A Columbian reader asks how to find information about his ancestor's Civil War experiences. From the ancestor's pension file, we find he fought at the Battle of Wilderness.

The 128 volume series, The War of the Rebellion, A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, contains reports of every company, battery, regiment, brigade, division, and department of both the Union and the Confederate armies and is indexed by name, unit, and battle. The only thing missing is the muster rolls and casualty lists. The work of compiling and publishing the books began in 1864 and was completed by 1901, with the total cost almost three million dollars.

I looked up the Battle of the Wilderness and found reports from both the Union and the Confederacy. It was fascinating to see the same events from both sides.

On May 7, 1864, at 10:00 a.m., Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant wrote to Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck and reported, "We were engaged with the enemy nearly all day, both on the 5th and 6th. Yesterday the enemy attacked our lines vigorously, first at one point and then another, from right to left. They were repulsed at all points before reaching our lines, except once during the afternoon on Hancock's front and just after night on Sedgwick's front. In the former instance they were promptly and handsomely repulsed; the latter, Milroy's old brigade, was attacked and gave way in the greatest confusion, almost without resistance, carrying good troops with them. Had there been daylight the enemy could have injured us very much in the confusion that prevailed, they, however, instead of getting through the break, attacked General Wright's division of Sedgwick's corps, and were beaten back. Our losses to this time in killed, wounded, and prisoners will not probably exceed 12,000 . . ."

Also on May 7, 1864, Major General J. E. B. Stuart wrote "General [R.E. Lee]: The situation on extreme right is as follows: Enemy occupies Todd's tavern; General Fitz. Lee, between that point and Spotsylvania Court-House, was hard pressed just before dark, when I made an attack with Gordon and Rosser on Catharpin road, driving him to within a mile of Todd's tavern, where fighting was kept up after dark but has now ceased. The line of the enemy's fire was very long, apparently a mile. Cavalry was driven back but could not discover whether infantry occupied the line finally taken. . ."

These books are located at the downtown Portland branch of the Multnomah County Library. They have also been digitized and are on Cornell University Library's "Making of America" site.

© 2000–2009

Connie Lenzen, CG^SM

CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certified genealogists after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.