The Wilderness National Battlefield (NPS Tour)

Cheers for posting another great video Will - this certainly does make the the history books come to life :thumbsup:

You are very welcome!

Traveling to historic sites is my drug.

Traveling also relieves stress which comes with my profession.

I love photographing these sites, constructing videos and sharing them with others.

Life is way too short.....

Like the old Nike slogan, "Just Do It!"
 
I was on part of the Wilderness battlefield earlier today. I've been hired to lead a private tour of Chancellorsville for four guys who made it worth my while to be out of the office for three days this week, and part of Jackson's flank march route overlaps with the Wilderness. We will be at Ellwood on Saturday, visiting the burial site of Jackson's arm. The physical proximity AND the fact that these events were exactly one year apart has always fascinated me.
 
I was on part of the Wilderness battlefield earlier today. I've been hired to lead a private tour of Chancellorsville for four guys who made it worth my while to be out of the office for three days this week, and part of Jackson's flank march route overlaps with the Wilderness. We will be at Ellwood on Saturday, visiting the burial site of Jackson's arm. The physical proximity AND the fact that these events were exactly one year apart has always fascinated me.

I love Ellwood. There's something about that spot that fascinates me. I hiked in there years ago, just after the park service allowed people to park there at the end of the driveway with a special parking pass you got if you asked at the Chancellorsville VC. There was no one there at all but me; I roamed the grounds, peeked in the windows, and sat out in the Lacey cemetery for a couple hours. The corn was tall all around, and it truly felt like another time period. This was just after I researched my gggg-uncle, who was part of the 153rd PA that was smashed by Jackson's men, and my first time at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania. It was magical.
 
Great video. However, I wish there could have been a commentary or subtitles so I could have known what I was looking at.

Thanks!

I take the viewer through all of the official NPS tour stops in order.

Bill

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Awesome photos. Wife and I went through Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville a month or so ago as an extra day adventure on our way to Charlottesville wine country. We didn't walk around the Wilderness, drove through it to Charlottesville, but did stop at Ellwood which was closed. Snuck to the Jackson Arm grave for some pictures (had too!) very solemn place, especially since we were the only ones there. But beautiful scenery amongst all the carnage
 
The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.

* Saunder's Field

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* The Wilderness Tavern was important during the Chancellorsville and Wilderness campaigns. The structure was built about 1810 and during the war was the home of William Simms and his family. In earlier times, it had served as a stagecoach stop and tavern. The building was destroyed shortly after the war and its site is now mostly underneath the west bound lanes of Route 3 (Plank Road).

* Vintage Photo of the Wilderness Tavern.

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* Modern Photo of the Remnants of the Wilderness Tavern.

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