The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
May 8-21, 1864

Few outside the Union high command knew it, but the just completed Wilderness Campaign had ushered in a new era of warfare between the North (Army of the Potomac) and the South's (Army of Northern Virginia) premier armies. Heretofore, whenever these two powerful adversaries had engaged in a particularly sanguinary confrontation, one or the other (more often the Army of the Potomac) retired, usually in good order, to assess the inflicted damage, to refit and reorganize its fighting units, and to plan for the next strategic advance. Union commander LTG Ulysses S. Grant had been used to hard-fought successes in the West followed by southern retreats. Confederate commander GEN Robert E. Lee was used to decisive victories in the East followed by Federal withdrawals. But now a new northern resolve changed all that! Despite heavy casualties, Grant exited the Virginia Wilderness (night of 7-8 May) and marched southeast (not north to the relative safety beyond the Rappahannock River) towards the small crossroads village of Spotsylvania Court House, 12 miles away. Grant hoped that his night time flanking movement in the general direction of Richmond would cause Lee to give up his fortifications in the Wilderness, and either offer battle in the open countryside or retreat in the defense of the Confederate capital. Lee was not fooled, however, by the rapid Federal movement, and by morning (8 May) two divisions of MG Richard H. "Fighting Dick" Anderson's I Corps (Anderson replaced the wounded Longstreet after the Wilderness) had arrived in the Spotsylvania area first. At the end of the day's fighting both sides had established roughly parallel entrenchments across Brock Road northwest of the Court House. During the next day (9 May) additional units arrived, skirmishing continued, and the Union lost a very competent corps commander, MG John Sedgwick (BG Horatio G. Wright now led the VI Corp). Near the center of Lee's bristling line a salient protruded about a half mile on higher ground to the north. Irregular in shape, this heavily fortified area was called the "Mule Shoe". It contained the most extensive earthworks and heavy abatis (a line of felled trees with sharpened branches facing the enemy) yet constructed by Lee's engineers. Large scale combat began on 10 May when the Federal V Corps (MG Gouverneur K. Warren, commanding) and elements of the II Corps (MG Winfield S. Hancock, commanding) launched piecemeal frontal assaults along a mile wide front against the left-center of the Confederate breastworks (I Corps - MG Richard H. Anderson, commanding). These methodical assaults failed; however, late in the day Union COL Emory Upton, a brigade commander in Wright's VI Corps, directed an astonishing charge of 12 veteran infantry regiments against the Mule Shoe Salient. Upton arranged his troops in four compact ranks, and they hammered a narrow front on the western face of the salient. The shocking, concentrated blow breached the elaborate, well-fortified defenses of the II Corps (LTG Richard S. Ewell, commanding) and by force of numbers opened a gap. But the Union division designated to exploit the breakthrough came under heavy artillery fire and the assault withered. Although his charge was not sustained, Upton won the lasting admiration of Grant and a battlefield promotion to Brigadier General for his initiative. He also inspired a second, much larger attack two days later. In the early morning rain and fog of 12 May, a massive formation of Union infantry (20,000+ men, including the entire II Corps and later several brigades of the VI Corps) was hurled against the north face of the salient. The Mule Shoe's defenses had been weakened by the earlier transfer of several artillery batteries, and the mighty Federal surge penetrated the earthworks and continued on for nearly half a mile. Over 3,000 Confederates and 20 cannon of Ewell's II Corps were captured before the attackers were driven back to the perimeter by reserve forces. Some of the most frenzied hand-to-hand fighting of the entire War raged on all day in and around the confined apex of the Mule Shoe. After 6 AM extremely intense close-quarters combat broke-out between infantry of the Union VI Corps and the Confederate II Corps at a sharp turn in the defensive works on the salient's western face. Amidst rain and mud the ferocious struggle went on past midnight in the small area known thereafter as the "Bloody Angle of Spotsylvania." Elsewhere that terrible day, Federal V and IX Corps (MG Ambrose E. Burnside, commanding) assaults opposite the Confederate left and right were thrown back. And it was long after nightfall, in the early morning darkness of 13 May (nearly 23 hours after the initial attack), when the exhausted Confederates ended one of the most horrific actions of the War by vacating the Bloody Angle. They then withdrew to a new, hastily constructed defensive line half a mile to the rear at the base of the Mule Shoe. In the days after the battle for the salient Grant shifted forces to the south and east near the Fredericksburg Road. Now the two great armies reestablished lines and tried to recover from the dreadful pounding each had incurred since the opening of the Wilderness Campaign only a few days earlier. Several more Union assaults were made on 18 May, and the Confederates probed the reinforced Federal right on 19 May - all to no avail. The series of battles around the country crossroads of Spotsylvania Court House had mercifully come to an end. By 21 May both armies were on the move again as Lee shadowed the Army of the Potomac's march south toward the North Anna River, and ever closer to Richmond. On 11 May, the day before the Bloody Angle, Grant had sent a dispatch to his chief of staff MG Henry Halleck in Washington: "...I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all Summer." This soon to be famous quote found its way to the front pages of many northern newspapers - but although it was the last summer of the War, nearly another year would go by before it was all over! Estimated Casualties: Union - 17,500+; Confederate - 10,000.

Notes:

  1. Numbers in parentheses reflect estimated strength of armies or units.

  2. Estimated casualty figures are totals for killed, wounded, missing in action, and taken prisoner.

  3. Alternative names of battles and campaigns appear in parentheses.

  4. Military and naval rank abbreviations in text: LT - Lieutenant, CPT - Captain, MAJ - Major, LTC - Lieutenant Colonel, CDR - Commander (Navy), COL - Colonel, BG - Brigadier General, MG - Major General, RADM - Rear Admiral (Navy), LTG - Lieutenant General, VADM - Vice Admiral (Navy), and GEN - General.

  5. Army Organization: Although authorized and actual strength and the rank of the commanding officer often varied, the standard military unit during the War was the infantry regiment (1,000 men, COL commanding) which was comprised of 10 companies (100 men each, CPT commanding). 3-4 Regiments = 1 Brigade (3,000-4000 men, BG commanding). 3 (sometimes 4) Brigades = 1 Division (9000-12,000 men, BG or MG commanding). 2-4 (usually 3) Divisions = 1 Corps (18,000-24,000+ men, MG - North and MG or LTG -South commanding). 2 or more Corps = An Army (usually 20,000-100,000+ men - MG, LTG, or GEN commanding). 2 or more Armies = An Army Group (usually 100,000+ men - MG, LTG, or GEN commanding).

Sources:

Photographs courtesy of The Generals of the American Civil War Website.

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