December, 1862 was the first Battle of Fredericksburg and the Sunken Road with Lee vs. Burnside.
April into May, 1863 was the second Battle of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville with Lee vs. Hooker
From there, Lee chased the Union army up to Pennsylvania and Gettysburg and faced Grant. Gettysburg, July, 1863, ended all hopes Lee might have had for a successful invasion of the north. The Union lost 23,000 men and the South lost 28,000 in just three days of fighting, and it all came about over a shipment of shoes both sides wanted for their troops! However, after the battle, instead of retreating as all previous Union generals had done (much to the dismay of Lincoln), Grant followed Lee into Virginia.
Back then, most military units (certainly in the north) would "den up" for the winter. That's why there seems to be one-year gaps in battle timelines.
In May, 1864 Lee is back in the Fredericksburg area at a place known as The Wilderness. The year before, some of the Chancellorville battles spilled over into this wilderness area. As the troops began arriving here now they discover that the winter snowmelt and spring rains had uncovered bones and skulls of soldiers that had been killed back then. Not a very welcoming sight - but what battlegrounds are, new or "used."
This will be the first time Lee faces Grant since Gettysburg; this will truly be the beginning of the end for the south.
The thickets of trees, briars and bramble that tangled The Wilderness were such that combatants couldn't see more than 15 paces in front of themselves. From one minute to the next they couldn't see their unit flags and didn't know if their comrades were advancing or retreating. At one point a yank and a reb showed up at a Union camp, both slightly wounded. They had gotten completely lost, lost their weapons and all of their gear, and their inability to see more than a few feet because of the thickets caused them to have to join forces. Who's ever side they came upon first, one would join and the other would surrender! (Geography and conditions on the ground certainly do make a difference.)
Grant is said to have been completely inscrutable to those around him. Neither by word, or action, or countenance could one tell what he thought after receiving good news or bad. Lee didn't have to see him; Lee inherently knew what Grant would do. Lee had faced every leader of the Army of the Potomac since the beginning of war without any "R & R." Battle after battle, year after year, Lee stood faithful to Virginia. Publicly, he seemed to never show tiredness and certainly never showed weakness. His experience taught him what Grant would do.
The fighting on May 5th and 6th cost Grant 17,000 men. The night of the 6th, Grant learned that the tangled undergrowth had caught fire from the battles that raged within. He lay in his tent that night, hearing the cries of wounded men in the inferno, unable to get themselves out and unable to be reached by those around them. Grant may have been inscrutable, but he wept that night, openly and unashamedly, as he heard those sounds of horror as wounded men from both sides were burned alive. Absolutely dreadful!
I'm about ready to move on to something other than the Civil War to chat with you about. Wars and rumors of war will always abound. Studying them helps us hopefully to avoid them, but if they must be fought, studying old wars might teach us the tactics necessary to minimize death and maximize results. And I agree with Lee: It is well that war is so terrible, lest we should grow too fond of it.
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