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Confederate General Robert E. Lee was determined to confront Ulysses S. Grant's numerically-superior Union Army in the dense Spotsylvania wilderness. For Lee it was imperative to fight here for the same reason as the year before: his army was massively outnumbered, with 61,000 men to Grant's 101,000, and his artillery had fewer and worse guns than those of Grant's. Fighting in the tangled woods would eliminated Grant's advantage in artillery, and also the close quarters and ensuing confusion there could give Lee's outnumbered force better odds. Although tactically inconclusive, strategically The Battle of the Wilderness would benefit the Union. Lee's infliction of heavier casualties on Grant s army was Pyrrhic; Grant understood that this battle of attrition was one the Union could absorb, but the Confederacy could not, and would eventually lose. THE GREAT COMMANDERS SERIES: Every epoch produces a general of exceptional brilliance. Six of the most pivotal battles in history are recreated and analyzed by military historian David Chandler using contemporary sources, 3D animation, re-enactment and expert commentary. Other Commanders examined in this series include Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Horatio Nelson, and Georgi Zhukov. |
