The Historic Crossroads of the Germanna Plank Road and the Orange Turnpike
History
Most of the Union soldiers who attempted to slow the tide of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s May 2, 1863, Chancellorsville flank attack would not revisit the area a year later for the opening of the Wilderness Campaign. Sent west to help Federal campaigns in Tennessee and Georgia, the Eleventh Corps and its commander, Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, did not have to experience the two-day (May 5-6, 1864) bedlam-like slugfest that unfolded near where they endured Jackson’s fierce assault the year before.
Leading the way forward into the area in 1864 was the Army of the Potomac’s Fifth Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren. Leaving their winter quarter camps in Culpeper County at about midnight, May 4, Warren’s men made good time. They crossed the Rapidan River at Germanna Ford at about 6:00 a.m. and reached the area near the Wilderness Tavern complex, consolidating by about 3:00 p.m. and went into camp. Warren’s May 3 orders were to reach Wilderness Tavern on May 4, “taking up position there. . . .” Having trekked over 20 miles, the men rested. In addition, it was important to keep the army’s supply wagons and ambulances from getting too strung out. The Fifth Corps camped, planning to move on through the Wilderness the following day.Over the next few days, the land around Wilderness Tavern became a beehive of activity as the Army of the Potomac entered the Battle of the Wilderness. Ordnance, commissary, and medical supplies found a temporary home here, too. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Maj. Gen. George G. Mead and their staff officers managed much of the army’s movement from Grant’s nearby headquarters.
Before the war, the Wilderness Tavern complex took advantage of its location at the intersection of the Germanna Plank Road and Orange Turnpike. Owed most recently by William M. Simms, Wilderness Tavern and its several associated outbuildings were just east of “Ellwood” the J. Horace Lacy House. Wilderness Run meandered between the two locations.Gen. Warren, who would soon make his headquarters at nearby Ellwood, sent a message to Gen. Meade, via Gen. Humphreys at 5:00 am on May 5 from Wilderness Tavern that, “My command is starting out.” An hour later, Warren reported that he just received word “that a force of the enemy has been reported . . . coming down the [Orange] turnpike.” These Confederates from Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s corps were hustling east to block Warren’s advance. The next 48 hours produced a virtual hell on earth for the Union and Confederate soldiers asked to fight the Battle of the Wilderness.
Preservation Story
Prompted to preserve this site when Walmart attempted to locate a large superstore at the nearby intersection of Plank Road/Route 3 and Constitution Highway/Route 20, CVBT moved to protect nearby terrain from ancillary commercial development. In 2009, CVBT acquired 93 acres on the south side of Route 3 containing land where part of the Wilderness Tavern complex once stood. Some of this property fell within the authorized boundary of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, so in 2011, CVBT conveyed 31 acres to the National Park Service. CVBT retains the eastern 62 acres of the original tract and leases most of it for farming.
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