Battle of the Wilderness • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
Grant’s Headquarters is Stop One on the Battle of the Wilderness Auto Tour.
A short trail leads from a roadside pull-off to the site where Grant made his headquarters on a small knoll close to the turnpike.
The “Grant Comes to Virginia” Orientation Marker is beside the pull-off.
Two wayside markers are a short distance down the trail:
“Grant’s Headquarters” and “An Uneasy Partnership wayside markers”
The Grant’s Knoll Trail goes only a short distance from Stop One on the Battle of the Wilderness Auto Tour. The “Grant Comes to Virginia” orientation marker is beside the trailhead at the pulloff. The “Uneasy Partnership” and “Grant’s Headquarters” wayside markers are visible through the trees on the left.
Grant Comes to Virginia Orientation Marker
Text from the orientation marker:
Grant Comes to Virginia
This short trail leads to “Grant’s Knoll.” For three days Gen. Ulysses S. Grant made his headquarters here, issuing orders that would determine the fate of armies and men. President Abraham Lincoln had recently appointed Grant general-in-chief over Union armies throughout the country. Rather than remain in Washington, Grant chose to travel with Gen. George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac, which was battling Lee’s Confederates here in Virginia. Grant hoped to infuse the Union army with his own relentless drive and determination. He succeeded.
Grant’s strategy was simple: hammer at the South day in and day out until it buckled under the weight of superior Union manpower and resources. The results were bloody but effective. In less than a year, the Confederate army in Virginia was battered into submission.
“We must make up our minds to get into line of battle and stay there; for that man [Grant] will fight us every day and every hour till the end of this war.”
-Confederate General James Longstreet
Callouts from the map:
Grant’s Headquarters (You are Here)
Grant’s Knoll sits beside the historic Orange Turnpike, about 1.3 miles from Saunders Field, where the Battle of the Wilderness began on May 5.
1864 Intersection of Orange Turnpike and Germanna Plank Road
Lacy House “Ellwood”
Saunders Field
Map and directions to Stop One on the Auto Tour
Tour Stop One is on the north side of Constitution Highway, Virginia Route 20, about 0.4 mile south of Virginia Route 3, known at the time of the battle as the Orange Turnpike. (38°19’20.0″N 77°44’02.4″W)
Directions to the next stop on the Auto Tour:
Turn right leaving the pulloff and continue west on Route 20 about 1.25 miles. Tour Stop Two is on the right at the Wilderness Battlefield Exhibit Shelter.
Just 1,000 yards ahead on the left of Route 20 is the driveway to Ellwood. It is not a stop on the Auto Tour. Ellwood was the headquarters of the Union 5th Corps during the Battle of the Wilderness. It also played a role in the Battle of Chancellorsville as the place where ‘Stonewall’ Jackson’s Army was buried after he was mortally wounded.