Tapp Field - Wilderness VA
N 38° 17.657 W 077° 43.479
18S E 261721 N 4241979
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee faced crisis in the Wilderness when Union troops swept across this field and his reinforcements had not arrived.
Waymark Code: WM8NMF
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 04/24/2010
Views: 4
On May 6, 1864 during the battle of the Wilderness, Union troops broke out of the woods along Orange Plank Road and attacked Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces under Gen. A.P. Hill. Hill's men were outnumbered and in total disarray and they fell back through a field where Widow Catherine Tapp lived and had a modest farm. As the soldiers retreated, only 12 cannon stood between the advancing Union army and Gen. Lee who remained with a few staff members. Defeat and destruction was imminent.
As the Federals approached Lee across Tapp's field, the Texas Brigade arrived in the nick of time. They were the first of Gen. James Longstreet's reinforcements approaching up Orange Plank Road. The rest of Longstreet's Corps finally arrived and were successful in stopping the Union advance and averting total disaster.
Tapp Field is located between Plank Rd. and Hill-Ewell Dr. on the Wilderness Battlefield in the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. There is a pull-off with access to a 2-mile loop trail through the field and to monuments including the Texas Brigade, exhibits, the location of Widow Tapp's home, and 2 cannon and an ammo wagon, the only artillery on display on the Wilderness Battlefield. Admission is free to the Park and its sites.