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May 27

The Overland Campaign

In May of 1864 US Grant began a concerted campaign to bring the rebellion to an end.  Setting the Army of the Potomac in motion in northern Virginia, Grant also set Sherman loose in Georgia for an all out asphyxiation of the Confederacy.

Confederates prepare for the Union assault at Spotsylvania 2014

Confederates at Spotsylvania Courthouse 2014

In the spring of 1864 prospects for the Confederacy were looking dim, but southerners had one hope.  In the fall of 1864 there would be a presidential election.  If the northern people could be made to believe that the war could not be won on the battlefield then their newly elected leader would have to sue for peace.

In this final stretch of the war the rebels would fight with desperation and the Union troops would find that a lot more blood would have to be spilt before it was all over…. See the link below for an outline of the Overland Campaign:

The Overland Campaign of 1864

May 26

The Battle of the Wilderness

“On May 5th 1864 the rival armies marched into the heart of the Wilderness and began a fight that lasted until the end of the war.”

The Wilderness Battlefield 2014

The Wilderness Battlefield 2014

The fighting in the Virginia Wilderness in the spring of 1864 was the beginning of US Grant’s Overland Campaign.

See the link below for the story and images of the Wilderness Battlefield and battle reenactments in Virginia in spring 2014.

The Battle of the Wilderness

Sun set over the Union encampment in Spotsylvania County Virginia 2014

Sun set over the Union encampment in Spotsylvania County Virginia 2014