Editing Battle of the Wilderness (section)

===Orange Turnpike===
[[File:WILDERNESS May5.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|May 5: Warren faces Ewell while Getty stops Hill|alt=troop positions with two fronts]]
At 6:00{{nbsp}}am on May 5, Warren's V Corps began moving south over farm lanes toward Parker's Store.<ref name="Scott1891b-539">{{harvnb|Scott|1891b|p=539}}</ref> The Confederate infantry was observed in the west near the Orange Turnpike, and Meade was notified. Grant instructed "If any opportunity presents itself of pitching into a part of Lee's army, do so without giving time for disposition."<ref name="Rhea103">{{harvnb|Rhea|2004|p=103}}</ref> Meade halted his army and directed Warren to attack, assuming that the Confederates were a division and not an entire infantry corps. Hancock was held at Todd's tavern.<ref name="Eicher664"/> Although Meade told Grant that the threat was probably a delaying tactic without the intent to give battle, he stopped his entire army—the exact thing Lee wanted him to do.<ref name="Rhea103"/> The Confederate force was Ewell's Second Corps, and his men erected earthworks on the western end of the clearing known as Saunders Field.<ref name="Gallagher147"/><ref name="Rhea102">{{harvnb|Rhea|2004|p=102}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Saunders Field was a corn patch about {{convert|400|yd}} wide and {{convert|800|yd}} deep. It was one of the few large clearings in the Wilderness, and the Orange Turnpike ran through its middle.<ref name="Rhea102"/> Saunders Field is sometimes called Palmer Field.<ref name="Schaff149">{{harvnb|Schaff|1910|p=149}}</ref>|group=Note}} Ewell's instructions from Lee were to not advance too fast, since his corps was out of the reach of Hill's Third Corps—and Longstreet's First Corps was not yet at the battlefield.<ref name="Gallagher147"/>

[[File:Battle of Wilderness Meade noon May 5 V2.png|thumb|upright=1.5|At noon, Meade had two fronts and no help from cavalry|alt=list of troop positions]]Warren approached the eastern end of Saunders Field with the division of Brigadier General [[Charles Griffin]] along the road on the right and the division of Brigadier General [[James S. Wadsworth]] on the left. Brigadier General [[Samuel W. Crawford]]'s division was too far away on the left near Chewning Farm, and the division of Brigadier General [[John C. Robinson]] was in reserve closer to Wilderness Tavern.<ref name="Gallagher149">{{harvnb|Carmichael|1997|p=149}}</ref> It took time to align Warren's divisions, and there was some concern about Griffin's northern (right) flank.<ref name="Rhea140">{{harvnb|Rhea|2004|p=140}}</ref>  A major problem was that "once a division left the roads or fields it disappeared utterly, and its commander could not tell whether it was in line with the others...."<ref name="Schaff138">{{harvnb|Schaff|1910|p=138}}</ref> Brigadier General [[Horatio Wright]]'s 1st Division from Sedgwick's VI Corps began to move south on the Germanna Plank Road to Spotswood Road to protect Warren's right.<ref name="Eicher664"/> Warren requested a delay from attacking to wait for Wright. By 12:00{{nbsp}}pm, Meade was frustrated by the delay and ordered Warren to attack before Sedgwick's VI Corps could arrive. Warren's troops arrived at Saunders Field around 1:00{{nbsp}}pm.<ref name="Rhea141-142">{{harvnb|Rhea|2004|pp=141–142}}</ref> The Confederate division of Major General [[Edward Johnson (general)|Edward Johnson]] was positioned on the Orange Turnpike west of Sanders Field, and it also guarded the Spotswood Road route of Sedgwick. Behind Johnson and further south was the division of Major General [[Robert E. Rodes]], while the division of Major General [[Jubal Early]] waited further west in reserve.<ref name="Gallagher149"/>