Hell–Sunnan Line

The Hell–Sunnan Line (Norwegian: Hell–Sunnanbanen) is a 105-kilometer-long (65 mi) railway line between Hell, Stjørdal and Sunnan, Steinkjer in Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. The name is no longer in official use and the line is now considered part of the Nordland Line. The Hell–Sunnan Line branches from the Meråker Line at Hell and runs on the east shore of the Trondheimsfjord passing through the municipalities of Stjørdal, Levanger, Verdal, Inderøy and Steinkjer.

The Norwegian State Railways (NSB) started construction in 1899 and the first part of the line, from Hell to Stjørdalshalsen, opened on 1 February 1902. The railway opened to Levanger on 29 October 1902, to Verdalsøra on 1 November 1904 and to Sunnan on 15 November 1905. Sunnan was chosen as terminus because of its location on the southern end of the lake of Snåsavatnet. The line was further extended to Snåsa in 1926, after which it has been classified as part of the Nordland Line. The railway is the most heavily trafficked non-electrified line in Norway, with the Trøndelag Commuter Rail running south of Steinkjer. It is also used by intercity passenger and freight trains.

## Route

The Hell–Sunnan Line constitutes the section of the Nordland Line between Hell, Stjørdal and Sunnan, Steinkjer. At the time of the line's opening, it was 105.2 kilometers (65.4 mi) long. The railway is single track, standard gauge, non-electrified, and equipped with centralized traffic control, partial automatic train control, and GSM-R. The railway line is owned and maintained by the Norwegian National Rail Administration.

Starting in the south at Hell Station, which is located 31.54 kilometers (19.60 mi) from Trondheim Central Station (Trondheim S), the Meråker Line branches from the Nordland Line. The latter crosses the river of Stjørdalselva on a 149-meter-long (489 ft) truss bridge. It passes the closed Sandferhus Station before reaching Trondheim Airport Station (33.17 km or 20.61 mi from Trondheim S), which serves as an airport rail link and is situated below the terminal of Trondheim Airport, Værnes. Previously there was a 3-kilometer-long (1.9 mi) spur from Sandferhus to Værnes and Øyanmoen. The mainline continues under the airport's taxiway and runway in the two Værnes Tunnels, the latter which is 150 meters (490 ft) long, after which the line reaches Stjørdal Station (34.67 km or 21.54 mi).

The line continues past the closed Vold Station, which was built to serve a mill, to Skatval, through which the line makes a semi-circular detour. Here it serves Skatval Station (41.90 km or 26.04 mi) and the closed Alstad Station. Alstad was previously an important station as it was conveniently placed for boat access from Frosta. Located at 89.6 meters (294 ft) above mean sea level (AMSL), it was the highest elevated station on the line. The line then enters the municipality of Levanger, where it first reaches the closed Langstein Station and then the closed Vudu Station. After Vudu, the line reaches its highest elevation of 99 meters (325 ft) when it crosses over European Road 6 (E6). The line then reaches Åsen Station (61.40 km or 38.15 mi) before continuing past the closed Hammerberg Station to Ronglan Station (69.65 km or 43.28 mi).

Before reaching Skogn Station (76.01 km or 47.23 mi), a 2.8-kilometer-long (1.7 mi) spur branches off to Fiborgtangen, serving Norske Skog Skogn. The mainline continues past Eggen Station and over the E6, past the closed Sykehuset Levanger Station, which served Levanger Hospital, before reaching Levanger Station (83.90 km or 52.13 mi). It then crosses the river Levangselva on a 27.4-meter-long (90 ft) bridge. It passes the closed Elberg Station and to reach HiNT Station (69.65 km or 43.28 mi), which serves the Levanger campus of Nord-Trøndelag University College.

The line continues past the closed Østborg Station and Rinnan Station before entering the municipality of Verdal. After Bergsgrav Station (93.70 km or 58.22 mi), which serves the neighborhood of Vinne, a spur branches off to Verdal's industrial area. The mainline crosses the river of Verdalselva on a 210-meter-long (690 ft) truss bridge before reaching Verdal Station (96.23 km or 59.79 mi). It is followed by the closed Fleskhus Station and Bjørga Station before entering the municipality of Inderøy at the 103-meter-long (338 ft) Koabjørgen Tunnel. The only station in Inderøy is Røra Station (105.47 km or 65.54 mi); however the line does not enter Steinkjer before passing through the 385-meter-long (1,263 ft) Lunnan Tunnel.

After passing the closed Vollan Station, the line reaches Sparbu Station (112.93 km or 70.17 mi). It then passes the closed Mære Station and Vist Station and crosses over the 46-meter (151 ft) bridge over Figgja to reach Steinkjer Station (125.50 km or 77.98 mi). The line runs over the river of Steinkjerelva on a 96-meter-long (315 ft) truss bridge. Then come two spurs, to Eggebogen and Byafossen. The line continues past the closed Byafossen Station and Fossemvatnet Station and terminates at the closed Sunnan Station (1,136.66 km or 706.29 mi). The Nordland Line continues over a bridge across Snåsavatnet.

## History

### Planning

Planning of a railway to connect Trøndelag and Jämtland, Sweden, started in 1869, with one of the proposals being to build a line from Trondheim via Verdal to Sweden. However, surveys along the Verdal proposed route deemed it unsuitable, and instead the line was built via Stjørdalen and Meråker. To conform with Swedish standards, the line was built with standard gauge instead of the in Norway more common narrow gauge. The Meråker Line opened on 22 July 1882.

In Stjørdal, controversy arose over the route. The river of Stjørdalselva creates a barrier just north of Hell, which made it cheaper to build the line on the south shore of the river to Hegra. However, the major population center was located at Stjørdalshalsen, on the north shore of the river. Locally, there were many protests against the line bypassing such a large town, but the cost of the bridge made Parliament choose the southern alternative. This gave residents in the town an around 3 kilometres (2 miles) route to the train, since they had to cross the river to get access to the railway. This decreased the railway's ability to compete with the steam ships and thus the overall profitability of the line. With the arrival of the railway, transport to Trondheim became much easier than to Stjørdalshalsen and Levanger, helping Trondheim grow as a regional center.

The Nordland Line was first publicly proposed by Ole Tobias Olsen in a letter to the editor in Morgenbladet in 1872, where he argued for a railway between Trondheim and his home county of Nordland. The same year, Nord-Trøndelag County Council voted in favor to start planning of a railway between Trondheim and Namsos. The county council appointed a railway committee in 1875, who on 23 August 1876 published a report to encourage national authorities to consider the line, which resulted in surveying starting in 1877. On 27 April 1881, the committee made its recommendation to the county council and ceased its work. No planning was done the next three years, until three county councilors, Vilhelm Andreas Wexelsen, Peter Theodor Holst and Bernhard Øverland, made a new proposal. However, it was not until 1889 that the county council appointed a new railway committee, which was led by Wexelsen.

In 1891, the county's road committee, led by Øverland, sent an official request to the railway committee, asking for details about their plans, so the appropriate roads could be planned. This spurred the committees work and a cooperation with Nordland County Council was initiated to increase the projects priority by national politicians. On 2 March 1896, with 87 against 27 votes, Parliament passed legislation approving a railway from Hell to Sunnan. Costs were estimated at 8.75 million Norwegian krone (NOK), of which 15 percent was to be financed with local grants and the remainder by the state. Construction was scheduled to take 15 years. The decision initially called for the railway to be built in two stages, with the split at Rinnan in Levanger—the site of the military camp Rinnleiret. Final approval of construction was made by Parliament on 11 June 1898.

### Construction

At Hell, there arose a disagreement about where the Hell–Sunnan Line should branch from the Meråker Line. Initial proposals were to place the branch from a location before Hell Station, thus forcing trains to back up from Hell Station before continuing northwards. The station building at Hell was also too small for the increased traffic, so it was moved to Sunnan Station and a new station building, with capacity for 25 employees, was built at Hell. In Skatval, there was a controversy as to whether the station should be built at Mæhre or Alstad. Mæhre (later Skatval) had support from the municipal council and was closer to the larger share of the area's population. However, the military wanted Alstad, as it was a rally point for the military in case of a Swedish invasion, and gave easy waterway access from Frosta. The station was placed at Mæhre, while a passing loop was built at Alstad.

The most difficult work was through Grubbåsen, near Åsen. The ground consisted of quick clay, which the railway was to pass through in a trench. On 5 May 1900, a landslide filled the trench, killing three navvies. Past the lake of Nesvannet, there was also weak soil mechanics, resulting in the need for piling. One worker was killed after getting hit by a piling log. In Levanger, there was debate as to whether the station should be on the west or east side of the tracks, with the decision falling on the west side. The 3.0-kilometer-long (1.9 mi) section from Hell to Stjørdal started revenue service on 1 February 1902. The 49.4-kilometer-long (30.7 mi) section from Stjørdalshalsen to Levanger was officially opened on 27 October 1902, with ordinary services starting on 29 October.

Construction on the line's second part, from Levanger to Sunnan, started in 1901. Part of the reason for the early start was to help employ older navvies who were working on the southern section during the summer. By early 1904, the right-of-way to Fleskhus was completed and the laying of tracks could begin. The bridge over Verdalselva was built using 473 tonnes (466 long tons; 521 short tons) of stone, which had to be transported 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from Bagloåsen in Levanger. The superstructure was built by Vulkan of Oslo and was installed between 9 September and 27 November 1903.

In Verdalsøra there again arose a debate over which side of the tracks the station should be on. The townspeople wanted it on the west side, which was on the same side as the town center, while farmers wanted it east side, which was most accessible from the valley. The result was that the station was placed on the east side. The 12.4-kilometer-long (7.7 mi) section from Levanger to Verdal was opened on 1 November 1904, although the station building was not completed until 1905. At the time there were two trains per direction per day, one passenger train and one post train.

For the bridge over Ydseelva in Verdal, which had a main span of only 1.5 meters (4 ft 11 in), construction started in April 1903 and was completed on 21 November. The area has quick clay, so the bridge needed piling. At Røra, a spur was originally planned to Hylla, but this was discarded late in the planning phase. At Hellem in Inderøy the right-of-way had to be moved because of poor soil mechanics. There were similar issues north of the Lunnan Tunnel, forcing the tunnel to be extended and a support being built. Construction of the tunnel was performed by 40 men during the winter of 1904 and 1905. It cost NOK 90,179 and took 23.9 man-hours per meter to build.

In the former municipality of Sparbu, there was a contentious debate over both the route and the location of the station. Although the line was built where it had originally been planned, two alternatives were launched, both which saw the line go further east and higher up in the terrain. At the time both the dairy and store were located at Lein. The current villages of Sparbu and Mære had not been established, and locals wanted the railway to go through Lein, which was the de facto municipal center. However, the alternatives were 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) longer and would run through more rolling terrain, so the engineers insisted on the original route. The plans called for a station at Leira (today known as Sparbu) and at Vist, but many locals instead wanted it at Mære, in part to serve the new Mære Agricultural School. On 5 June 1900, Parliament voted in favor of only one station, at Mære. However, the decision was reverted by Parliament on 24 April 1901.

A support wall was built at Sørlia, just south of Steinkjer, after there was a clay landslide. Construction of the bridge over Figgja, just south of Steinkjer, was performed in 1904. The superstructure was built by Kværner of Oslo and installed between 11 November and 21 December 1904. The bridge over Steinkjerelva took up a significant portion of the old river port in Steinkjer, resulting in a spur being built to a new port location. The railway ran right through the town center, forcing 20 houses to be demolished and splitting the town in two. The arrival and route of the railway was described by some locals as vandalism. A counter-proposal which saw the line run further up and cross through Steinkjersannan and Furuskogen—and thus avoid the town itself—was discarded because it would wreck the military camp at Steinkjersannan and would be located too far from the port. There was also a major debate as to whether the station should be on the south side or north side of the river. The municipal council voted for the south side with the mayor's double vote being decisive. Construction of the bridge over Steinkjerelva started in August 1902 and was completed on 7 May 1904. A proposal to build the bridge as a swing bridge was dropped, forcing the railways to pay NOK 45,402 in compensation to companies with facilities upstream.

Steinkjer is surrounded by a moraine which had to be traversed with a cutting, 85 meters (279 ft) long and up to 21 meters (69 ft) deep. 125,000 cubic meters (4,400,000 cu ft) of earthwork was removed, half with a steam shovel, and largely used to build reclaimed land for the railway's right-of-way through Steinkjer. The official opening of the 40.4-kilometer-long (25.1 mi) section between Verdal and Sunnan took place on 14 November 1905. Revenue service started the following day.

### Operation

The choice of route through Innherred was largely without much debate, as the line naturally went through all the towns and most of the important villages. Sunnan was a natural place to halt construction, as it is located at the foot of the lake of Snåsavatnet, allowing connection with steam ships. Scheduled services on Snåsavatnet started in 1871 with SS Dina, which was replaced with SS Bonden in 1885. From 1904 to 1921, Bonden was supplemented with MS St. Olaf, although SS Bonden remained in corresponding service with the train until 1926.

Even before planning of the Hell–Sunnan Line was completed, there arose disagreement as to the route onwards. In a plan from the 1870s, there was consensus that the towns of Stjørdal, Levanger, Steinkjer and Namsos should receive a line, but there was a disagreement as to the route. The Beitstad Line would run from Steinkjer via Beitstad and Namdalseid to Namsos and from there to Grong, while the Snåsa Line would run from Sunnan via Snåsa to Grong, with a branch from Grong to Namsos. The Beitstad Line would run through the most densely populated areas, while the Snåsa Line was shorter. Parliament decided on the Snåsa Line in 1900. The railway was extended from Sunnan to Snåsa Station on 30 October 1926, with the section from Hell to Sunnan becoming classified as part of the Nordland Line. The railway was completed to Bodø on 7 June 1962.

In 1909, a station was opened at Fossemvatnet, followed by a station at Fleskhus in 1913. Mære continued to be the dominant center of Sparbu, so in 1915, the national authorities offered to build a station there. However, the municipality would not grant the necessary NOK 6,300, so the station was funded with private donations. Construction started in 1916 and Mære Station opened on 1 April 1917. In the original plans for the railway, a spur was planned from north of Steinkjerelva to Eggebogen in Egge. However, in the parliamentary voting for the line, the spur was removed. In 1915, a public report criticized the railway for not having sufficient access to a proper port in Steinkjer, as Sørsileiret was located on the river and did not have a deep quay. The municipal council voted in favor of a new quay at Eggebogen on 16 May 1916, which was completed in 1924. The 2.2-kilometer-long (1.4 mi) spur to Bogakaia opened on 15 August 1927, having cost NOK 139,200. A station was opened at Østborg in 1923, at Alstad in 1934, and at Hammerberg, Eggen and Bergsgrav in 1938.

In 1940, a 3-kilometer-long (1.9 mi) spur was built to Værnes Air Station and Øyanmoen. A new, wooden station building was built at Åsen in 1943 and 1944. The section to Værnes was removed in 1947. Vudu Station opened in 1950, followed by Vollan in 1952 and Bjørga and Sandferhus in the following year. From June to October 1953, a station was in use at Bjørga. From 1957, NSB started replacing steam trains on the line by introducing Di 3 locomotives. In 1956, NATO granted funding for an expansion of the runway at Trondheim Airport, Værnes. The easiest way was to extend the runway by building it over the road and railway and into the river. Construction started in 1959 and on 1 June 1960, the Værnes Tunnel was brought into use. A 2.8-kilometer-long (1.7 mi) spur was built to Fiborgtangen in February 1966. Two years later, Elberg Station wax opened. Fossemvatnet Station was closed in 1972.

The line received centralized traffic control in four phases: from Trondheim to Stjørdal on 11 January 1976, to Levanger on 9 January 1977, to Steinkjer on 6 December 1977 and to Snåsa on 23 November 1984. Bergsgrav Station was opened on 6 December 1977. In 1981, Di 4-locomotives were introduced. The spur to Øyanmoen was taken out of use and removed in October 1982. NSB introduced Class 92 diesel multiple units in 1985, cutting travel time on local services between Steinkjer and Trondheim by 25 minutes. In 1989, the station building at Sunnan was demolished. In 1989 and 1990, five stations were closed, consisting on Sandferhus, Vold, Vollan, Vist and Sunnan.

On 1 September 1993, NSB launched the Trøndelag Commuter Rail, of which the main service ran from Steinkjer to Trondheim. The initial plans called for the continued use of the Class 92 rolling stock, but saw change in schedules and the upgrading platforms for NOK 15 million. At the same time, the stations of Alstad, Langstein and Fleskhus were closed. The service from Trondheim to Steinkjer had ten daily round trips. After six months operation, the service had experienced a 40 percent growth in patronage. This was further increased with the opening of Trondheim Airport Station on 15 November 1994, which cost NOK 24 million. The upgrades to the airport also included a new taxiway, which resulted in second Værnes Tunnel being built. A station was also established to serve Levanger Hospital on 20 December 1995. On 10 November 1994, the line received automatic train control. NSB was split up on 1 December 1996 and the ownership of the tracks and infrastructure was inherited by the Norwegian National Rail Administration, while the operation of trains was taken over by the new NSB. From 1994, Di 6 and Di 8 locomotives were introduced, but the Di 6 proved unreliable and returned to the manufacturer.

In 2000, NSB started using Class 93 diesel multiple units on intercity trains, retiring the Di 3. In March 2000, NSB announced the closing of several stations for the commuter train service. Fifty percent of the stations were responsible for only two percent of the traffic, and NSB instead wanted buses to transport people to the closest railway station, which would reduce overall transport time for most passengers. From 7 January 2001, a fixed, hourly headway was introduced on the trains from Steinkjer to Trondheim. Mære, Østborg, Rinnan and Elberg were closed, but HiNT Røstad opened. From June 2001, NSB introduced additional rush-hour trains between Trondheim and Steinkjer, giving a half-hour headway. The Nordland Line had not received NSB's first generation of train radio, Scanet, so was among the first lines to receive GSM-R from 1 December 2004. In 2010, CargoNet started using Vossloh Euro locomotives. Sykehuset Levanger Station was closed on 11 December 2010. Despite generating some 90,000 annual patrons and being one of the busiest stations on the line, it was located too close to Levanger Station to meet safety requirements.

## Architecture

The stations were designed by Paul Due (1835–1919) and his son, Paul Armin Due (1870–1926). Original stations between Stjørdal and Levanger were designed by Paul Due, while those from Rinnan to Byafossen, as well as Hell Station, were designed by Paul Armin Due. The designs are characterized by the transition period between Dragestil and Art Nouveau, with early stations dominated more by the former and later stations more by the latter. Norway went through a nationalistic period during the construction, and Paul Due chose to replace his older buildings' foreign elements with traditional Norwegian elements. Røra and Byafossen were the only stations not custom designed, while Sunnan was designed by Peter Andreas Blix—as it was originally built at Hell in 1881.

At the time of construction, the railways provided a leap in transport for the communities it passed through. NSB saw beautiful and grand stations as a way to draw patronage, and chose, in addition to impressive architecture, to build a park adjacent each stations. As construction went by, funding for stations were reduced, resulting in less grandeur further north. Most stations had two stories and an attic, although some of the stations serving lesser places had smaller buildings. From Steinkjer to Skogn, the ground floors were built in random rubble. As construction continued, budgets were reduced and station costs were cut. From Rinnan to Sparbu, the ground floors were instead built in brick, and from Mære and north, the stations have wooden ground floors. In addition to a station buildings, stations consisted of an outhouse and a freight house; selected stations also featured a water tower and motive power depot.

Levanger Station is the most spectacular station on the line and also the best preserved town station. Built entirely in stone, it has a dominant position in town and with a park in front of the station. It was designed in combined Medieval style, with strong elements of Gothic and Romanesque style. Steinkjer Station was the other station entirely built in stone. It has a combined Baroque Revival and Art Nouveau style, and is more anonymous than Levanger Station. Its characteristics were largely lost after it was connected with the bus station. Three stations, Langstein, Skogn and Levanger, have been preserved, while Skatval and Hell have been protected.

In 1993, NSB built new sheds on all stations served by the commuter rail. Linje Arkitekter designed sheds which combined the existing architectural traditions in material and roof shapes, with modern style. The sheds have a roof, glass walls and a framework in wood. They were optimized to give good protection from various types weather.

## Service

The main passenger service on the section from Hell to Steinkjer is the Trøndelag Commuter Rail. Operated by SJ Norge, it runs at a fixed hourly headway—with additional rush-hour services—between Lerkendal Station in Trondheim and Steinkjer, calling at 13 stations on the Hell–Sunnan Line. Travel time from Steinkjer is 24 minutes to Verdal, 37 minutes to Levanger, 1 hour and 24 minutes to Stjørdal and 2 hours and 4 minutes to Trondheim. The services are operated with Class 92 diesel multiple units.

NSB also operates intercity services from Trondheim to Bodø on the Nordland Line. These consist of two daily through trains, one day and one night service, with an additional service between Trondheim and Mo i Rana. Stjørdal and Steinkjer are the only stations along the line which remain manned. NSB uses a combination of Class 93 diesel multiple units and Di 4-hauled trains. CargoNet and Cargolink operate freight trains along the line. CargoNet hauls using Vossloh Euro, while Cargolink uses Di 6 locomotives, respectively.

## Future

Politicians have signalized that they want to electrify the tracks from Trondheim to Steinkjer along with the Meråker Line. NSB will need to replace the Class 92 trains towards the end the 2010s, and want to coordinate the new stock with electrification. The county municipalities of Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag proposed during the early 2000s that the Nordland Line between Trondheim and Steinkjer be upgraded reduce travel time to one hour. This would require the average speed to be increased to 115 kilometers per hour (71 mph), mainly through a modernization of the existing line. Specific projects include electrification, double track between Trondheim and Trondheim Airport, additional passing loops, a new bridge over Stjørdalselva and a rearrangement of the tracks at Hell. This would have to be combined with a reduction in the number of stops. The National Rail Administration estimates that the mentioned investments, which would cost between NOK 4 and 6 billion, will allow a travel time of one hour and ten minutes. If a number of curves are straightened, increased capacity is introduced between Stjørdal and Steinkjer and a further number of stops are removed, travel time could be reduced to one hour.

Norsk Bane, a lobbyist organization which is suggesting to build a high-speed line from Oslo to Trondheim and onwards to Steinkjer, have proposed building an all-new right-of-way on the route. They estimate that regional trains would, with their infrastructure, be able to operate trains from Steinkjer to Trondheim in 40 minutes. The proposals involves only keeping the stations at Trondheim Airport, Stjørdal, Åsen, Levanger, Verdal, Røra and Steinkjer along the Hell–Sunnan segment. It would involve three services per hour and direct trains to Oslo, with speeds up to 300 kilometers per hour (190 mph).

Railway line in Norway

National Romantic architecture in Norway


Battle of the Wilderness

The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on May 5–7, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The fighting occurred in a wooded area near Locust Grove, Virginia, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Fredericksburg. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, nearly 29,000 in total, a harbinger of a war of attrition by Grant against Lee's army and, eventually, the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. The battle was tactically inconclusive, as Grant disengaged and continued his offensive.

Grant attempted to move quickly through the dense underbrush of the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, but Lee launched two of his corps on parallel roads to intercept him. On the morning of May 5, the Union V Corps under Major General Gouverneur K. Warren attacked the Confederate Second Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell, on the Orange Turnpike. That afternoon the Third Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General A. P. Hill, encountered Brigadier General George W. Getty's division (VI Corps) and Major General Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps on the Orange Plank Road. Fighting, which ended for the evening because of darkness, was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to maneuver in the dense woods.

At dawn on May 6, Hancock attacked along the Plank Road, driving Hill's Corps back in confusion, but the First Corps of Lieutenant General James Longstreet arrived in time to prevent the collapse of the Confederate right flank. Longstreet followed up with a surprise flanking attack from an unfinished railroad bed that drove Hancock's men back, but the momentum was lost when Longstreet was wounded by his own men. An evening attack by Brigadier General John B. Gordon against the Union right flank caused consternation at the Union headquarters, but the lines stabilized and fighting ceased. On May 7, Grant disengaged and moved to the southeast, intending to leave the Wilderness to interpose his army between Lee and Richmond, leading to the Battle of Todd's Tavern and Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.

## Background

In the three years since fighting in the American Civil War began in 1861, the United States Army (a.k.a. the Union Army) made little progress against the Confederate Army in the Eastern Theater. The Union Army's most impressive successes came in the Western Theater, especially at the Battle of Vicksburg where nearly 30,000 Confederates surrendered. President Abraham Lincoln wanted a military leader who would fight. In March 1864, Major General Ulysses S. Grant was summoned from the Western Theater, promoted to lieutenant general, and given command of all the Union armies. Grant was the Union commander at Vicksburg, and also had major victories at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Chattanooga. He chose to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, although Major General George Meade retained formal command of that army. Major General William Tecumseh Sherman succeeded Grant in command of most of the western armies.

`Grant believed that the eastern and western Union armies were too uncoordinated in their actions, and that the previous practice of conquering and guarding new territories required too many resources. Grant's new strategy was to attack with all forces at the same time, making it difficult for the Confederates to transfer forces from one battlefront to another. His objective was to destroy the Confederate armies rather than conquering territory. The two largest Confederate armies became the two major targets, and they were General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee. This new strategy pleased President Lincoln.`

Grant considered Lee's army "the strongest, best appointed and most confident Army in the South." Lee was a professional soldier who fought in the Mexican–American War. At the beginning of the American Civil War, he rejected an offer to be commander of the United States Army. He was considered a master tactician in individual battles, and had the advantage of fighting mostly on familiar (Virginia) territory. Although the Confederate Army had fewer resources and men than the Union Army, Lee made good use of railroads to move his forces from one front to another. By the time Grant appeared in the Eastern Theater, the Confederate soldiers knew that his six predecessors all failed against Lee, and believed that Grant's successes in the Western Theater were against inferior opponents.

### Grant's plan

Grant's plan for Meade's Army of the Potomac was to move south to confront Lee's army between the Union and Confederate capital cities, Washington and Richmond. At the same time, General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James would approach Richmond, Petersburg, and Lee from the southeast near the James River. Major General Franz Sigel's Army of the Shenandoah would move through the Shenandoah Valley and destroy the rail line, agricultural infrastructure, and granaries used to feed the Confederate armies. Brigadier Generals George Crook and William W. Averell would attack the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, and salt and lead mines, in western Virginia before moving east to join Sigel. Sherman would attack Georgia with the similar goal of destroying rail line, resources, and infrastructure used to equip and feed the Confederate armies.

Grant's campaign objective of the destruction of Lee's army coincided with the preferences of both Lincoln and his military chief of staff, Henry Halleck. Grant instructed Meade, "Lee's army will be your objective point. Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also." Although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, Grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition. Both the Union and Confederate casualties could be high, but the Union had greater resources to replace lost soldiers and equipment. By May 2, Grant had four corps positioned to begin Meade's portion of Grant's plan against Lee's army. Three of the corps, plus cavalry, composed Meade's Army of the Potomac. A fourth corps, reporting directly to Grant, added additional firepower. The Rapidan River divided the two foes. A few days later, Grant and Meade would cross the river and begin what became known as the Overland Campaign, and the Battle of the Wilderness was its first battle.

## Opposing forces

### Union

The Union force in the Battle of the Wilderness was the Army of the Potomac and a separate IX Corps. The Army of the Potomac was commanded by Major General George G. Meade, and Major General Ambrose E. Burnside was commander of the IX Corps. Both Meade and Burnside reported to Grant, who rode with Meade and his army. The II Corps was the largest of the corps, with 28,333 officers and enlisted men present for duty and equipped as of April 30, 1864. At the beginning of the campaign in May, Grant's Union forces totaled 118,700 men and 316 artillery pieces (a.k.a. guns) including Meade's Army of the Potomac and Burnside's IX Corps.

- II Corps, commanded by Major General Winfield S. Hancock, consisted of four divisions of infantry. This was Meade's premier fighting unit.
- V Corps, commanded by Major General Gouverneur K. Warren, had four divisions of infantry.
- VI Corps had three divisions and was commanded by Major General John Sedgwick.
- Cavalry Corps, newly commanded by Major General Philip Sheridan, had three divisions. The 3rd Division's 5th New York Cavalry Regiment was armed with seven-shot Spencer carbines, as was the First Brigade of the 1st Division, known as the Michigan Brigade.
- Additional men in Meade's army that were not part of the four corps were from the provost guard, a small group of guards and orderlies, and portions of the artillery not assigned to a corps.
- IX Corps, commanded by Burnside, consisted of four divisions of infantry, each with its own artillery. Burnside also had reserve artillery and two regiments of cavalry. Only about 6,000 men in the IX Corps were seasoned veterans.

### Confederate

The Confederate force in the Battle of the Wilderness was the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee. Listed below are Lee's three infantry corps and one cavalry corps, which totaled to 66,140 men including staff and men in the artillery. Each corps had three divisions plus artillery except the First Corps, which had only two divisions. The Third Corps was the largest, with 22,675 men plus another 1,910 for artillery.

- First Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General James Longstreet. This was Lee's elite fighting unit.
- Second Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell.
- Third Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell "A.P." Hill.
- Cavalry Corps was commanded by Major General James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart.

## Disposition of forces and movement to battle

### The Wilderness

The Wilderness is located south of the Rapidan River in Virginia's Spotsylvania County and Orange County. Its southern border is Spotsylvania Court House, and western border is usually considered the Rapidan River tributary Mine Run. Its eastern border is less definite, causing estimates of the size of the Wilderness to vary. While the maximum area for the Wilderness is 132 square miles (340 km2) to 156 square miles (400 km2), historians discussing the battles fought there typically use 70 square miles (180 km2). At the time of the battle, the region was a "patchwork of open areas and vegetation of varying density." Much of the vegetation was a dense second-growth forest consisting of small trees, bushes, shrubs, and pines.

Since clearings were scarce, and the region had only a few narrow winding roads, mounted cavalry fighting was nearly impossible. The dense woods, often filled with smoke, made it difficult to see enemy soldiers. This put attackers at a disadvantage, as soldiers often fired at sounds instead of visual cues. Infantry units had difficulty keeping alignment, and often became lost or were involved in friendly-fire incidents. The Confederates had a better knowledge of the terrain, and it diminished the Union advantage of greater manpower. The terrain also diminished the effectiveness of artillery. 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 in open ground.

### Lee prepares

On May 2, Lee met with his generals on Clark Mountain, obtaining a panoramic view of the Union camps. He realized that Grant was getting ready to attack, but did not know the precise route of advance. He predicted (correctly) that Grant would cross to the east of the Confederate fortifications on the Rapidan, using the Germanna and Ely Fords, but he could not be certain.

To retain flexibility of response, Lee had dispersed his Army over a wide area. Longstreet's First Corps was around Gordonsville, from where they had the flexibility to respond by railroad to potential threats to the Shenandoah Valley or to Richmond. Hill's Third Corps was outside Orange Court House. Ewell's Second Corps was near Morton's Ford and Mine Run, northeast of Hill. Stuart's cavalry was scattered further south from Gordonsville to Fredericksburg.

### Grant crosses the river

On May 4, 1864, the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River at three places and converged on the Wilderness of Spotsylvania in east central Virginia. Brigadier General James H. Wilson led his 3rd Cavalry Division across the river at Germanna Ford between 4:00 am and 6:00 am, and drove off a small group of Confederate cavalry pickets. After engineers placed pontoon bridges, the V Corps (Warren) and later the VI Corps (Sedgwick) crossed safely. Wilson continued south on the Germanna Plank Road toward Wilderness Tavern and the Orange Turnpike. He halted at Wilderness Tavern at noon to wait for the V Corps, and sent scouts to the south and west.

A few miles east, Brigadier General David M. Gregg led his 2nd Cavalry Division across the river at Ely's Ford. They tried to capture the nearby Confederate outpost, but the southerners fled into the darkness. By 9:00 am a pontoon bridge was placed across the water, and the II Corps (Hancock) began crossing. Gregg's cavalry moved south to Chancellorsville, where Hancock's men planned to camp. Once Hancock's men began arriving, Gregg moved further south to Alrich near the intersection of the Orange Plank Road and Catharpin Road, where they would protect Hancock and the army's wagons.

The IX Corps (Burnside) remained north of the river near Germanna Ford, with orders to protect the supply train. Although Grant insisted that the army travel light with minimal artillery and supplies, its supply train was 60 to 70 miles (97 to 110 km) long. Meade had an estimated 4,300 wagons, 835 ambulances, and a herd of cattle. The supply train crossed the Rapidan at Ely's and Culpeper Mine Fords. At Culpeper Mine Ford, it was guarded by Brigadier General Alfred T. A. Torbert's 1st Cavalry Division. Grant and Meade gambled that they could move the army quickly enough to avoid being ensnared in the Wilderness, but Meade halted the II and V Corps to allow the wagon train to catch up.

### Lee responds

At the Wilderness a year earlier, Lee defeated the Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Chancellorsville despite having an army less than half the size of the Union army. Much of the fighting at that time occurred slightly east of the Union army's current route. Having already secured a victory one year ago in similar circumstances, Lee hoped to fight Grant in the Wilderness. However, Lee needed Longstreet's First Corps to be in position to fight before the battle started.

As Grant's plan became clearer to Lee on May 4, Lee arranged his forces to use the advantages of the Wilderness. He needed his Second and Third Corps to delay Grant's army until Longstreet's First Corps could get in place. Ewell's Second Corps was sent east on the Orange Turnpike, reaching Robertson's Tavern at Locust Grove. His lead column camped about two miles (3.2 km) from the unsuspecting Union soldiers. Hill was sent east on the Orange Plank Road and stopped at the hamlet of New Verdiersville. Hill had two of his three divisions. The division commanded by Major General Richard H. Anderson was left at Orange Court House to guard the river. These two corps were to avoid battle, if possible, until Longstreet's First Corps arrived. That evening, Lee decided that Ewell and Hill should strike first, preserving the initiative. Longstreet would arrive a day later, or Ewell and Hill could retreat west to Mine Run if necessary. Orders were sent around 8:00 pm to move early in the morning.

### Union cavalry

At Wilderness Tavern, Wilson sent a small force west on the Orange Turnpike. After the head of the V Corps reached Wilderness Tavern around 11:00 am, Wilson continued south. He arrived at Parker's Store near the Orange Plank Road at 2:00 pm. Scouts were sent south to Catharpin Road and west to Mine Run where they found only small enemy squads. During that time, his squad on the Orange Turnpike skirmished with Confederate soldiers near Robertson's Tavern (Locust Grove). Assuming they were fighting with a small group of Confederate pickets, they withdrew and by evening rejoined the division at Parker's Store.

Meade's original plan was to have Torbert's 1st Cavalry Division join Wilson, but he received an erroneous report that the Confederate cavalry was operating in his Army's rear, in the direction of Fredericksburg. He ordered his 1st and 2nd cavalry divisions to move east to deal with that perceived threat, leaving only Wilson's Division to screen for three corps. Wilson had little experience with cavalry, and the 3rd Division was the smallest of the three cavalry divisions. Meade believed that Lee would fight from behind (west of) Mine Run, and aligned his army north to south from Germanna Ford to Shady Grove Church while it spent the night in the Wilderness. This change of plans by the Union leadership did not serve the army well. Not only were the Union forces spending the night in the Wilderness, "lax cavalry patrols" were causing leadership to be unaware of the proximity of Lee's Second Corps (Ewell).

## Battle May 5

The Battle of the Wilderness had two distinct fronts, the Orange Turnpike and the Orange Plank Road, where most of the fighting was conducted by infantry. Any efforts to bridge the gap between those two fronts did not last long. Most of the cavalry fighting occurred south of the infantry, especially along Catharpin Road and Brock Road.

### Hammond's cavalry

At 5:00 am on May 5, Wilson's Division proceeded southward from Parker's Store. The 5th New York Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Hammond, was detached and instructed to patrol west of the Parker's Store area until relieved by Warren's V Corps. A probe west on the Orange Plank Road discovered Confederate soldiers. Despite being reinforced, the Union probe was driven back toward Parker's Store. It was soon discovered that they were fighting infantry from most of Hill's Third Corps.

Hammond's total force consisted of only about 500 men. Hammond understood that the dense woods and the large infantry force made fighting on horseback inadvisable. The command fought dismounted and spread out as a skirmish line while utilizing their Spencer repeating rifles. The regiment slowly retreated east, moving toward and beyond Parker's Store on the Orange Plank Road. Once the Confederates advanced east of Parker's Store, the remainder of Wilson's cavalry division was cut off from Meade and Warren's VI Corps.

### Orange Turnpike

At 6:00 am on May 5, Warren's V Corps began moving south over farm lanes toward the Parker's Store. 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." 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. 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. The Confederate force was Ewell's Second Corps, and his men erected earthworks on the western end of the clearing known as Saunders Field. 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.

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. It took time to align Warren's divisions, and there was some concern about Griffin's northern (right) flank. 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...." 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. Warren requested a delay from attacking to wait for Wright. By 12:00 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 pm. The Confederate division of Major 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.

### Fight at Saunders Field

By the time the Union line arrived near the enemy, it had numerous gaps and some regiments faced north instead of west. The concerns about Warren's right flank were justified. As Griffin's division advanced, Ayres's brigade held the right but had difficulty maintaining its lines in a "blizzard of lead". They received enfilading fire on their right from the brigade of Confederate Brigadier General Leroy A. Stafford, causing all but two regiments (140th and 146th New York) to retreat east across Saunders Field. On the left of Ayres, the brigade of Brigadier General Joseph J. Bartlett made better progress and overran the position of Confederate Brigadier General John M. Jones, who was killed. However, since Ayres's men were unable to advance, Bartlett's right flank was now exposed to attack and his brigade was forced to flee back across the clearing. Bartlett's horse was shot out from under him and he barely escaped capture.

To the left of Bartlett was Wadsworth's Iron Brigade, which was composed of regiments from the Midwest and commanded by Brigadier General Lysander Cutler. The Iron Brigade advanced through woods south of Saunders Field and contributed to the collapse of Jones' Brigade while capturing battle flags and taking prisoners. However, the Iron Brigade outdistanced Bartlett's men—exposing the Midwesterner's right flank. The Confederate brigade of Brigadier General George P. Doles attacked the exposed flank, and the Iron Brigade's 6th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment suffered nearly 50 casualties in only a few minutes. Soon the Confederate brigade of Brigadier General John B. Gordon joined in the attack, tearing through the Union line and forcing the Iron Brigade to break and retreat.

Further to the Union left, near the Higgerson farm, the Union brigade of Colonel Roy Stone was ambushed in waist-high swamp water, and the survivors fled northeast to the fields of the Lacy House (a.k.a. Ellwood Manor). One soldier blamed the fiasco on the gap between Stone's Brigade and the Iron Brigade. On Wadsworth's farthest left, the brigade of Brigadier General James C. Rice suffered severe losses when the North Carolina brigade commanded by Brigadier General Junius Daniel got around Rice's unprotected left. The problem was compounded when Stone's Brigade fell back from Rice's right. Rice's survivors were chased by Daniel's men almost back to the Lacy House, where the V Corps artillery was used to slow the pursuing Confederates. A quick fight over the guns resulted in casualties for both sides. Rice's losses were severe, including two of his five regimental commanders wounded.

Further south, Crawford's First Brigade, commanded by Colonel William McCandless, did not reach the fighting in time to help Wadsworth's left. The brigade became surrounded by Confederates and its 7th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment was captured. Crawford was in danger of the having the remaining portion of his division cut off, so it withdrew toward the Lacy House while the Confederates occupied the Chewning farm. Back at Saunders Field, Warren had ordered an artillery section into Saunders Field to support his attack, but it was captured by Confederate soldiers, who were pinned down and prevented by rifle fire from moving the guns. In the midst of hand-to-hand combat at the guns, the field caught fire and men from both sides were shocked as their wounded comrades burned to death. The first phase of fighting on the Orange Turnpike was over by 2:30 pm.

The lead elements of Sedgwick's VI Corps reached Saunders Field around 3:00 pm. Wright commanded the renewal of fighting until Sedgwick arrived around 3:30 pm. The fighting was now in the woods north of the Turnpike and both sides traded attacks and counterattacks. Ewell held his position for the remainder of the afternoon. During the fray, Confederate Brigadier General Leroy A. Stafford was shot through the shoulder blade, the bullet severing his spine. Despite being paralyzed from the waist down and in agonizing pain, he managed to still urge his troops forward. He died four days later.

### Getty and Hancock at Orange Plank Road

Visibility was limited near Orange Plank Road, and officers had difficulty controlling men and maintaining formations. Attackers would move blindly and noisily forward, becoming targets for concealed defenders. Unable to duplicate the surprise that was achieved by Ewell on the Turnpike, A.P. Hill's approach was detected from the Chewning farm location of Crawford's 3rd Division of the V Corps. Crawford notified Meade, and his message arrived at Meade's headquarters around 10:15 am.

Crawford sent the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment (a.k.a. the Bucktails) as skirmishers toward Hill, but Hammond's line was falling apart before the Bucktails arrived near the Orange Plank Road. Crawford did not support his Pennsylvanians, and instead worked to solidify his position at the Chewning Farm and get ready to assist in the Orange Turnpike fighting. By the time this was accomplished, Hammond was beyond helping. Meade's army was in danger if Hill could push Hammond beyond Brock Road and take control of the intersection (Orange Plank and Brock roads). That would cause Warren's V Corps to have large enemy forces on two sides, and Hancock's II Corps could get isolated from the rest of Meade's army.

Although Hancock was not far from the intersection of Orange Plank Road and Brock Road, he would have to move four miles (6.4 km) on a twisting road that was a narrow wagon route. The VI Corps lead division of Brigadier General George W. Getty was waiting at Wilderness Tavern, so at 10:30 am Meade sent it to defend the important intersection until Hancock could get there. Hammond's 500-man cavalry force, employing repeating carbines and fighting dismounted, succeeded in slowing Hill's approach. However, Hammond's small force was vastly outnumbered and continued to gradually retreat east.

By noon, Hill had the division of Major General Henry Heth past the Widow Tapp farm, and the division of Major General Cadmus M. Wilcox followed near Parker's Store. Hammond was nearly out of ammunition and was eventually pushed back to the vital intersection around noon, but was relieved by Getty's advance brigade just before Hill's forces arrived. Hammond's force moved further east behind Getty, and was done fighting. Because of Hammond's repeating rifles, the Confederate prisoners stated that they believed they had been fighting an entire brigade. Getty's men skirmished briefly with Heth's advance, and held the intersection.

Getty held the intersection for hours waiting for Hancock's II Corps to arrive. By 3:30 pm, initial elements of Hancock's corps were arriving, and Meade ordered Getty to assault the Confederate line. Getty attacked at 4:15 pm while elements of Hancock's II Corps began arriving shortly thereafter. Getty was reinforced by Hancock's men, while Confederate commander Heth was reinforced by Wilcox's Division. The fighting was fierce, with casualties for the brigade commanded by Brigadier General Alexander Hays particularly high—including Hays who was killed while addressing the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. Attacks and counterattacks continued into the night as casualties grew while neither side gained an advantage. Getty's Division was relieved by the II Corps after dark, and Getty's horse was killed in the day's fighting.

### Wilson at Catharpin Road

Leaving Hammond's regiment at Parker's Store at 5:00 am on May 5, Wilson moved his two brigades south. His Second Brigade led the way, and it was commanded by Colonel George H. Chapman. His First Brigade was commanded by Colonel Timothy M. Bryan. Chapman reached Catharpin Road and moved west beyond Craig's Meeting House, where he found 1,000 men from a Confederate cavalry brigade commanded by Brigadier General Thomas L. Rosser. After initially driving Rosser back, both of Wilson's brigades fled east after finding Hill's infantry on their north side and Rosser's cavalry on the Catharpin Road on their south side. The 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment was the rear guard, and it became surrounded on three sides. The regiment left the road and blended into the woods and a swamp.

While Wilson battled Rosser, Sheridan's other two cavalry divisions were further east. Around noon, Meade notified Sheridan that Wilson had been cut off, and Gregg's 2nd Cavalry Division was sent to explore the Catharpin Road. Gregg found Wilson and confronted Rosser, who was driven back across the Po River bridge. In late afternoon, Gregg also fought Major General Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division on the Brock Road near Alsop. At nightfall, Rosser sat on the high ground west of the Po River bridge, Lee's men camped near Alsop, and Wilson's exhausted division camped north and east of Todd's Tavern. Wilson was surprised that evening when the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry, thought to be captured, rejoined the division. During the night, Gregg remained at Todd's Tavern, Wilson put Chapman's Brigade on the Brock Road, and the brigade of George Armstrong Custer from Torbert's Division began moving to relieve Wilson. While the remaining portion of Torbert's Division was south of Chancellorsville at Alrich, Torbert checked into a hospital and Brigadier General Wesley Merritt assumed command of the division.

## Battle May 6

Grant's plan for May 6 was to resume the attacks at 5:00 am. Sedgwick and Warren would renew their attack on Ewell at the Orange Turnpike, and Hancock and Getty would attack Hill again on the Orange Plank Road. At the same time, an additional force of men currently stationed around the Lacy House would move south and attack Hill's exposed northern flank. Wadsworth requested leadership of this force, and it consisted of his division plus a fresh brigade from Robinson's division commanded by Brigadier General Henry Baxter. Adding to Wadsworth, two divisions from Burnside's IX Corps were to move through the area between the Turnpike and the Plank Road and move south to flank Hill.

Hill's weary men spent the evening of May 5 and the early morning hours of May 6 resting where they had fought—with little line integrity and some regiments separated from their brigades. The men from Heth's Division were generally on the north side of the Orange Plank Road, while the men from Wilcox's Division were mostly on the south side. Although he was aware that Hill's front line along the Orange Plank Road needed to be reformed, Lee chose to allow Hill's men to rest where they were—assuming that Longstreet's First Corps and Hill's remaining division, commanded by Major General Anderson, would arrive in time to relieve Heth and Wilcox. Longstreet's men had marched 32 miles (51 km) in 24 hours, but were still 10 miles (16 km) from the battlefield. Once Longstreet's men arrived, Lee planned to shift Hill to the left to cover some of the open ground between his divided forces. Longstreet calculated that he had sufficient time to allow his men, tired from marching all day, to rest and the First Corps did not resume marching until 1:00 am. Moving cross-country in the dark, they made slow progress and lost their way at times, and by sunrise had not reached their designated position.

### Attacks begin

During the night, Ewell placed his artillery on his extreme left and on both sides of the Orange Turnpike. He also had an abatis in front of his trenchline. He attacked Sedgwick on the north side of the turnpike at 4:45 am. His line moved forward and then back on multiple occasions, and some ground was fought over as much as five times.

To the south on the Orange Plank Road, Hancock's II Corps with Getty's Division attacked Hill at 5:00 am, overwhelming the ill-prepared Third Corps in concert with Wadsworth. Following Hill's orders, Lieutenant Colonel William T. Poague's 12 guns at the Widow Tapp farm fired tirelessly at the road—despite the Confederate soldiers retreating in front of the guns. This slowed the Union advance, but could not stop it.

While Hill's Corps retreated, reinforcements arrived. Longstreet rode ahead of his men and arrived at the battlefield around 6:00 am. His men marched east and then turned north, arriving on the Orange Plank Road near Parker's Store where they found men from Hill's Corps retreating. Brigadier General John Gregg's Texas Brigade was the vanguard of Longstreet's column. General Lee, relieved and excited, waved his hat over his head and shouted, "Texans always move them!" Caught up in the excitement, Lee began to move forward behind the advancing brigade. As the Texans realized this, they halted and grabbed the reins of Lee's horse, Traveller, telling the general that they were concerned for his safety and would only go forward if he moved to a less exposed location. Longstreet was able to convince Lee that he had matters well in hand and the commanding general relented.

### Longstreet counterattacks

Starting from near Poague's guns, Longstreet counterattacked with the divisions of Major General Charles W. Field on the left and Brigadier General Joseph B. Kershaw on the right. A series of attacks by both sides caused the front line to move back and forth between the Widow Tapp farm and Brock Road. The Texans leading the charge north of the road fought gallantly at a heavy price—only 250 of the 800 men emerged unscathed. Field's Division drove back Wadsworth's force on the north side of the Widow Tapp Farm, while Kershaw's Division fought along the road. Although Wadsworth and his brigadier Rice tried to restore order near the front, most of his troops fled to the Lacy House and were done fighting for the remainder of the battle.

At 10:00 am, Lee's chief engineer, Major General Martin L. Smith, reported to Longstreet that he had explored an unfinished railroad bed south of the Plank Road and that it offered easy access to the Union left flank. Longstreet assigned his aide, Lieutenant Colonel Moxley Sorrel, to the task of leading three fresh brigades for a surprise attack. An additional brigade, which was reduced in strength from the morning's fighting, volunteered to join them. Sorrel and the senior brigade commander, Brigadier General William Mahone, struck at 11:00 am while Longstreet resumed his main attack. The Union line was broken and driven back, Wadsworth was mortally wounded, and Hancock reorganized his line in trenches near the Brock Road. Hancock wrote later that the flanking attack rolled up his line "like a wet blanket."

By noon, a Confederate victory seemed likely. Longstreet rode forward on the Orange Plank Road with several of his officers while another fire caused Mahone's 12th Virginia Infantry Regiment to become separated from its brigade. An aide suggested that Longstreet was too close to the front, but his advice was disregarded. As the Virginians moved through the woods back to the road, their brigade mistook them for Union soldiers, and the two Confederate forces began shooting at each other. Longstreet's mounted party was caught in the crossfire, and Longstreet was severely wounded in his neck. Brigadier General Micah Jenkins, aide-de-camp Captain Alfred E. Doby and orderly Marcus Baum were killed. Longstreet was able to turn over his command directly to division commander Field and told him to "Press the enemy." Burnside finally arrived on the Confederate northern flank with three brigades, and attacked around 2:00 pm. His fighting for the day, beginning against Colonel William F. Perry's Alabama Brigade, was a standoff. Lee organized another attack on Hancock around 4:15 pm that Hancock repelled in about an hour. Another fire threatened the wounded in the woods and Hancock's breastworks, as fighting on the Orange Plank Road front gradually ended near evening. The following day, Lee appointed Richard Anderson to temporary command of the First Corps.

### Gordon attacks at Orange Turnpike

At the Orange Turnpike, inconclusive fighting proceeded for most of the day. During the morning, Gordon scouted the Union line and recommended to his division commander, Jubal Early, that he conduct a flanking attack in Sedgwick's right. Early initially dismissed the venture as too risky, and Ewell did not have enough men to attack until 1:00 pm when the brigade of Brigadier General Robert D. Johnston arrived. Gordon's attack was authorized around 5:30 pm. The attack went well and caused some of the men in the Union brigade commanded by Brigadier General Alexander Shaler to simply run away. Shaler and another brigade commander, Brigadier General Truman Seymour were captured. Sedgwick was almost captured, and his horse was injured, while the color-bearer standing next to him was shot. The Union line fell back about a mile (1.6 km) while the two generals and several hundred men were captured. Eventually the darkness and the dense foliage took their toll as the Union flank received reinforcements and recovered. Sedgwick's line was extended overnight to the Germanna Plank Road.

Reports of the collapse of this part of the Union line caused great consternation at Grant's headquarters, leading to an interchange that is widely quoted in Grant biographies. An officer accosted Grant, proclaiming, "General Grant, this is a crisis that cannot be looked upon too seriously. I know Lee's methods well by past experience; he will throw his whole army between us and the Rapidan, and cut us off completely from our communications." Grant seemed to be waiting for such an opportunity and snapped, "Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do."

### Cavalry

Custer's First Brigade reached Brock Road about daylight on May 6. Custer extended his right toward Hancock and his left toward Gregg's 2nd Division at Todd's Tavern. Torbert's Second Brigade, commanded by Colonel Thomas Devin, began the trip from Chancellorsville to join Custer's right, bringing a battery. Hancock's infantry was hard pressed by two divisions from Longstreet's corps, but he worried about the location of Longstreet's other two divisions. Although Hancock wanted Custer to move down Brock Road to look for Longstreet's other divisions, Custer was attacked after 8:00 am by Rosser's Brigade. The arrival of Devin with his six-gun battery plus two more guns from Gregg turned the fight into Custer's favor, and Rosser backed off.

Hancock still did not know what was behind the Confederate cavalry, and he kept a substantial portion of his corps outside of the fighting with Longstreet in order to protect his left. While Custer was fighting, Gregg was fighting Wickham's Brigade on the Brock Road near Todd's Tavern. This effectively blocked the Union Army from Spotsylvania Court House. Concern after Hancock's left had been turned by Longstreet's surprise attack from the unfinished railroad caused the Union leadership to order the cavalry to withdraw. At 2:30 pm Gregg was ordered to withdraw to Piney Branch Church, and Custer and Devin were sent further east back to Catharine Furnace.

## Fighting ends

On the morning of May 7, Grant was faced with the prospect of attacking strong Confederate earthworks. His cavalry was south of the infantry fighting in the Battle of Todd's Tavern. Instead of more infantry attacks, Grant chose to maneuver. By moving south on the Brock Road, he hoped to reach the crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House, which would interpose his army between Lee and Richmond, forcing Lee to fight on ground more advantageous to the Union army. He ordered preparations for a night march on May 7 that would reach Spotsylvania, 10 miles (16 km) to the southeast, by the morning of May 8. Once Lee found out Grant was moving south instead of turning back, he correctly predicted Grant would move to Spotsylvania Court House. Lee got his army there first, and erected formidable earthworks. Grant's infantry fought the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House before maneuvering yet again as the campaign continued south toward Richmond.

### Casualties

With over 28,000 casualties, the Battle of the Wilderness ranks in the top five American Civil War battles in terms of casualties for both sides combined. The official report for the Union listed 2,246 officers and men killed, 12,037 wounded, and 3,383 captured or missing—a total of 17,666 casualties for the Union side of the battle. Historian Rhea notes that this number is probably larger, since a lieutenant witnessed Warren lowering the number of casualties reported. Other Union casualty estimates are typically between 17,500 and 18,000. Based on correspondence from Grant, at least six brigadier generals were among the Union casualties. Wadsworth and Alexander Hays were killed, Seymour and Shaler were taken prisoner, and Getty and Bartlett were wounded.

Young's study reveals Confederate casualties of 1,477 killed, 7,866 wounded, and 1,690 missing, for a total of 11,033 casualties. Among the wounded are 233 wounded and captured—they are counted herein in the wounded total and not double-counted in the missing category. This study is close to some of the estimates made by other sources. Like the Union, Lee lost some generals. His report at the end of May 5 concluded with the "gallant Brig. Gen. J. M. Jones was killed, and Brig. Gen. L. A. Stafford, I fear, mortally wounded while leading his command with conspicuous valor." His evening report for May 6 mentions the wounding of Longstreet and Brigadier General John Pegram, and the death of Jenkins.

## Aftermath

### Performance and impact

Criticisms of the Union performance revolve around the "woefully inadequate" cavalry positioning. The decision to have Sheridan's most inexperienced general, Wilson, lead the smallest cavalry division to scout the Union army's right flank was not a good one. Wilson's 3rd Cavalry Division was not of sufficient size to screen the Union front by itself, and Wilson got his division cut off from the remainder of the Union army. Earlier, Wilson's inexperience caused him to fail to leave pickets on the Orange Turnpike—resulting in a surprise for the Union infantry and contributing to the Union Army being forced to fight in the Wilderness. Additionally, the decision to have the cavalry abandon Todd's Tavern on May 6 led to a delay in getting the Union army to Spotsylvania Court House. A few of the cavalry's regimental commanders fought well, such as Hammond, Brinton, and the 1st New Jersey Cavalry Regiment's Lieutenant Colonel John W. Kester. The performance of the Union infantry was also below expectations, and all four corps commanders accomplished little.

Discussions of the Confederate performance revolve around Lee, Longstreet, and Gordon. Lee put Ewell's and Hill's corps in good position to face Meade, but kept Longstreet's First Corps too far away. Hill and Ewell defended well on May 5 against enemy forces that were larger. Lee's decision to let Hill's Second Corps men to rest on the evening of May 5 instead of reforming their lines was called by historian Peter S. Carmichael "a horrendous decision, maybe the worst of his career". Longstreet's men fought well under his direction, but they enjoyed only brief success after Longstreet retired from the field wounded. Longstreet, surely aware that Jackson was mortally wounded by friendly-fire in the same Wilderness a year earlier, disregarded advice and rode into friendly-fire where he was wounded and others were killed. Ewell and his Second Corps defended well, and the criticism of Ewell and Early by Gordon for delaying his flanking maneuver is not justified. Early had received (incorrect) intelligence that the Union IX Corps was moving between the river and the Confederate left flank, which contributed to his caution against using his outnumbered troops to attack the entrenched Union infantry.

The Battle of the Wilderness had no obvious winner, and neither side was driven from the battlefield. The National Park Service calls the battle "indecisive". One historian says that Lee won a victory because he fought Grant to a standoff, but he also adds that the battle was a failure for the Confederacy because it was unable to maintain the initiative and Lee's offensive capacity was eliminated. A major point discussed by historians is that after the battle, Grant did not retreat north across the nearest river—like other leaders earlier in the war. Instead, the Union army continued south presenting a threat to Lee's army and the Confederate capital city of Richmond. This was the first time in a Virginia campaign that the Army of the Potomac continued on the offensive after an initial battle, and morale was boosted to the point that the Union soldiers sang as they marched south. Sherman called this movement "the grandest act of [Grant's] life", and added that he now felt "that the rebellion will be crushed". The battle confirmed a warning made by Longstreet to Lee about Grant, that he would fight "every day and every hour till the end of the war". By April 1865, Lee's army needed supplies and his men were starving. His army was trapped between Sheridan's and Meade's forces. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered his army to Grant after the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse.

### Preservation

Portions of the Wilderness battlefield are preserved as part of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, established in 1927 to memorialize the battlefields of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania Court House, and the Wilderness. In addition to the land that has been protected by the National Park Service, two major volunteer organizations have been active in preservation activities. The Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield have been active in helping to preserve and enhance Ellwood Manor (the Lacy House), which was the headquarters for Major General Warren during the battle and is the site of a family cemetery where Confederate Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson's arm was buried. The American Battlefield Trust has saved more than 294 acres (119 ha) through mid-2023.

Major battle of the American Civil War

Battles of the American Civil War in Virginia

Battles of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War

Inconclusive battles of the American Civil War


William Hanna

William Denby "Bill" Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of Tom and Jerry as well as the voice actor for the two title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.

Hanna joined the Harman and Ising animation studio in 1930 and steadily gained skill and prominence while working on cartoons such as Captain and the Kids. In 1937, while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hanna met Joseph Barbera. In 1957, they co-founded Hanna-Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in the business, creating or producing programs such as The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, and Yogi Bear. In 1967, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for \$12 million, but Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company until 1991. At that time, the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with Time Warner in 1996; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors.

Tom and Jerry won seven Academy Awards, while Hanna and Barbera were nominated for two others and won eight Emmy Awards. Their cartoons have become cultural icons, and their cartoon characters have appeared in other media such as films, books, and toys. Hanna-Barbera's shows had a worldwide audience of over 300 million people in their 1960s heyday, and have been translated into more than 28 languages.

## Early and personal life

William Hanna was born to William John (1873–1949) and Avice Joyce (Denby) Hanna (1882–1956) on July 14, 1910, in Melrose, New Mexico Territory. He was the third of seven children. Hanna described his family as "a red-blooded, Irish-American family". His father was a construction superintendent for railroads as well as water and sewer systems throughout the western regions of America, requiring the family to move frequently.

When Hanna was three years old, the family moved to Baker City, Oregon, where his father worked on the Balm Creek Dam. It was there that Hanna would develop his love of the outdoors. The family moved to Logan, Utah, before moving to San Pedro, California, in 1917. During the next two years they moved several times before eventually settling in Watts, California, in 1919.

In 1922, while living in Watts, he joined the Boy Scouts. He attended Compton High School from 1925 through 1928, where he played the saxophone in a dance band. His passion for music carried over into his career; he helped write songs for his cartoons, including the theme for The Flintstones. Hanna became an Eagle Scout as a youth and remained active in Scouting throughout his life. As an adult, he served as a Scoutmaster and was recognized by the Boy Scouts of America with their Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 1985. Despite his numerous career-related awards, Hanna was most proud of this Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. His interests also included sailing and singing in a barbershop quartet. Hanna studied both journalism and structural engineering at Compton City College, but had to drop out of college with the onset of the Great Depression.

On August 7, 1936, Hanna married Violet Blanch Wogatzke (July 23, 1913 – July 10, 2014), and they had a marriage lasting over 64 years, until his death. The marriage produced two children, David William and Bonnie Jean, and seven grandchildren. In 1996, Hanna, with assistance from Los Angeles writer Tom Ito, published his autobiography—Joe Barbera had published his own two years earlier.

## Early career

After dropping out of college, Hanna worked briefly as a construction engineer and helped build the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. He lost that job during the Great Depression and found another at a car wash. His sister's boyfriend encouraged him to apply for a job at Pacific Title and Art, which produced title cards for motion pictures. While working there, Hanna's talent for drawing became evident, and in 1930 he joined the Harman and Ising animation studio, which had created the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. Despite a lack of formal training, Hanna soon became head of their ink and paint department. Besides inking and painting, Hanna also wrote songs and lyrics. For the first several years of Hanna's employment, the studio partnered with Pacific Title and Art's Leon Schlesinger, who released the Harman-Ising output through Warner Bros. When Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising chose to break with Schlesinger and begin producing cartoons independently for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1933, Hanna was one of the employees who followed them.

Hanna was given the opportunity to direct his first cartoon in 1936; the result was To Spring, part of the Harman-Ising Happy Harmonies series. The following year, MGM decided to terminate their partnership with Harman-Ising and bring production in-house. Hanna was among the first people MGM hired away from Harman-Ising to their new cartoon studio. During 1938–1939, he served as a senior director on MGM's Captain and the Kids series, based upon the comic strip of the same name (an alternate version of the Katzenjammer Kids that had resulted from a 1914 lawsuit). The series did not do well; consequently, Hanna was demoted to a story man and the series was canceled. Hanna's desk at MGM was opposite that of Joseph Barbera, who had previously worked at Terrytoons. The two quickly realized they would make a good team. By 1939 they had solidified a partnership that would last over 60 years. Hanna and Barbera worked alongside animation director Tex Avery, who had created Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny for Warner Bros. and directed Droopy cartoons at MGM.

## Tom and Jerry

In 1940, Hanna and Barbera jointly directed Puss Gets the Boot, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best (Cartoon) Short Subject. The studio wanted a diversified cartoon portfolio, so despite the success of Puss Gets the Boot, Hanna and Barbera's supervisor, Fred Quimby, did not want to produce more cat and mouse cartoons. Surprised by the success of Puss Gets the Boot, Hanna and Barbera ignored Quimby's resistance and continued developing the cat-and-mouse theme. By this time, however, Hanna wanted to return to working for Ising, to whom he felt very loyal. Hanna and Barbera met with Quimby, who discovered that although Ising had taken sole credit for producing Puss Gets the Boot, he never actually worked on it. Quimby, who had wanted to start a new animation unit independent of Ising, then gave Hanna and Barbera permission to pursue their cat-and-mouse idea. The result was their most famous creation, Tom and Jerry.

Modeled after the Puss Gets the Boot characters with slight differences, the series followed Jerry, the rodent who continually outwitted his feline foe, Tom. Hanna said they settled on the cat and mouse theme for this cartoon because: "We knew we needed two characters. We thought we needed conflict, and chase and action. And a cat after a mouse seemed like a good, basic thought." The revamped characters first appeared in 1941's The Midnight Snack. Over the next 17 years Hanna and Barbera worked almost exclusively on Tom and Jerry, directing more than 114 highly popular cartoon shorts. During World War II they also made animated training films. Tom and Jerry relied mostly on motion instead of dialog. Despite its popularity, Tom and Jerry has often been criticized as excessively violent. Nonetheless, the series won its first Academy Award for the 11th short, The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943)—a war-time adventure. Tom and Jerry was ultimately nominated for 14 Academy Awards, winning 7. No other character-based theatrical animated series has won more awards, nor has any other series featuring the same characters. Tom and Jerry also made guest appearances in several of MGM's live-action films, including Anchors Aweigh (1945) and Invitation to the Dance (1956) with Gene Kelly, and Dangerous When Wet (1953) with Esther Williams.

Quimby accepted each Academy Award for Tom and Jerry without inviting Hanna and Barbera onstage. The cartoons were also released with Quimby listed as the sole producer, following the same practice for which he had condemned Ising. When Quimby retired in late 1955, Hanna and Barbera were placed in charge of MGM's animation division. As the studio began to lose more revenue due to television, MGM soon realized that re-releasing old cartoons was far more profitable than producing new ones. In 1957, MGM ordered Hanna and Barbera's business manager to close the cartoon division and lay off everyone by a phone call. Hanna and Barbera found the no-notice closure puzzling because Tom and Jerry had been so successful.

## Television

During his last year at MGM, Hanna branched out into television, forming the short-lived company Shield Productions with fellow animator Jay Ward, who had created the series Crusader Rabbit. Their partnership soon ended, and in 1957 Hanna reteamed with Joseph Barbera to produce cartoons for television and theatrical release. The two brought different skills to the company; Barbera was a skilled gag writer and sketch artist, while Hanna had a gift for timing, story construction, and recruiting top artists. Major business decisions would be made together, though each year the title of president alternated between them. A coin toss determined that Hanna would have precedence in the naming of the new company, first called H-B Enterprises but soon changed to Hanna-Barbera Productions. Barbera and Hanna's MGM colleague George Sidney, the director of Anchors Aweigh, became the third partner and business manager in the company, and arranged a deal for distribution and working capital with Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, who took part ownership of the new studio.

The first offering from the new company was The Ruff & Reddy Show, a series which detailed the friendship between a dog and cat. Despite a lukewarm response for their first theatrical venture, Loopy De Loop, Hanna-Barbera soon established themselves with two successful television series: The Huckleberry Hound Show and The Yogi Bear Show. A 1960 survey showed that half of the viewers of Huckleberry Hound were adults. This prompted the company to create a new animated series, The Flintstones. A parody of The Honeymooners, the new show followed a typical Stone Age family with home appliances, talking animals, and celebrity guests. With an audience of both children and adults, The Flintstones became the first animated prime-time show to be a hit. Fred Flintstone's signature exclamation "yabba dabba doo" soon entered everyday usage, and the show boosted the studio to the top of the TV cartoon field. The company later produced a space-age version of The Flintstones, known as The Jetsons. Although both shows reappeared in the 1970s and 1980s, The Flintstones was far more popular.

By the late 1960s, Hanna-Barbera Productions was the most successful television animation studio in the business. The Hanna-Barbera studio produced over 3,000 animated half-hour television shows. Among the more than 100 cartoon series and specials they produced were: Atom Ant, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy (an imitation of the earlier Spike and Tyke MGM cartoons), Jonny Quest, Josie and the Pussycats, Magilla Gorilla, Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, Quick Draw McGraw, and Top Cat. Top Cat was based on Phil Silvers's character Sgt. Bilko, though it has been erroneously reported that Sgt. Bilko was the basis for Yogi Bear. The Hanna-Barbera studio also produced Scooby-Doo (1969–91) and The Smurfs (1981–89). The company also produced animated specials based on Alice in Wonderland, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as the feature-length film Charlotte's Web (1973).

As popular as their cartoons were with 1960s audiences, they were disliked by artists. Television programs had lower budgets than theatrical animation, and this economic reality caused many animation studios to go out of business in the 1950s and 1960s, putting many people in the industry out of work. Hanna-Barbera was key in the development of limited animation, which allowed television animation to be more cost-effective, but also reduced quality. Hanna and Barbera had first experimented with these techniques in the early days of Tom and Jerry. To reduce the cost of each episode, shows often focused more on character dialogue than detailed animation. The number of drawings for a seven-minute cartoon decreased from 14,000 to nearly 2,000, and the company implemented innovative techniques such as rapid background changes to improve viewing. Reviewers criticized the change from vivid, detailed animation to repetitive movements by two-dimensional characters. Barbera once said that their choice was to adapt to the television budgets or change careers. The new style did not limit the success of their animated shows, enabling Hanna–Barbera to stay in business, providing employment to many who would otherwise have been out of work. Limited animation became the standard for television animation, and continues to be used today in television programs such as The Simpsons and South Park.

In 1966, Hanna-Barbera Productions was sold to Taft Broadcasting (renamed Great American Communications in 1987) for \$12 million. Hanna and Barbera remained at the head of the company until 1991. At that point, the company was sold to the Turner Broadcasting System for an estimated \$320 million, which itself merged with Time Warner, owners of Warner Bros., in 1996. This began a close association with the Cartoon Network. Hanna and Barbera continued to advise their former company and periodically worked on new Hanna-Barbera shows, including The Cartoon Cartoon Show series and hit silver screen versions of The Flintstones (1994) and Scooby-Doo (2002).

## Death

Hanna died of esophageal cancer at his home in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on March 22, 2001, at the age of 90. After his death, Cartoon Network aired a 20-second segment with black dots tracing Hanna's portrait with the words "We'll miss you – Cartoon Network" fading in on the right-hand side. This same type of tribute happened for Chuck Jones in 2002 and Hanna's partner, Joseph Barbera in 2006, when each of them died. However, Barbera, unlike the other two, had an audio clip of his voice playing in his Cartoon Network promotional tribute. Hanna is buried at Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest, California.

## Legacy

Most of the cartoons Hanna and Barbera created revolved around close friendship or partnership; this theme is evident with Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, Ruff and Reddy, The Jetsons family, and the friends in Scooby-Doo. These may have been a reflection of the close business friendship and partnership that Hanna and Barbera shared for almost 60 years. Professionally, they balanced each other's strengths and weaknesses very well, but Hanna and Barbera traveled in completely different social circles. Hanna's personal friends primarily included other animators; Barbera tended to socialize with Hollywood celebrities. Their division of work roles complemented each other but they rarely talked outside of work since Hanna was interested in the outdoors and Barbera liked beaches, good food and drink. Nevertheless, in their long partnership, in which they worked with over 2,000 animated characters, Hanna and Barbera rarely exchanged a cross word. Barbera said: "We understood each other perfectly, and each of us had deep respect for the other's work."

Hanna is considered one of the all-time great animators and on a par with Tex Avery. Hanna and Barbera were among the most successful animators on the cinema screen and successfully adapted to the change television brought to the industry. Leonard Maltin says the Hanna–Barbera team "[may] hold a record for producing consistently superior cartoons using the same characters year after year—without a break or change in routine. Their characters are not only animated superstars, but also a very beloved part of American pop culture". They are often considered as Walt Disney's only rivals as cartoonists.

Hanna and Barbera had a lasting impact on television animation. Cartoons they created often make greatest lists. Many of their characters have appeared in film, books, toys, and other media. During the 1960s their TV shows had a worldwide audience of over 300 million people and have since been translated into more than 20 languages. The works of Hanna and Barbera also have been recognized for their music, such as The Cat Concerto (1946) and Johann Mouse (1952), called "masterpieces of animation" in part due to their use of classical music.

In all, the Hanna–Barbera team won seven Academy Awards and eight Emmy Awards, including the 1960 award for The Huckleberry Hound Show, which was the first Emmy awarded to an animated series. They also won these awards: Golden Globe for Television Achievement (1960), Golden IKE Award—Pacific Pioneers in Broadcasting (1983), Pioneer Award—Broadcast Music Incorporated (1987), Iris Award—NATPE Men of the Year (1988), Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association Award for Lifetime Achievement (1988), Governors Award of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (1988), Jackie Coogan Award for Outstanding Contribution to Youth through Entertainment Youth in Film (1988), Frederic W. Ziv Award for Outstanding Achievement in Telecommunications—Broadcasting Division College—Conservatory of Music University of Cincinnati (1989), stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1976), several Annie Awards, several environmental awards, and were recipients of numerous other accolades prior to their induction into the Television Hall of Fame in 1994. In March 2005 the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and Warner Bros. Animation dedicated a wall sculpture at the Television Academy's Hall of Fame Plaza in North Hollywood to Hanna and Barbera.

Hanna's audio of Tom Cat's screams and various vocal effects he provided for the cat and mouse from the original Tom and Jerry cartoons over at MGM back in the 1940s and 1950s were reused in the 2006 direct-to-video film, Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers, Tom and Jerry Tales (2006-2008 TV series, several season 1 episodes), The Tom and Jerry Show (2014 TV series), Tom & Jerry (2021 film), Tom and Jerry Special Shorts (2021 series), Tom and Jerry in New York (2021 series), the upcoming educational TV series, Tom and Jerry Time (previously known as Tom and Jerry Junior) (2022 series), the recent direct-to-video film, Tom and Jerry: Cowboy Up! (2022 film), the Holiday direct-to-video film, Tom and Jerry: Snowman's Land (2022 film) and the video game, MultiVersus (2022 video game). Outside of Tom and Jerry, his screams were modified for the Critters in Critters 2 and Critters 3, it also was used in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only and for the caveman in the game Prehistorik Man.

## See also

- Golden age of American animation
- Tom and Jerry filmography
- List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions
- Peace on Earth (remade by Hanna and Barbera as Good Will to Men)
- Tom and Jerry awards and nominations
- Tom and Jerry: The Movie

American animator and cartoonist (1910–2001)

Directors of Best Animated Short Academy Award winners

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people