The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on ground of Lee’s choosing. The heavy secondary growth forest limited visibility and maneuverability. This mitigated Grant’s 2:1 manpower advantage and limited the usefulness of artillery and cavalry. Grant had hoped to fight Lee on open ground but that wasn’t possible here. As a result, he decided to move around the Confederate right toward Spotsylvania Court House. Grant had the advantage of traveling on the main road that led directly to the town from the Wilderness (Brock Road). Lee had anticipated this move and had his chief of artillery, Brigadier General William Pendleton, cut a road through the woods to shorten the route. Roads from Spotsylvania Court House led to Richmond and also allowed Grant to shorten his supply lines. The Confederate First Corps, on the right flank, were the first to move out on the evening of the May 7th. Major General Richard Anderson commanded the corps as a result of James Longstreet’s wounding the day before. The race for Spotsylvania Court House was on. The path of each army is shown on the map below. A. P. Hill’s Third Corps followed Anderson down the “Pendleton Road” which ran parallel to the Brock Road and intersected with the Catharpin Road between Todd’s Tavern and Corbin’s Bridge. The Second Corps swung further west via Parker’s Store toward Shady Grove Church.
If the Rebels were to beat the Yankees to Spotsylvania Court House they would need help from their Cavalry Corps commanded by Major General J.E.B. Stuart. One division under Major General Wade Hampton would protect the Catharpin Road west of Todd’s Tavern in order to screen the Army of Northern Virginia’s movement south. The other division commanded by Major General Fitzhugh Lee would need to slow the Federal’s march south long enough for Anderson to arrive north of Spotsylvania Court House. Meade, on the other hand would depend on his cavalry under Major General Phil Sheridan to keep the Brock Road open.
Sheridan ordered two of his three divisions to Todd’s Tavern at the intersection of the Brock Road and Catharpin Road. Brigadier General Wesley Merritt’s 4500-man division would move down the Furnace Road to the Brock Road while Brigadier General David Gregg was ordered to take the Catharpin Road west. Major General Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry division was there waiting for them behind a barricade. Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer rode at the head of Merritt’s column. Shortly after turning onto Brock Road they met Confederate skirmishers. The 1st MI Cavalry and the 6th NY Cavalry, under Thomas Devin, pushed them back. Fitzhugh Lee could see Gregg’s column approaching from the east, see map below.
With Union cavalry approaching him from two different directions Fitz Lee decided his position at Todd’s Tavern was no longer tenable and he pulled his men back 2 miles to the south. Gregg arrived at Todd’s Tavern around noon. He secured the intersection there with two divisions and with his remaining four divisions rode west on the Catharpin Road toward the bridge over the Po River (Corbin’s Bridge). The Todd’s Taven intersection is shown below (38.2474486, -77.6686896).
This modern day structure on the east side of the Brock Road is on the opposite side of the road as the wartime tavern.
After crossing Corbin’s bridge Gregg ran into three brigades of Confederate cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart and Wade Hampton. After a brief skirmish both sides, satisfied with their positions, dug in. The picture below is taken from the south side of the modern-day Po River Bridge on Catharpin Road (area of wartime Corbin’s Bridge). The Federals would be riding toward the camera (38.2293324, -77.7016174).
The Union Cavalry had now protected the Todd’s Tavern intersection from the Confederates and the Confederate’s Cavalry protected the Shady Grove Church Road to Spotsylvania Court House.
Merritt’s men, however, were having a hard go of it as they attempted to move further south on the Brock Road. Colonel Alfred Gibbs brigade was at the head of the column and ran into Confederate skirmishers 1 mile south of the tavern. Begrudgingly, the skirmishers fell another mile back to the main Confederate line behind a barricade where they put up a determined fight. As dark as fell, Merritt’s men pulled back to the tavern. The Federal infantry started south on the Brock Road from the Wilderness around 8 PM. Brigadier General John Robinson’s division of Warren’s V Corps was in the lead. Grant and Meade rode at the head of the column, which arrived at Todd’s Tavern around midnight. Upon seeing the cavalry sleeping there, when they were supposed to be in Spotsylvania Court House having cleared the road, Meade went ballistic. With Sheridan nowhere to be found, Meade ordered Merritt and Gregg back into the saddle with their men to clear the road. They rode off but could accomplish little in the dark. Meade then woke up Robinson’s division and sent them down the Brock Road. The site of Fitz Lee’s barricade is shown below looking north up the Brock Road to the left just south of the intersection with the Piney Branch Road to the right (38.2302718, -77.6350453).
On seeing the approaching infantry Lee retreated back to the next ridge line behind a new set of barricades felling trees along the way. Although unable to stop Robinson’s men they were able to slow them using the same tactics at each hill along the way. By 8:00 AM the Federals were now within a mile of the city. Major General Stuart arrived on the scene to assume command at Laurel Hill the last defensible position north of Spotsylvania Court House. As Stuart was preparing his defenses, approaching from the rear, he could see Major General Richard Anderson’s First Corp moving north up the Old Court House Road toward him. The Confederates had won the race. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House would begin here on Laurel Hill. The action at Todd’s Tavern is interpreted at the three Civil War Trails signs shown below.
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