The Edge of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864. Stretching away to the westward
between Grant's army and Lee's lay no-man's-land--the Wilderness. Covered
with a second-growth of thicket, thorny underbrush, and twisted vines, it
was an almost impassable labyrinth, with here and there small clearings in
which stood deserted barns and houses, reached only by unused and
overgrown farm roads. The Federal advance into this region was not a
surprise to Lee, as Grant supposed. The Confederate commander had caused
the region to be carefully surveyed, hoping for the precise opportunity
that Grant was about to give him. At the very outset of the campaign he
could strike the Federals in a position where superior numbers counted
little. If he could drive Grant beyond the Rappahannock--as he had forced
Pope, Burnside and Hooker before him--says George Cary Eggleston (in the
"History of the Confederate War"), "loud and almost irresistible would
have been the cry for an armistice, supported (as it would have been) by
Wall Street and all Europe."
[Illustration: WHERE EWELL'S CHARGE SURPRISED GRANT