The Battle of the Wilderness in Myth and Memory: Reconsidering Virginia’s Most Notorious Civil War Battlefield by Adam H. Petty

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Battle of the Wilderness in Myth and Memory: Reconsidering Virginia’s Most Notorious Civil War Battlefield by Adam H. Petty Angela M. Riotto (bio) The Battle of the Wilderness in Myth and Memory: Reconsidering Virginia’s Most Notorious Civil War Battlefield. By Adam H. Petty. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2019. Pp. 208. Cloth, $42.00.) Arguing that historians of the American Civil War have provided few focused analyses of the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, Adam Petty offers this military-environmental history of the region and the Civil War battles that occurred there, including Chancellorsville (April–May 1863), Mine Run (November–December 1863), and the Wilderness (May 1864). Identifying the gap in the scholarship, Petty reconsiders traditional interpretations of the Wilderness environment, especially how it affected military operations and combat. Furthermore, unlike other traditional histories, this one examines the changing memory of the interaction between military and environmental factors. To provide a more comprehensive history of the Battle of the Wilderness, Petty begins by identifying what he terms the “Wilderness myth” (x), a set of prevailing arguments emphasizing the dense forest vegetation, [End Page 119] the area’s uniqueness and mystique, and Confederate superiority within the terrain. Petty traces the conception of the myth to 1864 and William Swinton, a wartime correspondent for the New York Times. Shortly after the battle’s conclusion, Swinton published a report detailing its setting and the environmental obstacles within it. Petty contends that Swinton’s conclusions laid the foundation for professional historians’ assessments of the battle, and thus the Wilderness myth. In both his 1864 article and his 1866 Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, Swinton claimed that it was a horrific engagement that occurred in a unique forest. Moreover, Swinton reasoned, because of the advantages the Confederate army enjoyed in the Wilderness, General Robert E. Lee planned to fight there. Petty thus credits Swinton with the creation of a singular and much-replicated campaign narrative. After tracing the origins of the Wilderness myth, Petty explicates the five main tenets of the myth for his readers. First, the Wilderness was a nearly unbroken forest composed of thick, second-growth trees and underbrush. Second, the Wilderness’s extraordinary—perhaps even supernatural—characteristics imposed certain conditions on military actions, such as the inability to see for any distance, properly maneuver or maintain a battle line, and profitably employ artillery and cavalry. Third, the Wilderness exuded a mystique associated with death, destruction, fire, and hell. Fourth, because of the Confederates’ alleged superior knowledge of the region and the forest’s diminishing effect on Union military superiority, the Confederates excelled in combat. Fifth, Lee purposefully trapped the Federals in the woods to exploit these advantages. Petty uses the five elements of the myth to organize the chapters of his book. As a traditional environmental history, chapter 1 reconsiders the ecology and origins of the Wilderness. Petty argues that, contrary to the more familiar descriptions, the Wilderness was not a monolithic forest, but a patchwork. Chapter 2 merges environmental history with memory studies to analyze the oft-repeated notion that the Battle of the Wilderness was a unique engagement because of the environment in which it was fought. Comparing this action to both Chancellorsville and Chickamauga, Petty reveals that the battles of the Wilderness and Chancellorsville, which took place over the same terrain, were not the twins that many historians imply them to be. Rather, the Wilderness of Spotsylvania shared many similarities with the Chickamauga battlefield, and the Battle of the Wilderness was just one manifestation of the tactical problems that Civil War armies faced when operating in a forested region. Chapter 3 presents a more traditional memory study. Drawing on soldiers’ letters and diaries, Petty dissects the [End Page 120] mystique surrounding the Wilderness. Given the chaos of battle and the fires that consumed wounded and dead alike, Petty assesses that it is no surprise that individuals have described the Wilderness as a malevolent landscape associated with death, devastation, fire, and the supernatural. In chapter 4, Petty relies on conventional military histories, such as those written by Earl Hess, to reject the notion that the Confederates had an advantage in the Wilderness. In Chapter...