BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Spotsylvania Natl Battlefield

VA -- Spotsylvania Natl Battlefield:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SPOT_120603_010.JPG: The Race for Spotsylvania Court House: "On the 8th of May, we had the hardest march of the war ... As we neared Spottsylvania [sic] the rattling of musketry told us too plainly our day's trials were not over..." -- Sergeant James M. Thompson, 6th Alabama Infantry After two days of vicious fighting in the Wilderness, the armies trudged south towards Spotsylvania Court House. The Union army marched along the Brock Road, in front of you; the Confederates used a series of path and country roads farther to the west. For both sides, it was a miserable march. Deprived of sleep, sweat-soaked soldiers stumbled over narrow, dusty roads. In many places, the woods beside the road caught fire, filling the air with suffocating smoke. Morning brought no relief. As Union soldiers approached Spotsylvania Court House, they learned that Confederate forces held the ridge one-quarter mile ahead of you, blocking their way. The Federals repeatedly attacked the position but could not drive the Confederates from it. What had started as a race to Spotsylvania ended in a two-week struggle for the village.
2. SPOT_120603_014.JPG: Laurel Hill: "[The] Federal assaults were not only easily repulsed, but the forces making them were simply slaughtered." -- Private John Coxe, 2nd South Carolina Infantry Before you lies Laurel Hill, one of the most important but least understood areas of the Spotsylvania Court House battlefield. On three separate days -- May 8, 10, and 12 -- Union troops charged across these fields, from right to left, in an effort to break the Confederate army's hold on the wooded ridge to your left. Each attack ended in bloody failure. With each repulse, the Union soldiers' enthusiasm for attacking the ridge diminished. "Every man in the ranks saw the folly of the attempt," wrote a soldier in the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteers, "and judging from the undercurrent of their conversation, it is not probable that they would have made a very determined effort, or gone far." In all, some 5,000 Union soldiers fell here -- all to no purpose. On May 13, the Union army abandoned Laurel Hill and headed east. The Confederates followed.
3. SPOT_120603_018.JPG: Laurel Hill Trail: Although not as famous as the "Bloody Angle," the fighting at Laurel Hill played an important role in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Here the battle began, and here more than 5,000 soldiers suffered or died. The Laurel Hill Trail leads to some key sites in that struggle. The trail begins across the road. Be careful in crossing -- traffic here can be heavy and sight distance limited.
4. SPOT_120603_045.JPG: Erected to commemorate this spot where Maj Genl John Sedgwick, U.S. Vols. Commanding Sixth Army Corps was killed in action on the morning of the 9th of May 1864.
5. SPOT_120603_049.JPG: A tribute to a beloved Commander by the survivors of his Corps and their friends.
6. SPOT_120603_053.JPG: Dedicated May 12th, 1887, the 23rd Anniversary of the heaviest days of fighting at Spotsylvania.
7. SPOT_120603_056.JPG: Genl. John Sedgwick Born Cornwall, Litchfield Co., Conn. September 18th, 1813. Cadet U. S. Mil. Acmy. July 1st, 1833. 2nd. Lieut. 2nd Arty. July 1st, 1837. 1st. Lieut. " " April 19th, 1839. Captain " " Jany. 26th, 1849. Major, 1st. Cavly, March 8th, 1855. Lieut. Col. 2nd Cavly, March 18th, 1861. Colonel, 1st. Cavly. April 25th, 1861. Brig. Genl. U.S. Vols. August 31st, 1861 Maj. Genl. U.S. Vols. July 4, 1862.
8. SPOT_120603_062.JPG: The Death of Sedgwick: "Sedgwick was essentially a soldier. He had never married; the camp was his home, and the members of his staff were his family. He was always spoken of familiarly as "Uncle John," and the news of his death fell upon his comrades with a sense of grief akin to the sorrow of a personal bereavement." -- Lieutenant Colonel Horace Porter, USA Staff General John Sedgwick , a much-admired bachelor from Connecticut, commanded the Army of the Potomac's Sixth Corps. On May 9, 1864, Sedgwick was seated at his headquarters, a few feet behind you, when he noticed confusion among some of his troops here at the front. Ignoring earlier warnings of danger, he walked over to this spot to sort things out. No sooner did he arrive then a sharpshooter's bullet sped past, causing a young private at his side to drop to the ground in fear. Sedgwick gently chided the man, saying, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." A second shot followed, then a third -- the last followed by a sickening thud. The general pitched to the ground, blood gushing from a hole just below his left eye. He was the highest-ranking Union officer to die in the Civil War. "The Death of General Sedgwick," by Julian Scott. In 1887, Sixth Corps veterans returned to Spotsylvania and dedicated this monument to their fallen leader. It is among the oldest monuments in the park.
9. SPOT_120603_075.JPG: [Panel 1] A Different Kind of War: With the 1864 Overland Campaign, the war in Virginia changed. The old pattern of fight, retreat, and rest yielded to Ulysses S. Grant's relentless maneuvering and fighting. Attacked in superior force by an incessant foe, Southern troops protected themselves behind stout earth-and-log defenses. Union efforts to drive them from those works led to some of the most desperate combat in American history. [Panel 2] The Race to Spotsylvania: The Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River on May 4, 1864, and engaged Lee's army in the region known as the Wilderness. When two days of fighting failed to produce victory, Grant ordered a night march to Spotsylvania Court House. "My object in moving to Spotsylvania...,"he wrote, was "to get between [Lee's] army and Richmond if possible, and, if not to draw him into the open field. Lee, however, anticipated Grant's move. Starting late on May 7, General Richard H. Anderson rushed his corps to Spotsylvania by a parallel route, arriving just minutes ahead of the Union column. The armies clashed on a low ridge known as Laurel Hill (about 600 yards southwest of you). Stalemate gave time for the rest of Lee's army to arrive. That night, both sides started digging. Two weeks of trench warfare followed. [Panel 3] The Leaders: General Robert E. Lee's fame had reached almost mythic properties by 1864. For two years he had successfully defended Virginia against a series of Union commanders, despite chronic shortages of men and supplies. Growing odds had not dimmed the Southern soldiers' confidence in their leader. "No one can excite their enthusiasm as he does," wrote one man. Respect came harder for Lee's opponent, General Ulysses S. Grant. Despite success in the West, many soldiers in the Army of the Potomac doubted that he could match Lee. The Battle of the Wilderness erased those concerns. As Grant led the army south to Spotsylvania, cheering soldiers lined the route. One week later, a man wrote: "Grant has done nobly..., and everybody talks in the highest praise of him." [Panel 4] A War of Attrition: At Spotsylvania Court House, the art and horror of trench warfare reached new levels. Faced with Grant's superior numbers, the Confederates constructed a line of earthworks six miles long - from the Po River on the left to a point beyond Spotsylvania Court House on the right. The Federals dug in too, their line paralleling the Confederates', about 400 yards away. "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." -- General Ulysses S. Grant, USA By the time the armies left Spotsylvania, they had been fighting, digging, and maneuvering for more than two weeks - sometimes in stifling heat, at other times in knee-high mud. They were hungry, dirty, and above all exhausted. Many men fell out of the ranks from fatigue; others plodded on, nearly senseless from lack of sleep. Tired of killing, tired of marching, tired of simply being tired, soldiers on both sides could only wonder, "...will this wail of woe that rises from the bloody battlefields never cease?"
10. SPOT_120603_078.JPG: A Different Kind of War: With the 1864 Overland Campaign, the war in Virginia changed. The old pattern of fight, retreat, and rest yielded to Ulysses S. Grant's relentless maneuvering and fighting. Attacked in superior force by an incessant foe, Southern troops protected themselves behind stout earth-and-log defenses. Union efforts to drive them from those works led to some of the most desperate combat in American history.
11. SPOT_120603_082.JPG: The Race to Spotsylvania: The Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River on May 4, 1864, and engaged Lee's army in the region known as the Wilderness. When two days of fighting failed to produce victory, Grant ordered a night march to Spotsylvania Court House. "My object in moving to Spotsylvania...,"he wrote, was "to get between [Lee's] army and Richmond if possible, and, if not to draw him into the open field. Lee, however, anticipated Grant's move. Starting late on May 7, General Richard H. Anderson rushed his corps to Spotsylvania by a parallel route, arriving just minutes ahead of the Union column. The armies clashed on a low ridge known as Laurel Hill (about 600 yards southwest of you). Stalemate gave time for the rest of Lee's army to arrive. That night, both sides started digging. Two weeks of trench warfare followed.
12. SPOT_120603_087.JPG: The Leaders: General Robert E. Lee's fame had reached almost mythic properties by 1864. For two years he had successfully defended Virginia against a series of Union commanders, despite chronic shortages of men and supplies. Growing odds had not dimmed the Southern soldiers' confidence in their leader. "No one can excite their enthusiasm as he does," wrote one man. Respect came harder for Lee's opponent, General Ulysses S. Grant. Despite success in the West, many soldiers in the Army of the Potomac doubted that he could match Lee. The Battle of the Wilderness erased those concerns. As Grant led the army south to Spotsylvania, cheering soldiers lined the route. One week later, a man wrote: "Grant has done nobly..., and everybody talks in the highest praise of him." Robert E. Lee: Robert E. Lee's stunning offensive victories in the early stages of the Civil War and his later stubborn defense of Virginia soil won him the gratitude of the Southern people. Ulysses S. Grant: For twelve months Grant (center) relentlessly battled Lee, assisted by the Army of the Potomac's commander, General George G. Meade (left). Meade was a proud man with an ungovernable temper. By choosing to accompany Meade's army, Grant effectively placed himself in command of it and in potential conflict with its touchy leader.
13. SPOT_120603_091.JPG: A War of Attrition: At Spotsylvania Court House, the art and horror of trench warfare reached new levels. Faced with Grant's superior numbers, the Confederates constructed a line of earthworks six miles long - from the Po River on the left to a point beyond Spotsylvania Court House on the right. The Federals dug in too, their line paralleling the Confederates', about 400 yards away. "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." -- General Ulysses S. Grant, USA By the time the armies left Spotsylvania, they had been fighting, digging, and maneuvering for more than two weeks - sometimes in stifling heat, at other times in knee-high mud. They were hungry, dirty, and above all exhausted. Many men fell out of the ranks from fatigue; others plodded on, nearly senseless from lack of sleep. Tired of killing, tired of marching, tired of simply being tired, soldiers on both sides could only wonder, "...will this wail of woe that rises from the bloody battlefields never cease?"
14. SPOT_120603_094.JPG: Testing the Line: May 8-10 [Panel 1] If It Takes All Summer: Grant's failure to win the race to Spotsylvania led to two weeks of brutal combat. Aggressive and impatient, the Union commander relentlessly hammered away at the entrenched Confederate line, looking for weakness. [Panel 2] Laurel Hill: Less well known than the fighting at the Bloody Angle but no less costly, the combat at Laurel Hill produced upwards of 5,000 casualties. On three different days - May 8, 10, and 12 - Union troops charged across the fields surrounding Sarah Spindle's farmhouse in an effort to break Lee's entrenched lines. Each time they suffered defeat. "It was charge and fall back 6 to 8 times. We could get our men only so far," complained one officer. "One good rush and their bayonets would have silenced our guns. But they could not face that hail of death any longer." -- Private William M. Dame, 1st Company, Richmond Howitzers The problem was terrain. In order to reach the Confederates, Union soldiers had to cross several hundred yards of open ground, all the while exposed to the bursting shells and whizzing bullets of the enemy. "The moment we rose from the ground a perfect hailstorm of ball from three sides were poured into us," wrote one Union soldier, "men fell by the dozens." Unable to crack the Confederate line at Laurel Hill, Grant cast his gaze further to the left - to the Muleshoe. [Panel 3] Upton's Attack: Faced with six miles of powerful Confederate earthworks, Grant at first sought to turn Lee's flanks. When, on May 10, those efforts encountered resistance, Grant mistakenly concluded that Lee had weakened the center of his line. That evening, Grant ordered an attack against the Confederate center. At 6 p.m., 5,000 men commanded by Colonel Emory Upton dashed across 200 yards of open ground and breached the center of Lee's line. Although Southern counterattacks eventually recaptured the works, Upton's success gave Grant an idea. If 5,000 men could break the Confederate line, what might 20,000 men do? "The struggle lasted only a few seconds. Numbers prevailed, and like a resistless wave, the column poured over the works...The column of assault had accomplished its task." -- Colonel Emory Upton, USA
15. SPOT_120603_096.JPG: If It Takes All Summer: Grant's failure to win the race to Spotsylvania led to two weeks of brutal combat. Aggressive and impatient, the Union commander relentlessly hammered away at the entrenched Confederate line, looking for weakness.
16. SPOT_120603_100.JPG: Laurel Hill: Less well known than the fighting at the Bloody Angle but no less costly, the combat at Laurel Hill produced upwards of 5,000 casualties. On three different days - May 8, 10, and 12 - Union troops charged across the fields surrounding Sarah Spindle's farmhouse in an effort to break Lee's entrenched lines. Each time they suffered defeat. "It was charge and fall back 6 to 8 times. We could get our men only so far," complained one officer. "One good rush and their bayonets would have silenced our guns. But they could not face that hail of death any longer." -- Private William M. Dame, 1st Company, Richmond Howitzers The problem was terrain. In order to reach the Confederates, Union soldiers had to cross several hundred yards of open ground, all the while exposed to the bursting shells and whizzing bullets of the enemy. "The moment we rose from the ground a perfect hailstorm of ball from three sides were poured into us," wrote one Union soldier, "men fell by the dozens." Unable to crack the Confederate line at Laurel Hill, Grant cast his gaze further to the left - to the Muleshoe.
17. SPOT_120603_104.JPG: Upton's Attack: Faced with six miles of powerful Confederate earthworks, Grant at first sought to turn Lee's flanks. When, on May 10, those efforts encountered resistance, Grant mistakenly concluded that Lee had weakened the center of his line. That evening, Grant ordered an attack against the Confederate center. At 6 p.m., 5,000 men commanded by Colonel Emory Upton dashed across 200 yards of open ground and breached the center of Lee's line. Although Southern counterattacks eventually recaptured the works, Upton's success gave Grant an idea. If 5,000 men could break the Confederate line, what might 20,000 men do? "The struggle lasted only a few seconds. Numbers prevailed, and like a resistless wave, the column poured over the works...The column of assault had accomplished its task." -- Colonel Emory Upton, USA
18. SPOT_120603_108.JPG: The Battle of Spotsylvania: "Nothing in history equals this contest. Desperate, long and deadly, it still goes on. From morn till night, nor ends the carnage there -- all night it goes on too. I cannot tell you any of the particulars. You could not understand it. I do not understand it myself. I doubt if any one does... Who's able to describe these terrific cannonades, tearing men, animals, and the earth and the woods, the fierce charge and shout, the panic and stampede. The crush of horses, vehicles, and men [in] confused masses. The acres of dead and mutilated men? The usual course of feeling seems turned back or suspended..." -- Corporal William Taylor, 110th Pennsylvania Volunteers, May 17, 1864, letter to his wife The Armies The Army of the Potomac: Throughout the winter of 1863-1864, the armies rested and refitted on opposites sides of the Rapidan River. The ranks of the Union army swelled with thousands of new draftees and recruits - soldiers whose commitment to the cause many questioned. "I determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable...; second, to hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his resources until by mere attrition...there would be nothing left to him." -- General Ulysses S. Grant, USA Commander: Major General George Gordon Meade Strength: 100,000 men and 344 cannon The Army of Northern Virginia: The Confederates struggled to keep their existing regiments full. In the Wilderness they would bring to the battle 13,000 fewer men than they had fielded at Gettysburg the year before. "We had all discussed Grant in camp, and it was well known that he had taken command to hold on and fight until we were worn out. He could lose men and replace them, we could not." -- Assistant Surgeon Thomas F. Wood, 3rd North Carolina Infantry Commander: General Robert E. Lee Strength: 55,000 men and 228 cannon
19. SPOT_120603_112.JPG: Grant Finds an Opening: May 12 [Panel 1] Assault on the Muleshoe: Emory Upton's success on May 10 prompted Grant to repeat the attack on a much larger scale. This time the target of the assault was the Muleshoe Salient, a huge outward bulge in the center of the Confederate line. If Grant could break through at the Muleshoe, he would cut Lee's army in two and possibly destroy it. "Every Confederate realized the desperate situation and every Union soldier knew what was involved. For a time, every soldier was a fiend. The attack was fierce -- the resistance fanatical." -- Private John Haley, 17th Maine Infantry The May 12 attack was at first widely successful. At dawn General Winfield S. Hancock's Second Corps overran the Confederate line, scooping up 3,000 prisoners, two generals, and 20 cannon. Lee struck back furiously in an attempt to drive the Union soldiers from the works. For 20 hours the two sides grappled with one another in a pouring rain. The Union army fought to win; the Confederates, to survive. [Panel 2] The Bloody Angle: The May 12 fighting centered on a turn in the Confederate logworks that became known as the "Bloody Angle." There men crossed bayonets in hand-to-hand combat, brained one another with the butts of their guns, and exchanged point-blank fire over the works. Bodies piled up three, four, even five deep in the crimsoned mud. One participant described it simply as "a seething, bubbling, roaring hell of hate and murder." Neither side yielded an inch -- the Confederates sacrificing their lives so that Lee could build a new line across the base of the Muleshoe Salient. "There is a point in battle beyond which flesh and blood cannot pass," explained one soldier, "and we had reached that point." Finally, after more than 20 hours of combat, Lee's new line was ready, and he withdrew his battered troops from the Bloody Angle, leaving behind a landscape of unspeakable horror. "...frenzy seemed to posses the yelling, demonic hordes on either side, as soft-voiced tenderhearted men in camp, fought like wild beasts, to destroy their fellow man." -- Lieutenant Robert S. Robertson, Union Staff Officer
20. SPOT_120603_115.JPG: Assault on the Muleshoe: Emory Upton's success on May 10 prompted Grant to repeat the attack on a much larger scale. This time the target of the assault was the Muleshoe Salient, a huge outward bulge in the center of the Confederate line. If Grant could break through at the Muleshoe, he would cut Lee's army in two and possibly destroy it. "Every Confederate realized the desperate situation and every Union soldier knew what was involved. For a time, every soldier was a fiend. The attack was fierce -- the resistance fanatical." -- Private John Haley, 17th Maine Infantry The May 12 attack was at first widely successful. At dawn General Winfield S. Hancock's Second Corps overran the Confederate line, scooping up 3,000 prisoners, two generals, and 20 cannon. Lee struck back furiously in an attempt to drive the Union soldiers from the works. For 20 hours the two sides grappled with one another in a pouring rain. The Union army fought to win; the Confederates, to survive.
21. SPOT_120603_118.JPG: The Bloody Angle: The May 12 fighting centered on a turn in the Confederate logworks that became known as the "Bloody Angle." There men crossed bayonets in hand-to-hand combat, brained one another with the butts of their guns, and exchanged point-blank fire over the works. Bodies piled up three, four, even five deep in the crimsoned mud. One participant described it simply as "a seething, bubbling, roaring hell of hate and murder." Neither side yielded an inch -- the Confederates sacrificing their lives so that Lee could build a new line across the base of the Muleshoe Salient. "There is a point in battle beyond which flesh and blood cannot pass," explained one soldier, "and we had reached that point." Finally, after more than 20 hours of combat, Lee's new line was ready, and he withdrew his battered troops from the Bloody Angle, leaving behind a landscape of unspeakable horror. "...frenzy seemed to posses the yelling, demonic hordes on either side, as soft-voiced tenderhearted men in camp, fought like wild beasts, to destroy their fellow man." -- Lieutenant Robert S. Robertson, Union Staff Officer
22. SPOT_120603_125.JPG: No Turning Back [Panel 1] No Turning Back: Defeated but undeterred, Grant abandoned Spotsylvania's blood-soaked fields on May 21 and continued south -- toward Richmond and ultimate victory. In his wake he left a scarred landscape pitted with thousands of graves. [Panel 2] The Awful Arithmetic: If considered as one engagement, the fighting at Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House constitutes the bloodiest single battle in American history. Some 36,000 Union soldiers and 24,000 Confederates were killed, wounded, captured, or missing during the period of May 5 to May 21, 1864 -- a staggering 30 percent of those engaged. The tremendous loss of life outraged many in the North, some of whom labeled Grant a butcher. But the general understood his arithmetic. He could replace his losses, Lee could not. In time he would grind the Confederate army down to a point where it could no longer resist. Grant had engaged Lee in a war of attrition -- a war the South could not win. "...In the long run, we ought to succeed, because it is in our power more promptly to fill the gaps in men and material which this constant fighting produces." -- General George G. Meade, USA [Panel 3] Grant Leaves Spotsylvania: While the struggle for the Bloody Angle marked the apogee of fighting at Spotsylvania, it did not signify the battle's end. More than a week of combat still remained. On May 14, 18, and 19 the armies clashed again without decisive results. Although victory eluded him, Grant remained optimistic. Convinced the Confederates were "very shaky," he looked for an opportunity to deliver a blow that would shatter the Army of Northern Virginia beyond repair. That blow would not come at Spotsylvania. His opportunities here exhausted, Grant on May 21 ordered the Army of the Potomac to leave Spotsylvania and march south toward the North Anna River, toward Richmond. Lee followed. The contest -- already the deadliest of the war - would go on. [Panel 4] A Hard Road to Travel: Wilderness and Spotsylvania were opening battles in a yearlong campaign that only ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. Before reaching Appomattox the armies would clash again at North Anna River, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and places in between. Thousands more would die before the fighting ceased. "The great battle is not yet over, there is only a lull -- the first for twenty-five days, the sullen roar of artillery even now reminds us that the last act of the bloody tragedy is yet to be enacted." -- Captain Andrew J. McBride, 10th Georgia Infantry [Panel 5] Those Left Behind: Casualties at Spotsylvania were appalling. "The question became, pretty plainly, whether one was willing to meet death, not merely run the chances of it," wrote one Confederate soldier. These are the faces of just a few of the 4,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the battle. The graves pictured at the bottom of this panel belonged to Mississippi soldiers killed at the Bloody Angle.
23. SPOT_120603_127.JPG: No Turning Back: Defeated but undeterred, Grant abandoned Spotsylvania's blood-soaked fields on May 21 and continued south -- toward Richmond and ultimate victory. In his wake he left a scarred landscape pitted with thousands of graves.
24. SPOT_120603_130.JPG: The Awful Arithmetic: If considered as one engagement, the fighting at Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House constitutes the bloodiest single battle in American history. Some 36,000 Union soldiers and 24,000 Confederates were killed, wounded, captured, or missing during the period of May 5 to May 21, 1864 -- a staggering 30 percent of those engaged. The tremendous loss of life outraged many in the North, some of whom labeled Grant a butcher. But the general understood his arithmetic. He could replace his losses, Lee could not. In time he would grind the Confederate army down to a point where it could no longer resist. Grant had engaged Lee in a war of attrition -- a war the South could not win. "...In the long run, we ought to succeed, because it is in our power more promptly to fill the gaps in men and material which this constant fighting produces." -- General George G. Meade, USA
25. SPOT_120603_134.JPG: Grant Leaves Spotsylvania: While the struggle for the Bloody Angle marked the apogee of fighting at Spotsylvania, it did not signify the battle's end. More than a week of combat still remained. On May 14, 18, and 19 the armies clashed again without decisive results. Although victory eluded him, Grant remained optimistic. Convinced the Confederates were "very shaky," he looked for an opportunity to deliver a blow that would shatter the Army of Northern Virginia beyond repair. That blow would not come at Spotsylvania. His opportunities here exhausted, Grant on May 21 ordered the Army of the Potomac to leave Spotsylvania and march south toward the North Anna River, toward Richmond. Lee followed. The contest -- already the deadliest of the war - would go on.
26. SPOT_120603_138.JPG: A Hard Road to Travel: Wilderness and Spotsylvania were opening battles in a yearlong campaign that only ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. Before reaching Appomattox the armies would clash again at North Anna River, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and places in between. Thousands more would die before the fighting ceased. "The great battle is not yet over, there is only a lull -- the first for twenty-five days, the sullen roar of artillery even now reminds us that the last act of the bloody tragedy is yet to be enacted." -- Captain Andrew J. McBride, 10th Georgia Infantry
27. SPOT_120603_143.JPG: Those Left Behind: Casualties at Spotsylvania were appalling. "The question became, pretty plainly, whether one was willing to meet death, not merely run the chances of it," wrote one Confederate soldier. These are the faces of just a few of the 4,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the battle. The graves pictured at the bottom of this panel belonged to Mississippi soldiers killed at the Bloody Angle.
28. SPOT_120603_152.JPG: Upton's Trail: By the night of May 8, the Confederate army was in firm possession of Spotsylvania Court House. With Lee entrenching, Grant looked for opportunities to attack. Reports from the front indicated that the Confederates were in force on both their left and right flanks, leading Grant to believe that they must be weak in the center of the line. Hoping to exploit this weakness, he issued orders for a general assault to take place just before sunset on May 10. Colonel Emory Upton, a brilliant 24-year-old brigade commander from Batavia, New York, was assigned to lead the assault. On the day of the attack, Upton assembled a strike force of 12 regiments -- 5,000 men -- at the Sheldon House, 400 yards behind you. Union troops meanwhile flushed Confederate skirmishers from these woods. Upton's men followed, moving undetected along this woods road to within 200 yards of the Confederate line.
29. SPOT_120603_159.JPG: The Muleshoe Salient: One hundred and fifty yards ahead of you is the Bloody Angle, perhaps the most hallowed site of any Civil War battlefield. The Bloody Angle is a small bend in the Confederate works within the much larger Muleshoe Salient, a huge outward bulge in the center of General Robert E. Lee's six-mile-long defensive line. For 22 hours on May 12 and May 13, 1864, combat raged here. Confederate troops created the Muleshoe on the night of May 8, 1864, while attempting to weave together two lines of earthworks that ran at right angles to one another. Lee recognized that it was inherently weak -- subject to converging fire from many directions. To bolster the line, he constructed stout trenches, fortifying them with upwards of 30 cannon. Even so, the Salient remained his most vulnerable point -- a fact bloodily demonstrated on May 12, 1864. "This is a wretched line. I don not see how it can be held!" -- General Robert E. Lee, May 9, 1864
30. SPOT_120603_213.JPG: 15th Reg't N.J. Vol's. Erected by the State of New Jersey to mark the portion of the Confederate line held by the 14th Georgia Regiment, and assaulted May 12, 1864, by the 15th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Edward L. Campbell. Engaged, 429, loss - 116 killed; 159 wounded; 38 missing.
31. SPOT_120603_257.JPG: Deo 1861 Vindice 1865 South Carolina McGowan's Brigade -- Brig. Gen. Samuel McGowan 1st S.C. Infantry -- Col. Comillus W. McCreary Orr's Rifles -- Lt. Col. George McD. Miller 12th S.C. Infantry -- Maj. Thomas F. Clyburne 13th S.C. Infantry -- Col. Benjamin T. Brockman 14th S.C. Infantry -- Col. Joseph N. Brown
32. SPOT_120603_264.JPG: "The Bloody Angle" In the rainy gloom of May 12, 1864, Brigadier General Samuel McGowan's brigade of South Carolinians battled their way into the disputed earthworks here, near the apex of the Muleshoe Salient. For eighteen hours the 1300 South Carolinians defended these works against relentless attacks by thousands of Federals, sometimes engaging in hand-to-hand fighting. By battle's end, 451 men of the brigade were killed, wounded, or missing. The slight angle in the works they defended would forever be known as the Bloody Angle. To the brave and heroic men of McGowan's Brigade this monument is dedicated. Erected by the State of South Carolina and the Brig. Gen. Samuel McGowan Camp 40, Sons of Confederate Veterans of Laurens County, South Carolina, 2009
33. SPOT_120603_278.JPG: Upton's Assault: Just before 6pm on May 10, 1864, 5,000 Union soldiers led by Colonel Emory Upton -- formed in deep masses rather than traditional battle lines -- emerged from the woods ahead of you and dashed across this field. They reached the main Confederate line here. Leaping over the works, they began stabbing with bayonets and swinging their muskets like clubs. More than 900 Confederate prisoners and four cannons (marked by the guns 80 yards to your left) fell into their hands. The victorious Federals swept down the works, widening the breach. But no one had made arrangements to support the attack, and without more men Upton could go no farther. Meanwhile, in the fields behind you, Confederate generals marshaled troops to recapture the works. As daylight faded to darkness, Upton would be in for the fight of his life. "The struggle lasted but a few seconds. Numbers prevailed, and, like a resistless wave, the column poured over the works... The column of assault had accomplished its task... The enemy's lines were completely broken..." -- Colonel Emery Upton, USA Emory Upton From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Emory Upton (August 27, 1839 – March 15, 1881) was a United States Army General and military strategist, prominent for his role in leading infantry to attack entrenched positions successfully at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House during the American Civil War, but he also excelled at artillery and cavalry assignments. His work, The Military Policy of the United States, which analyzed American military policies and practices and presented the first systematic examination of the nation's military history, had a tremendous effect on the U.S. Army when it was published posthumously in 1904.
34. SPOT_120603_282.JPG: Confederate Counterattack: Confederate General Richard S. Ewell responded quickly to Upton's breakthrough at Doles's Salient. Wading into the melee, he shouted to the outnumbered defenders: "Don't run, boys. I will have enough men here in five minutes to eat up every damned one of them!" Ewell was as good as his word. Within minutes, thousands of Confederate soldiers converged on this spot. Although initially successful, Upton's attack quickly turned into a fight for survival. Confederate lines coming across the fields behind you pressed against now-ragged Union battle lines. Without help, Upton's men could not hold out for long. As darkness settled over the battlefield, the Southerners drove Upton's men from the salient and recaptured the cannons they had lost earlier in the evening. Upton captured 950 Confederates in his initial charge. Union soldiers hurried the prisoners to the rear under a heavy fire.
35. SPOT_120603_288.JPG: Confederate Mule Shoe Defenders: (1) Ramseur (2) Daniel (3) Doles (4) Walker Erected May 1994
36. SPOT_120603_298.JPG: Sixth Corps Memorial to the brave and daring men who fought in Upton's Charge May 10, 1864 5 Me - 96 Pa. - 121 N.Y. 5 Wis - 6 Me - 49 Pa. 119 Pa. - 77 N.Y. - 43 N.Y. 6 Vt. - 5 Vt. - 2 Vt.
37. SPOT_120603_310.JPG: Forming for the Attack: Had you been here in 1864, you would have been standing at the edge of a field that stretched from here to the Confederate works. Upton's men advanced four abreast in a column up this road. When they reached this point, they silently deployed into a line of battle just inside the wood line, to the left and right of the road. To reach the Confederate lines, Upton's men would have to charge across 200 yards of open ground, claw their way through a barrier of fallen trees purposely placed, and overrun a stout earth-and-log defensive line -- all the while exposed to the artillery and infantry fire of the foe. At 5:50pm, Upton gave the orders to advance. "I felt my gorge rise, and my stomach and intestines shrink together in a knot, and a thousand things rushed through my mind... I looked about in the faces of the boys around me, and they told the tale of expected death. Pulling my cap down over my eyes, I stepped out..." -- Corporal Clinton Beckwith, 121st New York Volunteers
38. SPOT_120603_320.JPG: The Harrison House: Like most Spotsylvania County residents, Edgar W. Harrison little imagined the impact the Civil War would have on his community and his life. Harrison, his wife Ann, and their three young children lived in a story-and-a-half farmhouse set on the knoll across the road, where they made a living churning butter, slaughtering hogs, and harvesting corn, oats, and tobacco. Although he tiled less than half of his 190-acre farm, Harrison owned 11 slaves. One slave, Joseph E. Walker, remembered the panic that gripped the household as the armies approached. "...My mistress, Miss Harrison, and my mother began gathering up her silver to leave. Just then [Confederate troops] formed a line of battle in our front yard.... We were ordered to get out as the firing was going to begin, which it did like a thunderstorm." The Harrisons and their slaves took refuge at a neighbor's house, returning only after the battle ended. For Spotsylvania residents, it was a story repeated countless times.
39. SPOT_120603_325.JPG: Lee to the Rear! The General's countenance showed that he had despaired and was ready to die rather than see the defeat of his army. -- Isaac G. Bradwell, 3rd Georgia Infantry In these fields on the morning of May 12, 1864, Gen. Robert E. Lee faced a crisis so severe that he felt compelled to lead his troops personally into battle. It was the third such crisis in a week - a sure sign of the Confederate army's dwindling power. Soon after dawn a courier dashed up to Confederate Gen. John Gordon at the Harrison house with an urgent message: A Union attack had shattered the Confederate line at the Muleshoe Salient, about a half-mile to your left. As Gordon's Georgians prepared to counterattack, Gen. Robert E. Lee took his place among them, intent on leading them into battle. The solders would not permit it. "Lee to the rear! Lee to the rear!" they shouted. Two soldiers stepped forward, grabbed the bridle of Lee's horse and led him to safety. Gordon's men then plunged into battle. Within minutes they had recaptured the eastern face of the Salient - the prelude to a day of horrific fighting.
40. SPOT_120603_336.JPG: Mayhem in the Muleshoe: Surrounded on all sides by low ridge lines, Neil McCoull's house sat in the center of the famous Muleshoe Salient. On the night of May 8, 1864, Confederate engineers built the bulging line of earthworks that wrapped around McCoull's farm to the west, north and east. When Union troops broke through the Muleshoe on May 12, Confederates swarmed over McCoull's farm, desperate to reclaim their lines. Thousands of troops passed by this house en route to some of the most desperate fighting the world had ever seen - at the Bloody Angle, only a few hundred yards in front of you. Hundreds of thousands of bullets pelted the earth around the house; artillery shells by the hundreds screeched overhead. When the Confederates fell back to a new line early on the morning of May 13, they left behind McCoull's bullet-riddled house and a field strewn with corpses.
41. SPOT_120603_341.JPG: The McCoull House: This was the home of farmer Neil McCoull and his unmarried sisters Mary, Eliza, and Milly. McCoull's farm was typical of those that dotted Spotsylvania County: a few hundred acres that produced a modest income from corn and other grains. Like his neighbors the Harrisons, McCoul owned slaves, a circumstance common to more than half of Spotsylvania's residents. Around the house stood a kitchen and other outbuildings. Simple dirt roads connected the McCoulls to their neighbors the Harrisons (to the south) and Landrams (0.75 mile north). Neil McCoull was absent during the fighting here in May 1864, but his sisters survived the battle by taking shelter in the basement of the house. When they emerged, they found a landscape dominated by death.
42. SPOT_120603_358.JPG: Note the deer in the background
43. SPOT_120603_372.JPG: Ramseur's Brigade: 2nd North Carolina State Troops Col. William R. Cox 4th North Carolina State Troops Col. Bryan Grimes 14th North Carolina Troops Col. R. Tyler Bennett 30th North Carolina Troops Col. Francis M. Parker At dawn May 12, 1864 Union troops overwhelmed Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson's Division at the muleshoe salient. Brig. Gen. Stephen Dodson Ramseur's North Carolina Brigade counterattacked across these earthworks and by 7:30 a.m. regained the portion of the salient opposite this point. For the next twenty hours Ramseur's men held their ground in the face of determined Union assaults. The North Carolinians then withdrew to a new defensive line one-half mile to the rear. This gallant stand helped thwart the Union advance and saved Lee's army from disaster. Deo Vindice Erected by the 30th N.C. Troops (Reactivated) Charlotte, N.C. Sept. 2001
44. SPOT_120603_377.JPG: Containing the Enemy, Reclaiming the Works: The trenches in front of you belonged to General James H. Lane's North Carolina brigade. Shortly after dawn, May 12, Union forces captured the East Angle, one-half mile behind you, and bore down on Lane's men in this part of the Muleshoe Salient. Acting quickly, Lane curled back the left end of his line to meet the threat, checking the progress of Union troops moving down the Salient's eastern face. Meanwhile, General John B. Gordon was hastily forming his Confederate division at the Harrison house, just over one-quarter mile to your right. As soon as his troops were in line, Gordon ordered a charge. Sweeping through the woods behind you, his men drove back the disorganized Union attackers and reclaimed the eastern side of the Salient. With this part of the Muleshoe secure, General Robert E. Lee could focus his efforts on retaking the Bloody Angle. "With the fury of a cyclone, and almost with its resistless power, [my division] rushed upon Hancock's advancing column. With our first onset... his leading lines were shriveled and hurled back... Hancock was repulsed and driven out." -- General John Gordon, CSA
45. SPOT_120603_393.JPG: Fighting for Time: Throughout May 12, Confederates here waged a battle for critical minutes and hours. When Union troops swarmed over the east face of the Muleshoe Salient before dawn, Robert E. Lee knew instantly that the position – even if regained temporarily – could not be held permanently. But to build a new line farther to the rear, he needed time. Though driven away in the first hour of the battle, the Confederates fought their way back into these works by 7 a.m. For the rest of the day they weathered repeated attacks, as Union troops built ragged, impromptu works to their front in an effort to close on the Confederate position. The fighting here transformed the landscape; the scars remain. Ultimately the Confederates held this line long enough for Lee to establish a new line, a mile behind you. The cost: hundreds killed and wounded, all for nothing more substantial than ticks on the clock and a few inches of ravaged landscape.
46. SPOT_120603_407.JPG: A Mass Capture: As the first rays of daylight filtered through the rain-drenched woods here on May 12, the men of General George H. Steuart's brigade heard a commotion up the line, to their left. Moments later, through the shifting mists, they saw a human tidal wave: 20,000 Union soldiers of General Winfield S. Hancock's Union Second Corps sweeping down the lines to their left and rear. Surprised and defenseless, more than 3,000 Confederate soldiers had little choice but to surrender – one of the largest battlefield captures of the war. Among the captives were General Steuart and his superior, General Edward Johnson. Steuart was standing beside an artillery battery in this vicinity when the Federals appeared. As the cannon next to him recoiled, its trail struck the general, knocking him to the ground. Before he could regain his feet, Hancock's men were swarming around him. Steuart was a prisoner. He and Johnson would spend three months in Union captivity. After their capture, Steuart and Johnson were hustled back to Hancock's headquarters at the Landram house. Hancock knew both Johnson and Stuart from pre-war days. Johnson readily shook his captor's hand, but Steuart refused, saying, "Under the circumstances, I decline to take your hand." An angry Hancock shot back: "And under any other circumstances I should not have offered it." Placed under the guard of African-American soldiers, the two generals began the trek to Union prison camps. Hancock provided Johnson with an ambulance. Steuart walked.
47. SPOT_120603_418.JPG: The Ninth Corps: To support Hancock's May 12 assault at the East Angle, Grant ordered General Ambrose E. Burnside's Ninth Corps to attack the Muleshoe Salient here along its eastern face. Shouldering their way through wet woods, Burnside's men reached this spot shortly after dawn. Ahead, at the top of the hill, General James H. Lane's North Carolina brigade waited to meet them behind substantial trenches made of earth and logs. As the Federals approached, the Carolinians let loose with "prolonged cheers and death dealing volleys." Some Union soldiers halted to return the fire; others pressed forward to the works, engaging the Confederates in a lethal hand-to-hand fight. It last just a few minutes. When Confederate reinforcements appeared, the Union soldiers retreated back down the slope and dug in here. For the rest of the day they remained pinned down, taking 2,500 casualties to no purpose. Formerly the leader of the Army of the Potomac, General Ambrose Burnside had resigned command after his defeat at Fredericksburg in December 1862. By May 1864, he commanded the Ninth Corps.
48. SPOT_120603_427.JPG: 17th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment 9th Corps 3rd Division 1st Brigade Michigan units on the field in the 9th Corps 17th Michigan Vol. Infantry 20th Michigan Vol. Infantry 8th Michigan Vol. Infantry 27th Michigan Vol. Infantry 2nd Michigan Vol. Infantry 1st Michigan Sharpshooters Losses for the 17th Michigan On May 12, 1864 26 killed 70 wounded 100 missing or captured
49. SPOT_120603_431.JPG: Heth's Salient: With the fighting at the Bloody Angle at an impasse, Grant and Lee looked elsewhere for opportunities to attack. Coincidentally, both men turned their attention to Heth's Salient, here on the eastern face of the Muleshoe. Grant sought a weak point in the Confederate defenses, while Lee hoped that an attack here might relieve pressure on Confederate troops fighting at the Bloody Angle. The two sides unexpected collided in these woods. A wild scramble ensued. Men threw one another to the ground, brained each other with the butts of their rifles, and exchanged shots at point-blank range. In 30 minutes, it was over. The Confederates straggled back to their line with 800 prisoners in tow. The Federals licked their wounds and dug in. The earthworks that they built line this road. Heth's Salient was a sharp turn in the Confederate works defended by General Henry Heth's (pronounced "Heath") division. Men of the 17th Michigan, who lost heavily in the attack on Heth's Salient.
50. SPOT_120603_436.JPG: The Fredericksburg Road: The Fredericksburg Road, on your left, was the Army of the Potomac's main line of supply during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Each day, hundreds of wagons lumbered down the road, bringing tons of food, arms, and ammunition to the insatiable Union army. On their return journey, the wagons carried an even more precious load: wounded soldiers bound for temporary hospitals in Fredericksburg. Spotsylvania Court House is just one mile ahead of you. In 1864, the village encompassed fewer than a dozen buildings, including a courthouse, jail, hotel ,a and three churches. Most of those structures still stand. Just outside the hamlet is the Spotsylvania Confederate Cemetery, where 600 Confederate soldiers who died in the battle are now buried. Union soldiers killed at Spotsylvania are buried in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. The Fredericksburg Road ended at Spotsylvania Court House. Many of Spotsylvania's wartime buildings, including the courthouse (left) and Sanford's Hotel (right center) still stand. "All empty wagons were positively jammed with men variously wounded. Single horses and mules bore the burden of two and three men upon their backs, and many lame soldiers limped along in pitiful fashion, offering to each other such assistant as was possible; so that between the battlefield and town as procession of misery, unequaled by any similar event of the war, passed slowly by." -- Edwin Forbes, Northern sketch artist
51. SPOT_120603_442.JPG: "If It Takes All Summer" While the May 12 combat at the Bloody Angle marked the height of the Spotsylvania fighting, it was not the end of it. For nine more days, the Army of the Potomac hovered around the village, looking for opportunities to strike. Finding Lee heavily entrenched at Laurel Hill and the Muleshoe Salient, Grant began shifting his army across the Fredericksburg Road to your left. Lee responded by moving elements of his army across the road as well. The two sides clashed three more times at Spotsylvania -- at Myers HIll on May 14, at the Harrison house on May 18, and the Harris farm on May 19 -- each time without decisive result. On May 231, Grant abandoned his efforts to drive Lee from Spotsylvania Court House and started for the North Anna River, 20 miles south. It was there, along the North Anna's muddy banks, that the next act of the blood drama would unfold. "I ... propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." -- General Ulysses Grant, USA In an effort to Locate Grant's right flank, Lee on May 19 sent his Second Corps on a reconnaissance toward the Fredericksburg Road, sparking battle on the Harris farm.
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Wikipedia Description: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania, was the second battle in Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. It was fought in the Rapidan-Rappahannock river area of central Virginia, a region where more than 100,000 men on both sides fell between 1862 and 1864.

The battle was fought from May 8 to May 21, 1864, along a trench line some four miles (6.5 km) long, with the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee making its second attempt to halt the spring offensive of the Union Army of the Potomac under the command of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade. Taking place less than a week after the bloody, inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness, it pitted 52,000 Confederate soldiers against a Union army numbering 100,000.

Background:

After Lee checked the Union advance in the Wilderness, Grant decided to take advantage of the position he held, which allowed him to slip his army around Lee's right flank and continue to move south toward the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. He already had troops on the move by the night of May 7, just one day after the Wilderness fighting ended, and on May 8, he sent Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and his V Corps to take Spotsylvania, 10 miles (16 km) to the southeast. Lee anticipated Grant's move and sent forces to intercept him: cavalry under Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart and the First Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson (its usual leader, Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet, had been wounded in the Wilderness).

Battle:

The Confederates won the race to Spotsylvania, and on May 9, each army began to take up new positions north of the small town. As Union forces probed Confederate skirmish lines on May 9 to determine the placement of defending forces, Union VI Corps commander Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick was killed by a sharpshooter; he was succeeded by Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright. Lee deployed his men in a trench line stretching more than four miles (6.5 km), with artillery placed that would allow enfilade fire on any attacking force. There was only one major weakness in Lee's line—an exposed salient known as the "Mule Shoe" extending more than a mile (1.6 km) in front of the main trench line. Lee recognized this weakness during the fighting of May 10, when twelve Union regiments under the command of Col. Emory Upton followed up a concentrated, intense artillery attack by slamming into the toe of the Mule Shoe along a narrow front. They actually broke the Confederate line, and the Second Corps had a hard time driving them out. Upton's attack won him a promotion on the spot to brigadier general, and it became a staple of military textbooks on how to break an enemy trench line. Similar tactics were used by Germany in Operation Michael, its successful March 1918 offensive during World War I.

Seeing the danger, Lee began to lay out a new defensive line across the heel of the Mule Shoe that night, but before he could get it finished, Grant sent his entire II Corps of 15,000 men, commanded by Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, to attack the position in the same manner Upton had. This time, the breach in the Confederate line was complete, thanks in large part to an order from Lee that had already pulled much of the Confederate artillery back to the new line. The II Corps took close to 4,000 prisoners and probably would have cut the Army of Northern Virginia in half if the IX Corps (Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside), supporting it with an assault on the Confederate right flank, had pushed its attacks home with force. Instead, Lee was able to shift thousands of his men to meet the threat. Because of ineffective leadership displayed by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, Lee felt compelled to personally lead Second Corps soldiers in the counterattack. His men realized the danger this would pose and refused to advance until Lee removed himself to a safer position in the rear. The battle in the Mule Shoe lasted for an entire day and night, as the Confederates slowly won back all the ground they had lost, inflicting heavy losses on the II Corps and the reinforcing VI Corps in the process. The angle between the II and VI Corps became known as the "Bloody Angle of Spotsylvania," where perhaps some of the most savage fighting of the whole Civil War took place. Whereas bayonet battles usually are very short, at the Bloody Angle, Union and Confederate troops fought with bayonets for hours in the same trenches.

By 3 a.m. on May 13, just as the Confederates had completed expelling the II Corps from the Mule Shoe, the new line was ready, and Lee had his battered men retire behind it. More than 10,000 men fell in the Mule Shoe, which passed to the Union forces without a fight. On May 18, Grant sent two of his corps to attack the new line, but they were met with a bloody repulse. That convinced Grant, who had vowed to "fight it out on this line if it takes all summer," that Lee's men could not be dislodged from their Spotsylvania line.

Grant, checked by Lee for a second time, responded as he had two weeks earlier. He shifted the weight of his army to the right flank and again moved to the southeast along roads Lee was unable to block. By May 20–May 21, the two armies were on their way to take positions along the North Anna River, another dozen miles closer to Richmond.

Aftermath:

Once again, Lee's tactics had inflicted severe casualties on Grant's army. This time, the toll was over 18,000 men, of which close to 3,000 were killed. In two weeks of fighting, Grant had lost 35,000 men, and another 20,000 went home when their enlistments ended. In fact, Grant at one point on the North Anna had fewer than 65,000 effectives. But Lee did not come out of these battles unscathed, either. At Spotsylvania, he lost another 10–13,000 men, and the Confederates had to pull men away from other fronts to reinforce him. Making matters worse, the army was taking heavy losses among its veteran units and its best officers. This may have saved Grant from a disaster on the North Anna, when his decimated army was positioned badly and was ripe to be attacked. Lee never did, because the Army of Northern Virginia was unable to do so. In fact, Lee's army would never regain the initiative it lost in those two weeks of May 1864.

Estimates vary as to the casualties at Spotsylvania Court House. ...

Portions of the Spotsylvania Court House battlefield are now preserved as part of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
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