Virginia's Wilderness covers about 70 square miles (180 km2).[7] Also called the "Wilderness of Spotsylvania", it occupies parts of modern Spotsylvania and Orange Counties in Virginia.[8] Early settlers to the area had cut down most of the maturetrees for powering the furnaces that processed iron ore.[7] By the time of the Civil War, a thick tangledsecond growth forest had replaced the older forest.[7] Not only were many parts of impossible to get through, visibility was very poor and there was no room for armies to maneuver.[7] Despite this, two battles were fought here; the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville and the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864.[7] In both battles the fighting caused fires to start that trapped soldiers, especially those who had been wounded, many of whom were burned alive.[7]
