The Wilderness (Virginia)

This created newer sections of second-growth forest, a dense mix of briars, underbrush, and pine, cedar and hardwood trees with low branches.

By the time of the American Civil War (1861-1865) this had created a "patchwork of open areas and vegetation of varying density",[1] an expanse that was difficult to navigate through.

[3][4] One historian described the area as "[T]he evil-looking, evil-smelling Wilderness, where gnarled vine-throttled trees grew out of the marshy underbrush, so close together that the entire landscape was swathed in a perpetual dusk ... a benighted countryside ... with its nearly impenetrable thickets, haphazardly running streams, quicksand-spotted bogs, and intermittent, narrow roads..."[5] The Battle of the Wilderness was fought in 1864 during the American Civil War, as part of Union General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign.

[7] Grant was aware of how the Wilderness made his advantages in size and artillery less effective, and preferred to move his army further south to fight Lee on open ground.

"Stonewall" Jackson negated the superior numbers of Union General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker by pushing him back into the Wilderness where he could not easily maneuver and bring his strength to bear.