about eight o'clock
No movement could be made without revealing the close proximity of the enemy . Rifle-reports from skirmish lines and reconnoitring parties speedily followed . A Confederate force was developed on the turnpike leading southwest from the old Wilderness Tavern ; and the fighting began . At about eight o'clock Grant and Meade came up and made their headquarters beneath some pine-trees near the tavern . General Grant could scarcely believe at first that Lee had left his strong intrenchments to give battle in a region little better than a jungle ; but he soon had ample and awful proof of the fact . Practically unseen by each other , the two armies grappled like giants in the dark . So thick were the trees and undergrowth that a soldier on a battle line could rarely see a thousand men on either side of him , yet nearly two hundred thousand men matched their deadly strength that day .