On this day 157 years ago, the Overland Campaign (Grant vs. Lee) began...

May 4, 1864: The Army of the Potomac (Major General George G. Meade commanding) began crossing the Rapidan River in northern Virginia. The goal was to get around Robert E. Lee's right flank, quickly march through the dense woodlands of the Wilderness, and emerge in the relatively open ground beyond around Spotsylvania Court House. The idea was to get the army between Lee and Richmond, thus forcing the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to attack them and thus succumb to their superior numbers and firepower.

The plan might have worked if the Union forces stuck to the original plan. The idea was to move through the Wilderness and encamp near Spotsylvania on the night of the fourth. However, the massive supply wagon train that would feed, clothe, and arm the army began to fall behind. So Meade's chief of staff, Brigadier General Andrew Humphreys, recommended a halt to the march within the confines of the Wilderness to allow the supply train to catch up.

This gave Lee the time he needed to react and position his forces between the Union army and the roads south to Spotsylvania Court House.

The below photographs are a "Then and Now" look at the Union army's crossing of the Rapidan River. The top photograph is from May 4, 1864, while the bottom photograph is a more modern view of the area.