| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — The Battle of Spotsylvania Spotsylvania Exhibit Shelter West Wall |
| | "Nothing in history equals this contest. Desperate, long and deadly, it still goes on. From morn till night, nor ends the carnage there -- all night it goes on too. I cannot tell you any of the particulars. You could not understand it. I do not understand it myself. I doubt if any one does... Who's able to describe these terrific cannonades, tearing men, animals, and the earth and the woods, the fierce charge and shout, the panic and stampede. The crush of horses, vehicles, and men [in] . . . — Map (db m10708) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — A Different Kind of War Spotsylvania Exhibit Shelter South Wall |
| | A Different Kind of War With the 1864 Overland Campaign, the war in Virginia changed. The old pattern of fight, retreat, and rest yielded to Ulysses S. Grant's relentless maneuvering and fighting. Attacked in superior force by an incessant foe, Southern troops protected themselves behind stout earth-and-log defenses. Union efforts to drive them from those works led to some of the most desperate combat in American history. The Race to Spotsylvania The Army of the Potomac crossed the . . . — Map (db m10716) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Testing the Line: May 8-10 Spotsylvania Exhibit Shelter West Wall |
| | If It Takes All Summer Grant's failure to win the race to Spotsylvania led to two weeks of brutal combat. Aggressive and impatient, the Union commander relentlessly hammered away at the entrenched Confederate line, looking for weakness. Laurel Hill Less well known than the fighting at the Bloody Angle but no less costly, the combat at Laurel Hill produced upwards of 5,000 casualties. On three different days - May 8, 10, and 12 - Union troops charged across the fields surrounding Sarah . . . — Map (db m10735) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Grant Finds an Opening: May 12 Spotsylvania Exhibit Shelter West Wall |
| | Assault on the Muleshoe Emory Upton's success on May 10 prompted Grant to repeat the attack on a much larger scale. This time the target of the assault was the Muleshoe Salient, a huge outward bulge in the center of the Confederate line. If Grant could break through at the Muleshoe, he would cut Lee's army in two and possibly destroy it. "Every Confederate realized the desperate situation and every Union soldier knew what was involved. For a time, every soldier was a fiend. The attack . . . — Map (db m10736) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — No Turning Back Spotsylvania Exhibit Shelter North Wall |
| | No Turning Back Defeated but undeterred, Grant abandoned Spotsylvania's blood-soaked fields on May 21 and continued south -- toward Richmond and ultimate victory. In his wake he left a scarred landscape pitted with thousands of graves.
An Awful Arithmetic If considered as one engagement, the fighting at Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House constitutes the bloodiest single battle in American history. Some 36,000 Union soldiers and 24,000 Confederates were killed, wounded, captured, . . . — Map (db m10740) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Spotsylvania Campaign |
| | May 8, 1864. Here began the second delay on Grant's bloody road to Richmond. Having failed to crush Lee in the Wilderness, the Federals attempted to outflank the Confederates by way of Spotsylvania Court House. After a hard night's march, harassed by cavalry, the vanguard of Warren's V Corps reached this point about 8 a.m., only to meet a deadly musketry fire. Longstreet's Corps (now under Anderson) had won the "race" to Spotsylvania! Both sides dug in. Here on May 9 "Uncle John" Sedgwick, . . . — Map (db m10199) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Spotsylvania Campaign |
| | May 9-14, 1864. The village of Spotsylvania Court House, two miles farther down the Brock Road, became of utmost temporary importance, since it now protected Lee's communications with Richmond. As the Confederates threw up earthworks around the village, the Federals threatened the western defenses from this area. The Federal right was first held by Hancock's II Corps. Next in line came Warren's V Corps, and then Wright's (formerly Sedgwick's) VI. The flanks of Warren and Wright joined here at . . . — Map (db m10205) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Sedgwick |
| | (North face): Erected to commemorate this spot where Maj Genl John Sedgwick, U.S. Vols. Commanding Sixth Army Corps was killed in action on the morning of the 9th of May 1864.
(East face): A tribute to a beloved Commander by the survivors of his Corps and their friends.
(South face): Dedicated May 12th, 1887, the 23rd Anniversary of the heaviest days of fighting at Spotsylvania.
(West face): Genl. John Sedgwick
Born Cornwall, Litchfield Co., Conn. . . . — Map (db m3694) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — The Death of Sedgwick |
| | Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, commander of the Sixth Corps, was one of the most popular senior officers in the Army of the Potomac. On the morning of May 9, 1864, Sedgwick arrived here to direct some minor redeployment of his troops. Ignoring warnings from his chief-of-staff, Sedgwick stalked about admonishing his men to cease worrying about the occasional fire of Confederate sharpshooters concealed in the woodline far to your front. “I am ashamed of you, dodging that way,” scolded . . . — Map (db m3692) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Spotsylvania Campaign |
| | Union Gen. G.K. Warren's V Corps occupied this line in the early phases of the Spotsylvania operations. Despite hard fighting, Warren could not break the Confederate line on this front. During the dark and rainy night of May 13, 1864, the V Corps sloshed to the far left of the Federal position, beyond the Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania Road. Grant was continuing his sidestepping tactics. — Map (db m10213) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — The Spindle House |
| | A large frame house belonging to Sarah Spindle stood here in 1864. The opening engagement of the Spotsylvania Campaign swirled across the Spindle Farm on the morning of May 8 as Union troops dashed through these open fields toward the Confederate battle line ahead in the woods. A Federal soldier from the Maryland Brigade described the scene on this ridge: "The enemy opened with shell, followed by canister and then double canister from the cross fire guns on their right. Their fire increased in . . . — Map (db m10252) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Spindle House The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House |
| | Many Spotsylvania families lost property during the war, but Sarah Spindle nearly lost her life. The 36-year-old widow and her family had just sat down to breakfast on May 8, 1864, when the popping of rifles announced the presence of hostile troops. Confederate soldiers started digging protective earthworks on one side of the farm (in front of you). Minutes later Union infantry appeared on the other side of the farm, behind you. They soon charged into Mrs. Spindle's yard and orchard. Fighting . . . — Map (db m10253) |
| Virginia (Spotsylvania County), Spotsylvania — Maryland Monument |
| | Judge Charles E. Phelps of the Maryland Court of Appeals erected this granite monument shortly after the turn of the century. On May 8, 1864, Phelps, then colonel of the 7th Maryland, helped lead the headlong charge of the Maryland Brigade across these open fields west of the Brock Road. Confederate infantry and artillery concealed parallel to the existing road on your left, shattered the Federal attack. Phelps fell wounded near this spot, which marks the Union highwater point during the opening battle at Spotsylvania. — Map (db m10255) |
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