| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — The Harrison House The Battle of Spotsylvania Court 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 . . . — Map (db m10424) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Lee to the Rear! The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House |
| | 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 . . . — Map (db m10426) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Spotsylvania Campaign |
| | May 11-12, 1864. About two hundred yards southward stood the Harrison House where Lee gave his momentous order to Ewell, on the evening of May 11, to remove the artillery from the Salient. Lee pitched his tent in the Harrison House vicinity. Early the next morning, riding forward through the wet and misty woodland toward the rattle of infantry fire, he learned of the break in his lines. The final line across the Salient, to which the Confederates retreated on May 13, ran just behind the Harrison House. — Map (db m14684) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Harrison House Site |
| | This post-war photograph of the Harrison House and farm was taken from the northwest not far from where the trail crossed the paved road. Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, commanding the Confederates defending the salient, made his headquarters here on the evening of May 11. He conferred with Lee whose tent was pitched in the nearby yard and both officers rode forward from this vicinity when the fighting erupted at the Bloody Angle. — Map (db m10284) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Lee's Last Line |
| | These well-preserved earthworks which run east and west through the woods are the remains of the defensive position constructed during the fighting at the Bloody Angle. Major General Martin Luther Smith, Lee's chief engineer and designer of the Confederate defenses at New Orleans and Vicksburg, made this line virtually impregnable. The apex of the original Mule Shoe salient is approximately 1,250 yards north of this point. Please help protect these features by walking on the trail and not on the earthworks. — Map (db m10283) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Spotsylvania Campaign |
| | May 12-13, 1864. This line of earthworks, the remains of which run eastward through the woodland, was built across the base of the Confederate "Mule Shoe" during the Federal attacks against the Salient. As the weary Confederates held their enemies at bay there, Lee's engineers threw dirt and felled trees here in desperate haste, constructing the haven to which the embattled troops retreated early on May 13. This line, partly facing open ground at that time and protected by extensive slashings, . . . — Map (db m10278) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Spotsylvania Campaign |
| | May 18, 1864. About dawn, Hancock's and Wright's Corps advanced southward past the McCoull House and attacked Ewell's Corps which was holding the new line. They hoped to repeat the Federal success of May 12. This time, however, Confederate cannon were ready and blasted the attack, throwing the Federal troops back in great confusion. Grant realized that Lee could neither be flanked or routed on this battlefield. He resolved once more to maneuver and soon moved east and south toward Richmond. As . . . — Map (db m10279) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Grant's May 18th Attack The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House |
| | Following the fight for the "Bloody Angle," Lee constructed this new line of works across the base of the Muleshoe. Unwilling to attack the Confederates in their new position, Grant shifted east toward the Fredericksburg Road (modern Route 208). When Lee withdrew troops from Laurel Hill to counter this move, Grant sent Hancock's and Wright's corps back to the Muleshoe in hopes of catching the Confederates out of their trenches. The ploy failed. Ewell's corps had not yet abandoned this portion . . . — Map (db m10281) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Civil War Earthworks Preservation Message |
| | The gentle mounds that meander through Spotsylvania Court House battlefield once looked like the reconstructed earthwork in front of you. The armies built more than 12 miles of trenches here, using whatever tools they could find. Lee's last line, extending off to your right and left, was completed May 12, while fighting ranged at the Bloody Angle, a mile ahead of you. You can see original works on either side of the reconstruction. Spotsylvania's earthworks illustrate the changing nature of . . . — Map (db m10282) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — 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 . . . — Map (db m10286) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Mayhem in the Muleshoe The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House |
| | Surrounded on all sides by low ridge lines, Neil MccCoull'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 . . . — Map (db m10289) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — The McCoull House The Battle of Spotsylvania Court 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 . . . — Map (db m10290) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — McCoull Spring |
| | This spring has always been important to the McCoull family but on May 12, 1864 it became a vital source of rejuvenation to hundreds of Confederates involved in the fighting at the Bloody Angle. Colonel Charles S. Venable, an aide-de-camp to Lee, remembered seeing Gen. Robert E. Rodes "near the famous spring" ordering fresh troops into the struggle at the salient. The concrete cap and modern pipe were added when the Civilian Conservation Corps used this area for a camp in the 1930's. This is no . . . — Map (db m10291) |
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