On the morning of May 6, 1864, at the Widow Tapp Field, a celebrated Civil War battlefield episode unfolded as the Army of Northern Virginia and its commander, R.E. Lee, faced disaster on the Orange Plank Road when a powerful Union attack swept A.P. Hill’s Confederate divisions from the woods one-half mile in front of this place. James Longstreet’s long-expected Confederate reinforcements had not yet arrived, so only a thin line of artillery stood between the approaching Federals and decisive victory in the Wilderness. Dramatic events here saved the Confederate army, and perhaps its famous commander.