Grant intended to get between Lee and Richmond, but he failed, for the Confederate commander met him in the tangled Wilderness, and one of the most costly battles of the war began--a battle than can barely be touched on here, for, fought as it was in the woods, the lines wavering and shifting and the attack now from one side, now from the other, it became so involved that a volume is needed to tell the story. It is sufficient to say that the first heavy fighting began along the Turnpike near Wilderness Run, on May 4 and 5, and that shortly afterwards the lines were heavily engaged on each side of, and parallel to, the Plank Road. Northward, on the Germanna road, charges and countercharges were made, and on May 6, Sedgwick's line finally broke and gave ground before a spirited charge by part of Ewell's corps--the brigades of Gordon, Johnston and Pegram doubling up that flank. The Northern left (on the Plank Road), which had been driven back once, rallied on the morning of May 6, and in a counter-attack threatened disaster to the Confederates under Heth and Wilcox who (this was in the forenoon) were driven back by a terrific charge from the Federal lines near Brock Road. Expected for hours, Longstreet's march-worn men came up at this critical moment along Plank Road. Heading this column that had been moving since midnight was a brigade of Texans and toward these General Lee rode, calling: "What troops are these?" The first answer was simply: "Texans, General." [Sidenote: _"General Lee to the Rear"_] "My brave Texas boys, you must charge. You _must_ drive those people back," the Confederate commander said, so earnestly that the Texas troops began to form while Lee personally rallied the men who by now were pouring back from the front. Then as Longstreet's men began to go forward Lee rode with them until the line paused while the cry arose from all directions "General Lee, go to the rear. Lee to the rear." Officers seized his bridle. "If you will go to the rear, General," said an officer waving his hand toward the lines "these men will drive 'those people' back." His promise was made good, for as Lee drew back, Longstreet's men--General Longstreet himself had now reached the head of the column--rushed through the woods, driving the advancing Federals back, and piercing their lines in two places. Before a second and heavier assault the whole line fell back to entrenchments in front of Brock Road, and soon the junction of that road and Plank Road was within Longstreet's reach, and the Northern line threatened with irretrievable disaster.