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Battle of the Wilderness • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies

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The “Lee to the rear!” monument is on the east side of Tapp field on the northwest side of the Orange Plank Road. It is on the Tapp Field trail that can be reached from Tour Stop 6 of the Wilderness Battlefield Auto Tour, about 0.25 mile across the field.

The State of Texas monument and the “The Texans Attack” wayside marker are nearby. Both provide more details to the ‘Lee to the Rear’ story. The men of the Texas Brigade refused to launch a desperate counterattack so long as Lee led them. They refused to let him risk his life. Lee was persuaded to go a short distance to the rear. The attack then halted a Union breakthrough at the cost of half the brigade.

The monument is one of ten placed by the Reverend James Powers Smith, who had been a lieutenant on General Jackson’s staff. They were erected on battlefields around Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County in 1903.  The monuments were largely paid for by businessman Thomas F. Ryan. Other Smith monuments are the Lee-Jackson Bivouac at Chancellorsville, Arm of Stonewall Jackson at Ellwood, Jackson on the Field at Fredericksburg, Lee’s Hill at Fredericksburg, Stuart and Pelham at Fredericksburg, Battle of Salem Church, the Stonewall Jackson died at Guinea Station, and Lee’s Headquarters at Spotsylvania.

Text from the monument:

Lee to the rear!
cried the Texans.
May 6, 1864.

Location of the monument

The monument is on the northwest side of Orange Plank Road (38°17’27.9″N 77°43’23.2″W) about 500 yards southwest of its intersection with Hill-Ewell Drive. The monument is only a few feet from the pavement and “no parking” is posted on that side of Orange Plank Road. There is no paved pull-off at this spot although the opposite side of the road has some room to pull off the pavement. The monument is about 400 yards from the Widow Tapp’s Field parking area, which is not a Tour Stop.

(return to the Stop 6 page)
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