THE first great conflict of 1864 occurred on the fifth of May when the Army of the Potomac met Lee's forces in the Battle of the Wilderness. It was a virgin forest of oak and pine, choked with dense undergrowth. The Federal soldiers knew nothing of its entanglements, but the Confederates had full knowledge of the roads and wagon paths intersecting the woods. It was so dense that the troops found it necessary at times to move in single file. The artillery and cavalry had great difficulty in getting into the encounter, and in one of the sallies nearly all the men and horses were killed. The battle was deadly. Regiments shot into their own ranks as they fled through forest and undergrowth, becoming separated from the main line. General Longstreet, of the Confederate Army, was shot and severely wounded by his own men. Tremendous volleys of musketry rang through the woods. Dead leaves and branches were swept with flames. Men lost their way and wandered into the enemy's lines. So rapid was the fire that the muskets became hot and blistered the fingers of the soldiers. The losses in this great two-days' battle cannot be stated accurately. One estimate places the Union killed, wounded and missing at 18,387 and the Confederate, 11,400. On the afternoon of the seventh of May, Grant moved his army toward Spottsylvania Court House, fifteen miles southeast of the Wilderness Battlefield, with the intent of getting between the enemy and Richmond and compelling Lee to fight at a disadvantage. It was during these maneuvers that this photograph was taken while the artillery was stationed at the edge of the forest. The negative was taken in the full light of the noonday sun in the Spring of 1864. [Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WHILE ARTILLERY WAS AT EDGE OF WOODS NEAR BATTLE OF WILDERNESS IN 1864] [Illustration: GENERAL MEADE AND GENERAL SEDGWICK WITH STAFF OFFICERS AT RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, MARCH, 1864] [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL G. K. WARREN AND STAFF AT BEVERLY HOUSE, SPOTTSYLVANIA] [Illustration: LOOKING TOWARDS SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE FROM BEVERLY HOUSE, HEADQUARTERS OF GENERAL WARREN IN MAY, 1864] [Illustration: GERMANIA FORD, RAPIDAN RIVER, WHERE TROOPS CROSSED IN GRANT'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST RICHMOND BEFORE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS] [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN SEDGWICK AND STAFF--SEDGWICK WAS KILLED AT SPOTTSYLVANIA IN 1864] [Illustration: GENERALS OF THE CAVALRY CORPS--SHERIDAN, MERRITT, DAVIS, GREGG, TORBERT AND WILSON] [Illustration: CONFEDERATE DEAD ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE IN 1864]