In May 1864, Union forces met the armies of the Confederacy at a dense wooded area known as “The Wilderness.” An estimated 160,000 – 185,000 men converged on a clearing, Saunders Field, near the middle of the forest and for three days unleashed hell upon one another. Who could have guessed that in the middle of a war The Battle of the Wilderness Fist Fight would break out, stopping the battle dead in its tracks.
It was the first time that the Union’s Lt Gen. Ulysses S. Grant would face Confederate General Robert E. Lee, a meeting that would further to intertwine the two men for the rest of history.
In the end, the results were inconclusive, with neither side gaining a clear victory. What was clear was that nearly 29,000 men would either be killed, injured or captured after three days of heavy fighting and skirmishes and the Union Army of the Potomac would also push further into Virginia.
In the middle of the bloody conflict, a calvaryman with the Virginia Infantry noted a peculiar moment that caused both sides to lay down their weapons: a fist fight between two soldiers.
In a gully near the middle of Saunders Field (the one being slammed by artillery and hails of bullets), an unnamed Union soldier found himself hiding from the advancing army of the enemy. He tried his best to stay quiet and calm, hoping to avoid capture.
In a bizarre moment, a Confederate soldier jumped into the same gully, dodging a wave of Union bullets. For a few moments, each man ignored the other, concentrating instead on the death and destruction outside their hiding spots.
A few quips here, an slight insult there and soon the two men were bickering with each other.
After what I can only imagine was a well-timed “Yo Momma” joke, the two men decided to step outside of their hiding spots, in the middle of a BATTLE mind you, to settle their differences with a fist fight.
Also, because it’s 1864 and “honor” or something like that, they decided that the loser would become a prisoner of war to the opposing army.
So there’s that.
The two soldiers stepped into a full blown Call of Duty scene and started throwing haymakers like Chuck and Tito. Right in the middle of the field, in the middle of a battle.
Soldiers on both sides stopped firing their rifles. Troops even moved in closer to get a better view of the Civil War pugilistic side show.
There’s no official word on how long the fight lasted, only that “Johnny [Reb] soon had the Yank down.” The Union soldier, true to his word, surrendered. They both returned to the gully, fighting resumed, and the man was taken back to Confederate lines.
There you have it. The fist fight that stopped the Civil War, if only for a few moments. If only Vegas could put odds on that today.
