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Fight for the Bloody Angle
All the fury and horror of three years of war found expression on May 12, 1864, at the "Bloody Angle." Soaked by a steady rain, the two armies battled all day and into the night, just yards apart at the apex of the Mule Shoe Salient. The Confederates stood in water-filled trenches. Union troops found what cover they could in little folds or dips in the ground.
Time and again, Union soldiers rose to charge. Men struck with rifle butts, bayonets, their fists, and even hatchets. Bullets swept the landscape, cutting down a 22-inch thick oak tree. Until 3am the next morning -- for 20 hours -- it continued, turning the landscape into a bloody mire. |