Union Headquarters

Union Headquarters. The Battle of the Wilderness. Ellwood stood in the midst of the Wilderness, a dark, forbidding forest characterized by stunted trees and densely tangled undergrowth. When the Confederates challenged General Ulysses S. Grant’s advance through the Wilderness on May 5, 1864, the Union commander made his headquarters just a few hundred yards north of here, along the Orange Turnpike (modern Route 20). For the next three days Ellwood, a quiet farm in a desolate region, suddenly found itself the center of national attention., Union Fifth Corps commander Gouverneur K. Warren occupied the first-floor to the left of the front door throughout the battle. Here, on the evening of May 5, he received reports of staggering casualties from his chief surgeon., “It will never do to make a showing of such heavy losses,” he observed. The bloodshed was just beginning. By the time the Army of the Potomac reached the James River, six weeks later, it had incurred more than 60,000 casualties., (captions) , Gouverneur Warren used this room as his office during the battle. Courtesy Larry Stuart, General Grant and army commander George G. Meade visitied Ellwood on the afternnoon of May 5, 1864.