Confederate Earthworks wayside marker on the Wilderness battlefield

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

Tour Stop 6 on the Wildeness Battleifled Auto Tour The Confederate Earthworks wayside marker was on the walking trail in Tapp Field 260 yards south of the parking area for Stop Six on the Wilderness Battlefield Auto Tour. (38°17’31.5″N 77°43’28.7″W)

NOTE: The marker has been removed and is included here for historical reference.

The Confederate Earthworks wayside marker in Tapp Field on the Wilderness battlefield

Text from the marker:

Confederate Earthworks

Longstreet’s troops began erecting these infantry entrenchments after fighting on the evening of May 6 and improved them the following day. This was a reserve line, the main Confederate position being a few hundred yards in font of you along modern Hill-Ewell Drive.

The small earthen mounds extending at right angles from the trenches are called traverses. They served two purposes: to protect against flanking artillery fire and to provide a new defensive front should enemy infantry pierce the line.

By 1864 the armies routinely constructed field fortifications displaying incredible effort and engineering skill. An elaborate defensive system could be built overnight. These earthworks incorporated logs as well as dirt and originally measured four to six feet in height. Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield contains outstanding examples of the soldiers’ entrenching prowess.

Caption to the background drawing:

This wartime sketch depicts Federal soldiers building earthworks during the Battle of the Wilderness. Closeup of the Confederate Earthworks wayside marker in Tapp Field on the Wilderness battlefield (go to the Stop 6 page)
(go to the main Auto Tour page)