG IT WOULD
TAKE HIM TO GET TO RICHMOND, GRANT REPLIED FOUR DAYS. "THAT IS, IF
GENERAL LEE BECOMES A PARTY TO THE AGREEMENT," HE ADDED, "BUT IF HE
OBJECTS THE TRIP WILL UNDOUBTEDLY BE PROLONGED." (LC)
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The Confederates began erecting earthworks along the western edge of
a clearing known as Saunders Field. Warren advanced Brigadier General
Charles Griffin's division to the east edge of the clearing. Brigadier
General James S. Wadsworth's division formed in dense woods on Griffin's
left, and Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford's Pennsylvania Reserves
occupied the Chewning farm knoll farther south. Warren hesitated to
attack, however, because the Confederate formation overlapped Griffin's
flank and would enfilade him if he advanced. Warren beseeched Meade to
postpone the assault until Sedgwick arrived and formed on his right. By
1:00 P.M., however, Meade had become so exasperated with Warren's delay
that he ordered him to proceed without Sedgwick. "It was afterwards a
common report in the army," an aide recounted, "that Warren had just had
unpleasant things said to him by General Meade, and that General Meade
had just heard the bravery of his army questioned."
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THE BATTLE OPENED AT SAUNDERS FIELD, A CLEARING THAT EXTENDED ON EITHER
SIDE OF ORANGE TURNPIKE. "THE LAST CROP OF THE OLD FIELD HAD SEEN CORN,"
WROTE A MEMBER OF WARREN'S STAFF, "AND AMONG ITS STUBBLE THAT DAY WERE
SOWN THE SEEDS OF GLORY." (LC)
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Griffin's men strode across Saunders Field into intense Confederate
firepower. Brigadier General Romeyn B. Ayres's brigade, on Griffin's
right, was blistered by Southerners shooting from behind earthworks to
the front and right. Blue-clad survivors broke across the field, many
seeking refuge in a gully. Brigadier General Joseph J. Bartlett,
advancing up the turnpike's left side, had slightly better success. His
lead units overran the Confederate line—commanded by Brigadier
General John M. Jones, who was killed—and punched forward about a
quarter of a mile. Ayres's inability to keep pace, however, left
Bartlett's rightmost flank exposed, and rebels quickly exploited the
weak point. Bartlett fled with his men and barely escaped capture when
his horse was shot from under him.
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WARREN OPENS THE FIGHTING MAY 5, 1:00 P.M.
Griffin attacks Ewell across Saunders Field, supported by Wadsworth's
division south of the turnpike. The Federals succeed in rupturing the
center of Ewell's line below the road, but vigorous counterattacks by
John Gordon, Junius Daniel and others quickly restore the line. To the
south, Crawford's division maintains its hold on the Chewning firm,
while two brigades of Robinson's division remain in reserve near the
Lacy House.
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Brigadier General Lysander Cutler's famed Iron Brigade advanced in
tandem with Bartlett through woods immediately south of Saunders Field.
Although Cutler initially made headway against Brigadier General Cullen
A. Battle's Alabamians, he was brought up short by a counterattack
launched by Brigadier General John B. Gordon. Positioned near the
turnpike, the charismatic Gordon thrust his brigade into the head of
Cutler's advance, then spread units right and left to chew their way
through the Federal formation. For the first time in its history, the
Iron Brigade broke and streamed rearward. On Cutler's left, Colonel Roy
Stone's Pennsylvanians entered dense woods bordering the Higgerson
place. They mired in a swamp—the "champion mud hole of mud holes,"
a survivor described it—while Brigadier General George Doles's
Georgians fired into them from a nearby ridge. To the left of Stone,
Brigadier General James C. Rice's brigade crossed a clearing, became
disoriented in a stand of woods, and fled as Brigadier General Junius
Daniel's North Carolinians emerged from the thickets onto its
flanks.
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"SURRENDER OR DIE!"
The dense woods of the Wilderness made possible surprises and in many
instances fostered panic among the troops who fought there. A case in
point is the experience of Lieutenant Holman Melcher of the Twentieth
Maine Volunteers. On May 5, Warren's Fifth Corps broke Ewell's line
south of the Orange Turnpike, driving the Confederates back half a mile.
Melcher and a small body of men plunged through the break and when Ewell
successfully counterattacked, they found themselves trapped behind enemy
lines. Faced with the alternative of being sent to a Confederate prison
camp, they boldly determined to cut their way out. Melcher described the
episode in a speech delivered to the Military Order of the Loyal Legion
a quarter-century after the battle.
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LT. HOLMAN MELCHER (COURTESY WILLIAM STYPLE)
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"As we emerged from the woods into this field, General Bartlett, our
brigade commander, came galloping down the line from the right, waving
his sword and shouting, 'Come on, boys, let us go in and help them!' And
go we did. Pulling our hats low down over our eyes, we rushed across the
field, and overtaking those of our comrades who had survived the fearful
crossing of the front line, just as they were breaking over the enemy's
lines, we joined with them in this deadly encounter, and there in that
thicket of bushes and briers, with the groans of the dying, the shrieks
of the wounded, the terrible roar of musketry and the shouts of command
and cheers of encouragement, we swept them away before us like a
whirlwind....
The pursuit of my company and those immediately about me continued
for about half a mile, until there were no rebels in our front to be
seen or heard; and coming out into a little clearing, I thought it well
to reform my line, but found there was no line to form, or to connect it
with. I could not find my regimental colors or the regiment. There were
with me fifteen men of my company with two others of the regiment. I was
the only commissioned officer there, but my own brave and trusted first
sergeant, Ammi Smith, was at my side as always in time of danger or
battle, and with him I conferred as to what it was best to do under the
circumstances.
"There was nothing in front to fight that we could see or hear,
but to go back seemed the way for cowards to move, as we did not know
whether our colors were at the rear or farther to the front."
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There was nothing in front to fight that we could see or hear, but to
go back seemed the way for cowards to move as we did not know whether
our colors were at the rear or farther to the front. I was twenty-two
years old at this time, and Sergeant Smith twenty-three, so that our
united ages hardly gave years enough to decide a question that seemed so
important to us at that moment . . . .
Forming our 'line of battle' (seventeen men beside myself) in single
rank, of course . . . we approached quietly and unobserved, as the
'Johnnies' were all intent on watching for the 'Yanks' in front, not for
a moment having a suspicion that they were to be attacked from the rear,
until we were within ten or fifteen paces, when on the first intimation
that we were discovered, every one of our little band picked his man and
fired, and with a great shout as much as if we were a thousand, we
rushed at them and on to them, sword and bayonets being our weapons.
'Surrender or die!' was our battle-cry.
They were so astonished and terrified by this sudden and entirely
unexpected attack and from this direction, that some of them promptly
obeyed, threw down their arms and surrendered. The desperately brave
fought us, hand to hand; the larger part broke and fled in every
direction through the woods, and could not be followed by us or our
fire, as our rifles were empty and there was no time to reload.
This was the first, and I am glad to say, the last time that I saw
the bayonet used in its most terrible and effective manner. One of my
men, only a boy, just at my side, called out to a rebel to throw down
his gun, but instead of obeying he quickly brought it to his shoulder
and snapped it in the face of this man, but fortunately it did not
explode, for some reason.
Quick as a flash, he sprang forward and plunged his bayonet into his
breast, and throwing him backward pinned him to the ground, with the
very positive remark, 'I'll teach you, old Reb, how to snap your gun in
my face!' And this was only one scene of many such I saw enacted around
me, in that terrible struggle. How I wished my sword had been ground to
the sharpness of a razor, but the point was keen and I used [it] to the
full strength of my arm.
I saw a tall, lank rebel, only a few paces from me, about to fire at
one of my men and I the only one that could help him. I sprang forward
and struck him with all my strength, intending to split his head open,
but so anxious was I that my blow should fall on him before he could
fire that I struck before I got near enough for the sword to fall upon
his head, but the point cut the scalp on the back of his head and split
his coat all the way down his back. The blow hurt and startled him so
much that he dropped his musket without firing and surrendered, and we
marched him out with the other prisoners.
In less time than it has taken me to tell this we had scattered the
line of battle and the way was open for us to escape. Two of our little
band lay dead on the ground where we had fought, and several more or
less severely wounded, but these latter we kept with us and saved them
from capture. By spreading our little company out rather thin we were
able to surround the thirty-two prisoners we had captured in the melee
and started them along on the double quick, or as near to it as we could
and keep the wounded along with us.
The Confederate line soon began to rally and fired after us; but as
there were many more of the Gray than the Blue in our ranks, they
hesitated to do much firing, as they saw they would be more likely to kill
friends than foes."
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As the Union formation dissolved, Crawford began hurrying his
division back. One regiment—the Seventh Pennsylvania—became
separated and was captured by a handful of Gordon's Georgians under
Major Frank Van Valkenberg. Under cover of the dense woods, the Georgia
major was able to make his squad appear as though it were a regiment. "I
never saw a group of more mortified men," a Southerner remarked of the
Pennsylvanians' reaction on discovering they had been tricked into
surrendering to a vastly inferior force.
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AT 1:00 P.M., THE FEDERALS ATTACKED. THE 140TH NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS, A
ZOUAVE REGIMENT, LED THE ASSAULT NORTH OF THE TURNPIKE. (COURTESY KEITH
ROCCO)
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THE HIGGERSON FARM STOOD DIRECTLY IN THE PATH OF COL. ROY STONE'S MAY 5
ADVANCE. MRS. HIGGERSON SCOLDED STONE'S MEN FOR TRAMPLING HER GARDEN AND
PREDICTED THEIR SPEEDY REPULSE. "WE DIDN'T PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO WHAT
SHE SAID," ADMITTED ONE SOLDIER, "BUT THE RESULT PROVED THAT SHE WAS
RIGHT." (NPS)
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A participant described the battle in the deep woods as a "weird,
uncanny contest—a battle of invisibles with invisibles." Another
recounted that "men's faces were sweaty black from biting cartridges,
and a sort of grim ferocity seemed to be creeping into the actions and
appearance of everyone within the limited range of vision."
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BRUSH FIRES SWEPT ACROSS SAUNDERS FIELD, DEVOURING ALL WHO STOOD IN
THEIR PATH. SOME WOUNDED SOLDIERS WERE CARRIED TO SAFETY; OTHERS WERE
BURNED ALIVE. (BL)
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Warren thrust an artillery section into Saunders Field, which began
lobbing shells into friend and foe. When the Federals came tumbling
back, Rebels swarmed into the field and captured the guns. Warren's
riflemen, however, prevented them from hauling off the pieces. "'Twas
claw for claw, and the devil take us all" a Southerner recounted of the
vicious hand-to-hand combat. Then the field caught fire. Wounded men
tried to crawl to safety, and soldiers from both armies watched in
horror as their compatriots were consumed in flames. Finally, under cover
of darkness, Rebels dragged the artillery pieces into their lines.
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FISTFIGHT IN SAUNDERS FIELD
In the confused swirl of combat at Saunders Field, the fighting
sometimes took on a peculiarly personal tone. John Worsham of the
Twenty-first Virginia Infantry described one such encounter in his
book, One of Jackson's Foot Cavalry.
"Running midway across the little field was a gully that had been
washed by the rains. In their retreat many of the enemy went into this
gully for protection from our fire. When we advanced to it, we ordered
them out and to the rear. All came out except one, who had hidden under
an overhanging bank and was overlooked. When we fell back across the
field, the Yankees who followed us to the edge of the woods shot at us
as we crossed. One of our men, thinking the fire too warm, dropped into
the gully for protection. Now there was a Yankee and a Confederate in
the gully—and each was ignorant of the presence of the other!
After awhile they commenced to move about in the gully, there being
no danger so long as they did not show themselves. Soon they came in
view of each other, and they commenced to banter. Then they decided that
they would go into the road and have a regular fist and skull fight, the
best man to have the other as his prisoner. While both sides were
firing, the two men came into the road about midway between the lines of
battle, and in full view of both sides around the field. They surely
created a commotion, because both sides ceased firing! When the two men
took off their coats and commenced to fight with their fists, a yell
went up along each line, and men rushed to the edge of the opening for a
better view! The 'Johnny' soon had the 'Yank' down; the Yank
surrendered, and both quietly rolled into the gully. Here they remained
until nightfall, when the 'Johnny' brought the Yankee into our line. In
the meantime, the disappearance of the two men into the gully was the
signal for the resumption of firing. Such is war!"
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A MODERN VIEW OF SAUNDERS FIELD LOOKING EAST FROM EWELL'S LINE. (NPS)
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At 2:45, Griffin strode up to Meade and Grant. He loudly announced
that he had driven Ewell back three-quarters of a mile but that Sedgwick
had failed to arrive and Wadsworth had been repulsed, leaving both his
flanks exposed. "Who is this General Gregg? You ought to arrest him,"
Grant told Meade after the angry subordinate had stomped out. Meade
reached over and began buttoning Grant's jacket, as though Grant were a
little boy. "It's Griffin, not Gregg," Meade answered, "and it's only
his way of talking."
Around 3:00 P.M., Sedgwick's lead elements reached Saunders Field. By
then, fighting had sputtered to a close. A new battle erupted, however,
as Sedgwick tried to overrun Ewell's line in the woods above the
turnpike. Fighting seesawed as each side made fierce but inconclusive
charges. Brigadier General Leroy A. Stafford, heading a Louisiana
brigade, fell when a bullet severed his spine. His brigade was repulsed,
as was the famed Stonewall Brigade, but the determined Louisianian waved
reinforcements into battle as he lay writhing in agony. After an hour of
confused and bloody combat, Sedgwick's and Ewell's warriors disengaged
and began erecting earthworks. Fighting continued throughout the
evening—Brigadier General John Pegram was severely wounded during
an attack against his Virginia brigade—but neither side could claim
advantage. Ewell had executed his assignment to perfection and stymied
two Union corps.
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JOHN SEDGWICK COMMANDED THE SIXTH CORPS IN THE WILDERNESS. "HIS WHOLE
MANNER BREATHED OF GENTLENESS AND SWEETNESS," WROTE ONE SOLDIER. "HIS
SOLDIERS CALLED HIM UNCLE JOHN, AND IN HIS BROAD BREAST WAS A BOY'S
HEART." (NA)
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