Battle of the Wilderness • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The Battle of the Wilderness Compass Rose at Saunders Field is one of several erected on Civil War battlefields in Spotsylvania County. The large, circular bronze compasses are set into masonry bases and show distances to important Civil War locations. The monument is at Stop Three on the Auto Tour. There is another compass rose at Stop Eight on the Wilderness battlefield at the intersection of Orange Plank Road and Brock Road.
The Battle of the Wilderness Compass Rose (at left) and United Daughters of the Confederacy monument (center) at Saunders Field
The compass rose is just to the west of the Battle of the Wilderness monument erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Two wayside markers,“A Wild, Wicked Roar” and The Confederate Line, are a short distance away down a footpath.
Text from the compass rose, starting at almost due north and going clockwise. Distances are in miles:
N
Germanna Ford 6 M.
Gettysburg 115 M.
Ely’s Ford 5 M.
Grant’s Hdqrs. 1.5 M.
E
Fredericksburg 16 M.
Brock-Plank crossroads 3 M.
Spotsylvania C.H. 13 M.
Richmond 60 M.
Parker’s Store 2.9 M.
S
Appomattox C.H. 95 M.
Gordonsville 27 M.
Orange C.H. 20 M.
W
Culpeper C.H. 17 M.
Location of the Compass Rose
The compass is on the east side of Hill-Ewell Drive just south of Virginia Route 20. (38°18’57.9″N 77°45’33.7″W)