Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (May 8 - 21, 1864)

History.com ^ | May 21, 2020 | History.com Staff

[NohSpinZone]

In May 1864, Confederate forces clashed with the advancing Union Army in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, which lasted for the better part of two weeks and included some of the bloodiest fighting of the Civil War. After an indecisive battle in the dense Virginia woods known as the Wilderness ended on May 7, Union General Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac marched southward, meeting Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia once again at the crossroads town of Spotsylvania Court House the next day. Over the 12 days that followed, Union troops briefly broke the Confederate line, but the rebels managed to close the gap and hold their ground.

The battle, which cost 18,000 Union and 11,000 Confederate casualties, included nearly 20 hours of brutal hand-to-hand combat at the infamous “Bloody Angle,” a section of the Confederate salient, on May 12-13. On May 21, Grant disengaged his troops and ordered them to continue their march south toward the Confederate capital of Richmond.

[NohSpinZone]

I have started "Bloody Spring", a book about the 40 days of the Overland Campaign that sealed the fate of the rebels and clinched reelection for President Lincoln later that year.

May 8 began the battle for Spotsylvania Court House, one of three meat-grinding battles between Grant's Army of the Potomac and Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

I am sure there are many Civil War buffs here. I'd appreciate any additional facts and insights you are willing to share about this battle and the Overland Campaign in general. Thank you.

[Fiji Hill]

I visited the battlefield in 1981 when I attended President Reagan’s inauguration. It gave me an eerie feeling to stand right where hand-to-hand combat was going on during the battle—and no one else was around, since it was not the tourist season. Incidentally, there is still a courthouse near the site.

[rockrr]

Don’t you keep a WBTS ping list? This may be of interest.

[newfreep]

The title remonded me of this Steven Wright quote...

“I had a dog named Spot but I spilled spot remover on him and now I can’t find him”

[NohSpinZone]

Wow! Visiting the major Civil War battle sites is definitely on my bucket list!

[Pikachu_Dad]

I am afraid that is a very spotty history.

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[DoodleDawg]

Gordon Rhea probably did the definitive history of the Overland Campaign in his five book series.

[NohSpinZone]

Oh, good tip. Thank you. I’m hooked. I want to know more.

[major_gaff]

I read Rhea’s ‘Battle of the Wilderness’ when it came out...it is excellent...I will have to pick up the others.

[imardmd1]

Try Cold Harbor. In the woods.

[major_gaff]

" clinched reelection for President Lincoln later that year."

If anything the Overland Campaign hurt Lincoln because of the casualties
that Grant took...The taking of Atlanta by Sherman was what clinched it
for Abe.

[Lurkinanloomin]

I live in the middle of all the battlefields in VA and they are worth visiting.
I have donated to American Battlefield Trust since they were the Civil War Preservation Trust, many years, to preserve more of that hallowed ground.

There is a picture at the battle field at Spotsylvania of the tree that was shot in half at “Bloody Angle”, the tree itself is in the Smithsonian.

[wardaddy]

You live where I grew up and have lived mostly when in America and I’ve been surrounded with it

Jackson Miss

Grand Gulf and Rodney Mississippi

Our deer camp on Steele Bayou

Port Hudson and Bruinsburg Louisiana

Clinton Mississippi

Oxford Mississippi

Shys Hill Nashville ....literally......on Comptons farm

Woodlawn and Belle Meade plantation lands in west Nashville near the CSA western flank

Stones River....Murfreesboro Tn

I live now on ten acres precisely 1000 yards southeast of Winstead hill.....Hoods HQ ...for battle of Franklin

My road was traversed a lot

Harrison a house where Cleburne was lain later is 500 yards northwest

Carnton of the Widown of the South....McGavock fame and the five CSA flag officers bodies on the porch....

My grandpas horse farm west of Jackson Miss on the Jackson Clinton blvd was full of artifacts

My cad was at VMI and we were there a lot and that place was huge that way....folks like the south haters here on this forum have ruined it

I’ve been immersed in WBTS culture all my life except Manhattan and overseas.....in NYC environs it was more revolutionary war which is fascinating too”

[NohSpinZone]

You’re right. Atlanta and capture of Mobile under Farragut clinched it.

[NohSpinZone]

Fantastic! Thank you for sharing.

[NohSpinZone]

Thank you for helping preserve our history. I pray the cancel culture idiots don’t ruin this too.

[wardaddy]

Shiloh is my favorite

I’ve seen Glorieta Pass too for obscure ones

Pea Ridge another fairly unknown

My worldwide favorite battle sites I’ve seen

Hastings

Culloden

Parts of Normandy

Little Big Horn

Boyaca near Tunja Colombia major Andes battle

[PGR88]

It gave me an eerie feeling to stand right where hand-to-hand combat was going on during the battle—and no one else was around,

I explored the battlefield at Shiloh and had the same experience. It was late spring, the weather was calm and warm, the flowers and trees were beautiful and there wasn't another soul around. It was like a Garden of Eden - except knowing what took place in that exact spot.

[Gnome1949]

My great great grandfather fought at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. He was nearly killed by an exploding cannon shell near his head. He served in the 7th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry (Union). His unit was at the “Bloody Angle” during which the battle raged all night in the pouring rain. Musket fire was so intense, it cut down an entire stand of trees behind the Confederate lines. Men were fighting hand to hand and were dying in such numbers, others stood atop their bodies while fighting in the mud.