|
Field Trip #2: Spotsylvania
Battlefield
Photos by Michael Aubrecht (10/06)
Information source: NPS
|
MENU
PAGE
The Battle of
Spotsylvania, sometimes referred to as "The
Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse," was the second
engagement in U.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 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
Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George
G. Meade. Taking place less than a week after the
bloody, inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness, the
Battle at Spotsylvania Courthouse pitted 52,000
Confederate soldiers against a Union army numbering
100,000. Below are some of the key spots that are
located on the battlefield and at the nearby
Confederate Cemetery. For more information, visit
NPS Fredericksburg.
|
Spotsylvania
Battlefield
The engagement that took
place at Spotsylvania Court House featured
some of the most ferocious and desperate
combat of the entire War Between the
States. After several days of sporadic
fighting, both sides came to a grinding
halt at the "Bloody Angle," where they
fought for over 20 hours in a terrible
downpour of rain and constant small arms
fire.
|
|
15th New Jersey Monument
This stone monument
located at the Bloody Angle testifies to
the enduring courage and bravery that was
sustained for over 20 hours by the 15th
Regt. NJ Volunteers, who participated in
the longest single engagement of the Civil
War. In the midst of a major rainstorm,
men were engaged in hand-to-hand and so
close in fight that not even darkness put
an end to it.
|
|
Bloody Angle
Here, throughout the
afternoon and well into the night, Yankee
and Rebel fought each other with
relentless determination. Nearby, a
22-inch oak tree, whittled in two by the
incessant musket and artillery fire, gave
testimony to the tenacity of both sides.
Its terrible slaughter seemed to signal a
shift in both the Northern and Southern
force's perception of the war.
|
|
The Mule Shoe
On May 8th, Confederate
Gen. Edward "Old Alleghany" Johnson's
division built this outer line of
entrenchments. These low earthen mounds
are all that remain of the original works.
During the battle however, these trenches
stood shoulder high, were reinforced with
logs, and had walls running back from the
main line every 20 feet.
|
|
General John
Sedgwick
General John Sedgwick was
one of the Army of the Potomac's
best-loved commanders. A monument to this
fallen general stands at the main entrance
to the National Park at Spotsylvania.
Ironically, he was killed by a sniper's
bullet moments after telling his men,
"They couldn't hit an elephant at this
distance."
|
|
Lee's Line and
Earthworks
Near the center of Robert
E. Lee's final line stood a heavily
fortified area. It contained some of the
most extensive earthworks and heavy cover
yet constructed by his engineers. By 1864,
soldiers on both sides had become experts
in the building of field fortifications,
which played a vital role in the outcome
of the conflict.
|
|
Confederate
Cemetery
When the Civil War ended,
hundreds of Confederate sons lay in
crudely marked graves scattered over the
four nearby battlefields. Local women
concerned about these unattended plots
formed a charity group called the
Spotsylvania Memorial Association. In
1866, they established a Confederate
Cemetery on five acres near the Court
House.
|
|
C.S.A. Soldier
Monument
More than 600 soldiers lie
buried amid the quiet and peaceful
surroundings of Spotsylvania's Confederate
Cemetery. In the center of the plot stands
a tall granite shaft, crowned by a lone
sentry who silently watches over the dead.
A dedication to his southern comrades is
inscribed on one side with the saying
"Lest We Forget" on the other.
|
|
Jeff Davis
Legion
An elite group of
cavalrymen known as the "Jeff Davis
Legion" fought bravely at The Battle of
Spotsylvania Court House. They were
comprised of three squadrons: five Alabama
companies, three Mississippi companies,
and two Georgia companies. Several of
their fallen comrades are buried here in
the Spotsy Confederate Cemetery.
|
|
|
|