On May 5, 1864 the brigade, with the rest of Kershaw's Division, was ordered forward to reinforce the First and Third Corps near Orange Court House. The march began at 12:30 A.M. on May 6th. The men of Kershaw's Divison were in the lead of General Longstreet's Corp, reaching Parker's Store about dawn. General Lee ordered the column forward to relieve the divisions of Generals Heth and Wilcox. General Kershaw was immediately ordered to relieve Major General Wilcox's division.

As General Kershaw's troops contacted the rear of the line being held by General Wilcox, the Union troops advanced as a whole line against the Confederate front. The charge broke the ranks of the embattled Southerners and they began to fall back in confusion. Generals Heth's and Wilcox's men were falling back to and through the front units of General Kershaw's Division.

General Humphrey's Mississippi troops were then thrust into the line where the Kershaw brigade had just moved forward from, to reinfoce their effort and to fill the gap. While this maneuver was successful, the enemy troops were already far enough into the vacated Confederate line that the Second South Carolina was in danger of being flanked and brought under enfilading fire.

More Confederates were being brought to the line, General Bryan's Brigade (10th Georgia, 50th Georgia, 51st georgia, and 53rd Georgia) was placed to the right of Colonel Henagan's men. Together they moved forward and pushed the Union infantry back some distance, but the Federals were reenforced and began to push their way onto the field, once again.

General Field's Division and Wofford's Brigade arriving nearly the same time, strongly reinfoced General Kershaw's position and at the suggestion of General Wofford, in conjunction with Lieutenant General Longstreet's staff... who had reconnoitered the enemy position and found that the enemys line extended but a short distance beyond the plank road, gathered forces from Anderson's Brigade of General Field's Division; Wofford's Brigade of Kershaw's Division; and in company with General Mahone's Brigade moved forward in a flanking movement against the enemy position. All the while, General Kershaw holdienemy to his front.

General Woffords suggestion was working very well, as the Confederate troops were hidden from sight of the Federals by dense woods and brush. They moved by the flank until arriving at the unfinished railroad from Gordonsville to Fredericksburg. Here the three brigades formed, facing north and began to move towards the enemy. The flanking movement caught the Yankee soldiers completely unawares. The Federals were engaged with the brigades of Benning, Gregg and Law in their front. The attack was a complete surprise and quickly rolled up their line and were routed across the Brock Road . Wofford's Brigade (the 18th Georgia Regiment of Volunteer Infantry fully engaged)pursued the fleeiing enemy across the plank road and nearly to the Germana Road.

Lieutenant General Longstreet would later write, "The movement was a complete surprise and a perfect success. It was executed with rare zeal and intelligence. The enemy made but a short stand, and fell back, in utter rout with heavy loss, to a position about three-quarters of a mile from my front attack."

Lieutenant General Longstreet met with Generals Kershaw and Wofford and congratulated them on a fine dusting of the enemy. He wanted General Kershaw to work his troops in conjunction of those of General Micha Jenkins and attack the enemy in their new position before they could recover from the earlier pounding and take advantage of the successes gained.

As Generals Kershaw and Jenkins moved forward arranging the orders their troops would follow to attack as directed by their Commander. General Kershaw's troops were still in the dense woods to the right of the road and General Jenkin's troops were to make a flanking movement agianst the Union troops along the Brock Road. Before they reached the position held by Wofford's Brigade, shots rang out from the left of the road. Immediately after the shots, a volley was fired into the column and General Jenkins was mortally wounded, as was Captain Doby (Aide-de-Camp to General Kershaw)and Orderly marcus Baum. Lieutenant General Longstreet was struck in the throat.

General Lee was immediately notified of Lieutenant-General Longstreet's condition. Command of the Corps devolved to Major-General Field. General Jenkins troops swung around to fire a volley into the woods, but general Kershaw realizing they were friendly troops placed himself in great danger and drove his mount between the two and yelled, "They are friends!" The trops fell on their arms and refrained from making the situation even worse than it was.

General Lee, arriving at the front... orderd General Kershaw to post his division on the Orange railroad and advance against the enemy. While this advance was attempted, no contact was made... with the exception of at General Wofford's area where he contuinued the pursuit of the fleeing Union troops, while successful it came at a high cost in killed and wounded.

The Confedrate troops were diorganized and confused after the mistaken wounding of their Corp Commander, Lieutenant-General Longstreet. It took several hours for General Lee to regroup his troops and present an advance against the now heavily fortified Union position. It was 5:00 PM when they finally moved forward. While triumphant in earlier fighting, the Confederates were now being slaughtered by the entrenched enemy.

However, the earthworks of Union General Hancock's men soon caught fire from the heavy fighting and the Confederates took advantage of the smoke blinded Federals and leaped over the fortifications. Unfortunately, general Hancock's artillery were up for the task and beat the Southerners back. There ended the action for te day, all became quiet along the Orange Plank Road.

While the fighting ended, the fire grew and grew and men too badly wounded to move could be heard screaming as the flames engulfed them. In the past two days of heavy fighting the Confederates suffered 7,500 losses in wounded, killed or missing. While these numbers are large, the Union side lost many more... 17,766 total losses.

The shift of troops towards Spotsylvania Court House began. General Lee once again devined the movements of his foe and ordered a rough cut track be made to connect to a road that led to Spotsylvania Court House. The First Corp then began their trek to cut off the Union troops who were now heading south. Obviously their intent was to straddle the road to Hanover Junction... the main railroad supply route for the Southern forces.

General Lee's army was able to get to the crossroads ahead of the Union troops and stopped their advance. General Anderson, now in command of the First Corps, repeled the Union troops of General Robinson at Laurel Hill. Before he could be reenforced by general Sedgwick, General Ewell arrived with 17,000 Confederates and immediately posted them to General Anderson's right. The line soon grew stronger, forming a north pointing V-shape, the point of which was soon to be called the Mule Shoe because of its shape.

General Anderson's First Corps (of which Wofford's Brigade was a part), manned the left of General Lee's army. General Ewells Corps was in the Muel Shoe and General Hill's Corps held the right of the line. (General Hill's Corps was being commanded by General Jubal Early as General Hill was sick.)

On May 10th, General Hancock was barely able to withdraw his troops, at a high cost. However, General Grant realized that general Lee had stretched his line and ordered a concerted attack be thrust inot the middle of the line and against the Muel Shoe. His commanders had until 5:00 PM to prepare. Union General Warren, who had been badly mauled by the Confederates in the past few days of fighting, begged for a chance to redeem himself by attacking before the 5:00 deadline. It would prove to be futile as his men were slaughtered as they approached the well dug in Confederates.

In the meanwhile, at approximately 7:00 PM... General Hancock renewed the attack at Laurel Hill, sending General Gibson's division against General Anderson's center. The men of the First Corps proved worthy and beat the attackers back. This attack again involved Wofford's Brigade as they helped to drive the Northerners away from their position. However, Union Brigadier General Ward's men were able to break through at Confederate General G.T. Anderson's front, but with no reenforcements, was quickly repullsed or captured.

The assault began at 4:30 AM on the morning of May 12th. At first, it was a great success for General Hancock's men. They quickly breached the Muel Shoe, captured 3,000 Southerners, including Generals Edward Johnson and George Steuart. However, General Lee moved quickly and sent brigades from all along his line to counterattack at the Muel Shoe. General Gordon was able to beat the Union men back to the earthworks and reenforcements poured in to the breach and beat General Hancocks Corps out of the Muel Shoe.

General Robert Rodes sent General Scale's brogade to the aid of General Gordon's Confederates, who had forced the attacking Union troops back into the recently captured works. General Joseph Kershaw then refused his right to bring his men into support of General Rodes entrneched soldiers. Once the two divisions were joined, General Kershaw ordered General Wofford's Brigade up, while General Rodes ordered General Ramseur's brigade forward.... to help plug the gap, now being forced by General Gordon.

General Wofford noticing the exposed right flank of the withdrawing enemy, ordered the 18th Georgia and 24th Georgia Regiments out of line and had them form up perpendicular to the enemy positions, bringing a devastating enfillading fire upon the Federal position. This caused much damage to the Union troops and resulted in large confusion and much disorder amongst them.

The concerted effort of Generals Wofford, Ramseur, Gordon and Scales brave soldiers, allowed the retaking of the Salient. The men of the 18th Georgia, joined with the men of General Rodes brigades and fought the Union invaders in terrible hand-to-hand combat, until they were recalled to new lines built at the base of the "Bloody Angle".

The Confederates under General E. Johnson had thrown together another line of fortification across the base of the Muel Shoe. The soldiers engaged at the "Bloody Angle" had fought to stay the Union tide, to give them time to construct the new line. The rain poured down on the fighting, mud and blood mixed together, bodies were stacked like cord wood... the wounded amongst them. Fighting became more intense as the soldiers from both sides fired blindly into each others ranks.

About 3:00 AM on May 13, 1864... the Confederate defenders were able to complete the new line of defense and the men fighting at the "Bloody Angle" began to withdraw to the relative security provided them. The Union troops were too exhausted to move forward in pursuit and stayed on the ground they had fought on. As daylight came, the scene before the two armies was one never before witnessed by even the most grizzled veterans. Carnage, pure and simple.

General Grant realized that the Confederates had managed to restrengthen their position and that to continue the fight would result in more of the same senseless slaughter, withdrew his troops. His plan was much like after the Battle of the Wilderness, maneuver in Genral lee's front in hopes to draw him into the open away from his strong defensive position.

As the battle stilled, General Wofford's brigade resumed its earlier positions in the Confederate entrenchments around Spotsylvania's Courthouse. The brigade had been under constant fire from the Union army since May 4th, meeting the enemy thrusts at every turn.... losing many of its brave Georgia soldiers.

Between the action in and around the Wilderness and combined with those of Spotsylvania Court House, the Uion had lost a toatl of 28,586 in killed, wounded and missing. General Lee's losses were nearly as heavy at 21,000 killed, wounded or missing. However, the war was definitely taking its toll... the Confederates could ill afford the losses...

COLONEL: On April 11, 1864, I received orders at Bristol from the Adjutant and Inspector-General to report with the original portion of the First Corps (Kershaw's and Field's divisions and Alexander's battalion of artillery) to General R. E. Lee, commanding Army of Northern Virginia. On the 14th I reached Charlottesville, and awaited there the arrival of my troops, which were somewhat delayed by want of transportation on railroad. As the troops arrived they were encamped at points between Charlottesville and Gordonsville. On the 22d, in obedience to orders received from the commanding general, I marched my command to Mechanicsville, and encamped in the near neighborhood thereof. On the 2d [May] Field's division was moved to the north of Gordonsville to meet an expected advance of a portion of the enemy by way of Liberty Mills. On the 4th was advised by the commanding general that the enemy appeared to be moving toward Stevensburg, and, as directed by him, started about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and marched to Brock's Bridge, on the border of Orange County, a distance of about 16 miles. Early on the morning of the 5th resumed my march on the [Orange plank] and Catharpin roads to Richards' Shop on Catharpin road. During the latter part of this day s march Rosser was skirmishing in my front with his brigade of cavalry.

At 12.30 a.m. on the 6th started for Parker's Store, on the plank road, in obedience to orders received from the commanding general, who also informed me that Generals Hill and Ewell had been heavily engaged the previous day. Arriving at Parker s Store about dawn, I was directed to move my column down the plank road to relieve the divisions of Heth and Wilcox, which were in position in face of the enemy on the right and left of the plank road, at right angles with it and about 3 miles below Parker's Store. Kershaw's division was in the lead, arriving in rear of the line held by these two divisions, and when the head of my column had filed to the right, and had only time to deploy two regiments of Kershaw's old brigade, an advance was made by the whole line of the enemy, and the divisions of Heth and Wilcox broke and retreated in some confusion. With considerable difficulty, but with steadiness, opening their ranks to let the retreating divisions through, Kershaw formed his line on the right and Field on the left of the plank road. Having checked the advance of the enemy, I ordered a general advance by my line, which was made with spirit rarely surpassed, and before which the enemy was driven a considerable distance. The woods were dense and the undergrowth almost impossible to penetrate. This success was not purchased without the loss of many of the bravest officers and men of my corps. The circumstances under which they fought were most unfavorable. Thrown suddenly, while still moving by the flank, and when hardly more than the head of the column could face the enemy, into the presence of an advancing foe with their ranks broken each instant by bodies of our retreating men, they not only held their own, but formed their line, and in turn, charging the enemy, drove him back in confusion over half a mile to a line of temporary works, where they were re-enforced by reserves. About 10 o'clock Maj. Gen. M. L. Smith and the other officers sent out to examine the enemy's position, reported that the left of the enemy's line extended but a short distance beyond the plank road. Special directions were given to Lieutenant-Colonel Sorrel to conduct the brigades of Generals Mahone. G. T. Anderson, and Wofford beyond the enemy s left, and to attack him on his left and rear--I have since heard that the brigade of General Davis formed a part of this flanking force--the flank movement to be followed by a general advance, Anderson's brigade on the right and Wofford's on the left, Mallone being in the center. They moved by the flank till the unfinished railroad from Gordonsville to Fredericksburg was reached. Forming on this railroad facing to the north, they advanced in the direction of the plank road till they encountered the enemy in flank and rear, who was then engaging the brigades of Gregg, Benning, and Law in front. The movement was a complete surprise and a perfect success. It was executed with rare zeal and intelligence. The enemy made but a short stand, and fell back, in utter rout with heavy loss, to a position about three-quarters of a mile from my front attack.

I immediately made arrangements to follow up the successes gained, and ordered an advance of all my troops for that purpose. While riding at the head of my column, moving by the flank down the plank road, I came opposite the brigades which had made the flank movement, and which were drawn up parallel to the plank road, and about 60 yards therefrom, when a portion of them fired a volley, which resulted in the death of General Jenkins, and the severe wounding of myself. I immediately notified the commanding general of my being obliged to quit the field, and the command devolved on Major-General Field.

To the members of my staff I am under great obligations for their valuable services. They conducted themselves with their usual distinguished gallantry. Much of the success of the movement on the enemy's flank is due to the very skillful manner in which the move was conducted by Lieutenant-Colonel Sorrel.

I have the honor to forward the accompanying reports of subordinate commanders of corps.

I am, colonel, with great respect, your obedient servant,

J. LONGSTREET, Lieutenant-General.