Known for many years as "Old Wilderness Tavern," the frame building at your left of this view, was a dependency of a by-gone complex. The site of the main structure is located by the brick ruins to the right of the picture, taken about 1865. In the . . . — — Map (db m7500) HM
Before the Wilderness, battlefield stalemate meant retreat by one side or the other - a return to the starting point to try again another day. But not here. Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant rendered stalemate in the Wilderness irrelevant. . . . — — Map (db m4967) HM
In December 1862 the Wellford family fled Fredericksburg to escape the ravages of battle. Five months later war found them again - here, in a commodious brick home that stood in the field in front of you. On April 30, Union troops arrived. "About . . . — — Map (db m3919) HM
After the May 3, 1863, fighting at Chancellorsville, the Confederates gathered up 500 wounded Union soldiers and brought them here to Fairview. For more than a week the helpless men lay in the yard around the house, receiving little medical care, . . . — — Map (db m3640) HM
Spotsylvania County Post Mistress, Alice Coleman donated this small white building to Zion. It had previously served as the County Post Office. The building was located across the street from today's Pendleton's Hardware Store. It was moved to . . . — — Map (db m148369) HM
Spotsylvania County Post Mistress, Alice Coleman donated this small white building to Zion. It had previously served as the County Post Office. The building was located across the street from today's Pendleton's Hardware Store. It was moved to . . . — — Map (db m216686) HM
Nearby stood Penny’s (Penney’s) Tavern, named for Lincefield Penney who purchased the site in 1811. The tavern catered to travelers making their way to the old Spotsylvania courthouse site (1781–1837), located approximately one mile north of the . . . — — Map (db m65082) HM
That evening, as the fighting subsided, Confederate officers reassembled their commands in the clearing surrounding Wilderness Church, one-half mile in front of you. The attack had taken a heavy toll on the army's organization. Units had become . . . — — Map (db m3938) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10286) HM WM
On May 2, 1863, as the tail end of Stonewall Jackson's flanking column neared the Wellford place, Union infantry launched an attack. They struck Jackson's rearguard (the 23rd Georgia) a half-mile to the north, at Catharine Furnace. From there, they . . . — — Map (db m11432) HM
The rafters in the interior of the church still reflect the damage from the battle.
"The 11th was passed in comparative quiet, with the exception of our usual salutation from the enemy attacks. They made daily practice on . . . — — Map (db m148421) HM
Samuel Alsop Jr., was born in 1776 in Caroline County, the son of Samuel Alsop. He was a plantation owner and planter, slave owner land speculator, and to a limited extend, slave trader. Alsop operated his growing business empire from the area . . . — — Map (db m148388) HM
The Spotsylvania Sunday School Union (SSSU) was formed in 1905 by 12 African American Baptist churches for the purpose of promoting education past the 7th grade for their children. Initially they helped the growth of the Fredericksburg Normal & . . . — — Map (db m220059) HM
(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 . . . — — Map (db m195808) HM WM
Union heavy artillery regiments serving as infantry shouldered the brunt of the fighting at Harris Farm. The "Heavies," as the members of the heavy artillery units were called, had been pulled from forts protecting Washington, D.C., to make up for . . . — — Map (db m81309) HM
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of honor to Sergeant Benjamin Brown, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 11 May 1889, while serving with Company C, 24th . . . — — Map (db m84597) HM
In 19th century America, most people followed strict Biblical teachings. God's fourth Commandment to keep the Sabbath Holy was no exception. On any given Sunday morning it was normal to see small and large churches alike filled to their capacity. . . . — — Map (db m148368) HM
In 19th century America, most people followed strict Biblical teachings. God's fourth Commandment to keep the Sabbath Holy was no exception. On any given Sunday morning it was normal to see small and large churches alike filled to their capacity. . . . — — Map (db m216655) HM
Spotsylvania is situated almost directly in the middle of a gold-pyrite belt that runs 140 miles through 12 counties from Fairfax to Buckingham. At least six major mines operated in the county, some as early as 1804. Those mines were the Mitchell . . . — — Map (db m84592) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10253) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10199) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10205) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10213) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10278) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10279) HM
May 10, 1864. Here along the west face of the Confederate Salient, or "Mule Shoe," Dole's Brigade of Ewell's II Corps had been alert all afternoon. At 6 p.m., when Federal cannonading ceased, it seemed the day would end quietly. Then Upton's . . . — — Map (db m10295) HM
May 10,1864. After a day of sporadic fighting, the Federal high command sent Col. Emory Upton and twelve picked regiments of the VI Corps to strike the west face of the Confederate Salient. Starting in this vicinity near the Scott (Shelton) House . . . — — Map (db m10302) HM
This road leads to the Landram House ruin. In the days of the Civil War it was a small whitewashed dwelling built of squared logs and heated by stone-chimneyed fireplaces. From similar modest homesteads, North and South, had spring Abraham Lincoln . . . — — Map (db m10309) HM
May 12, 1864. Union commanders Grant and Meade determined to exploit the Confederate "Mule Shoe." Early in the morning they sent Hancock's II Corps against the apex of the Salient (300 yards east). Hancock took the trenches on either side of the . . . — — Map (db m10310) HM
May 12, 1864. About 6 a.m. Wright's VI Corps advancing to support Hancock's attack occupied the area in front of the Confederate works on the west face of the Salient. Here at a slight bend in the line, the area ever after known as the Bloody Angle, . . . — — Map (db m10311) HM
May 12, 1864. About 4:30 a.m. Hancock's Federal II Corps, in one of the greatest surprise attacks of the War, struck Ewell's Confederate Corps entrenched here. Advancing in a solid rectangular mass, the Federal troops overwhelmed the defenders. The . . . — — Map (db m10397) HM
May 12, 1864. In the large scale attack of this day, Warren's V Corps on the Federal right and Burnside's IX on the left engaged the Confederate forces facing them while Wright's VI moved to help Hancock. The seriousness of Lee's counterattack . . . — — Map (db m10403) HM
May 12, 1864. From this point the trenches of the Confederate Salient run southward. This road continues westward along a secondary line which was held by Gordon's Division. Gordon's line tied into the east face of the Salient here, where Ewell's . . . — — Map (db m10427) HM
May 12, 1864. Burnside's IX Corps, having swung east in its march from the Wilderness, engaged the Confederates by way of the Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania Road and held the Federal left in this area. On the morning of May 12 Burnside was ordered to . . . — — Map (db m10429) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m14684) HM
Upton's Attack About 6 p.m. May 10, 1864
A quarter of a mile beyond this point, their bayonets fixed, Upton's lines broke silence with a wild cheer as they burst from the piney woods across a 200-yard clearing to the Confederate trenches. . . . — — Map (db m169921) HM
To honor the men of Spotsylvania County who made the supreme sacrifice that we might be free
World War I
Bartleson, Clayton W. • Brooks, Beverly F. • Byiers, John S. • Carnohan, George T. • Curtis, Morris J. • Hall, Archie Bryant • Hall, . . . — — Map (db m3672) WM
When the Blockhouse Road Courthouse, located 3 miles southwest of here, burned to the ground in 1937, the new Courthouse was built at this intersection of the Fredericksburg and Brock roads on property conveyed from tavern owner, Lewis Rawlings. . . . — — Map (db m3719) HM
At the time of the Civil War, Spotsylvania Court House was a small community of about one dozen buildings surrounded by woods and rolling fields. “It was not a town,” a chaplain in the 126th Pennsylvania noted. “It was composed of just the county . . . — — Map (db m3712) HM
Many of the buildings that comprised the 1864 village of Spotsylvania Court House still stand today. Pamphlets located in the box below will lead you on a 30-minute waling tour of the historic town. — — Map (db m3714) HM
[Marker is a graphic display with captions:]
1. May 8, 1864 - Warren's Union V Corps supports the Cavalry
2. Sheridan's Union Calvary leads the advance during the evening of May 7-8
2. Fitzhugh Lee's Confederate Cavalry contests . . . — — Map (db m149215) HM WM
A formal system of adjudication and punishment has existed in this county since the first court was seated in Germanna in ~1722. Through the years, the County seat and court building moved four times until its final location here at the . . . — — Map (db m73751) HM
Formerly the John J. Wright Parksite, the renamed Spotsylvania Sunday School Union (SSSU) Parksite is an example of long- standing community partnership and involvement. The parksite comprises 10 acres - a portion of 158.5 acres originally owned by . . . — — Map (db m84591) HM
History did not record his name . . . the black member of nearby Mine Road Baptist Church who worked as a coachman for one of the white congregants. He asked whether his fellow black church members who sat obediently in the balcony on Sundays could . . . — — Map (db m84593) HM
Unable to defeat the Confederates at Spotsylvania Court House, on 21 May 1864 Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered the Army of the Potomac to march toward Bowling Green. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s Ninth Corps brought up the rear. Grant ordered . . . — — Map (db m1722) HM
For 22 hours combat raged on the landscape in front of you. Although the fighting extended for half a mile, the battle focused on (and became identified with) a slight bend in the Confederate lines known thereafter as the Bloody Angle. The . . . — — Map (db m66228) HM
The Stubbs School is typical of African-American public schools scattered throughout the county between 1870 and 1952.
This modest one-room school opened in the early 1930s. The building lacked electricity and plumbing. Its only heat source . . . — — Map (db m3711) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10735) HM
3rd Brigade, 1st Div., 12th Corps Held this position from 7 p.m. May 2nd to 9 a.m. May 3rd, 1863. Present for duty 300 Killed 36, Wounded 114 ——— Mustered in Aug. 1861, Mustered out Sept. 1864 Total enrollment 1,101. Killed 172. ——— Brown S. History . . . — — Map (db m159501) HM
Hooker Marches
April 27 - May 1, 1863
In late April 1863, the Union army crossed the Rappahannock River, this time above Fredericksburg. Though outnumbered, Confederate General Robert E. Lee met the Union columns in the woods and fields . . . — — Map (db m171421) HM
From May 8-18, 1864, Union troops battered Gen. Robert E. Lee's lines at Spotsylvania Court House. Unable to defeat the Confederates by direct assault, Union commander Ulysses S. Grant determined to head south, drawing Lee out of his Spotsylvania . . . — — Map (db m9046) HM
"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 . . . — — Map (db m10708) HM
Before dawn on May 12, 1864, 20,000 Union troops of General Winfield Hancock's Second Corps slogged into position at the Brown House, one-half mile to your left, preparatory to making an attack on the Confederate-held Muleshoe Salient. Tired from . . . — — Map (db m52965) HM
On the ridge ahead of you stood the Chewning house, an important landmark on the Wilderness Battlefield. Sixty-nine-year-old William V. Chewning scratched out a living on this 150-acre farm during the war with the help of his wife Permelia and their . . . — — Map (db m7454) HM
The Battle of the Wilderness climaxed here in the twilight of May 6, 1864. After a day of seesaw fighting in the woods behind you, the Confederates mounted a final effort to take the Plank Road-Brock Road intersection, 100 yards to your left. . . . — — Map (db m7529) HM
These modest mounds are all that remain of the Muleshoe Salient’s once-formidable earthworks. Begun by the Confederates on the night of May 8, the works were four feet high, with a two-foot-deep trench. Dirt from the trench was thrown against the . . . — — Map (db m66229) HM
The landscape in front of you bears vivid testimony to the nature of fighting here in May 1864. At Spotsylvania, not only did soldiers build stout dirt and log works to protect them from fire in front, but they also built shorter trenches called . . . — — Map (db m10404) HM
In March of 1909, George W. Perry acquired the corner store. George was born in Spotsylvania in 1857. He was the son of John M. Perry and Martha Virginia Chewning. In 1885, he married Martha Thompkins in Richmond. She died two years later and he . . . — — Map (db m148380) HM
Sedgwick was essentially a soldier. He had never married; the camp was his home, and the members of his staff were his family. He was always spoken of familiarly as “Uncle John,” and the news of his death fell upon his comrades with a sense of . . . — — Map (db m66217) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m181509) HM
As the Great Depression plunged the United States into financial devastation, the Ladies Memorial Association of Spotsylvania dug in their heels and resolved to continue their mission. On February 26, 1929, Congress authorized legislation that the . . . — — Map (db m183694) HM
The target of Jackson's attack was General Oliver O. Howard's Eleventh Corps, which extended for more than a mile along the Orange Turnpike. The Eleventh Corps was relatively new to the Army of the Potomac. Its 11,000 men included a large . . . — — Map (db m3939) HM
The Fredericksburg Road, on your left, was the Army of the Potomac’s main line of supply during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Each day hundreds of wagons lumbered down the road, bringing tons of food, arms, and ammunition to the . . . — — Map (db m66236) HM
The Livingston district at Spotsylvania County had the largest number of one-room schools for African American children in the county before consolidation in the 1950s. As late as the mid 1990s, two of those schools were still standing, albeit . . . — — Map (db m73750) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10424) HM
In front of you is the site of Catherine Tapp's house, a 1.5-story log cabin surrounded by a corn crib, orchard, and stable. Union and Confederate forces swept past the dwelling, and at one point a Union shell passed through it. When Lt. Col. . . . — — Map (db m112326) HM
Fire destroyed the frame Courthouse near the Po River in 1838. Tavern owner Lewis Rawlings and his wife Ann offered 10 acres of land near his tavern on the road to Fredericksburg as a new site and the County quickly accepted. The Commissioners . . . — — Map (db m216698) HM
The rubble of two chimneys is all that remains of Willis Landram's modest farmhouse, a building destroyed in the 1864 battle. The 65-year-old Landram, his wife Lucy, and five other family members chiseled a life of bare essentials from 170 acres. . . . — — Map (db m10325) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10290) HM
One hundred and fifty yards ahead of you is the Bloody Angle, perhaps the most hallowed site on any Civil War battlefield. The Bloody Angle is a small bend in the Confederate works within the much larger Muleshoe Salient, a huge outward bulge in . . . — — Map (db m66222) HM
To support Hancock’s May 12 assault at the East Angle, Grant ordered General Ambrose E. Burnside’s Ninth Corps to attack the Muleshoe Salient here along its eastern face. Shouldering their way through wet woods, Burnside’s men reached this spot . . . — — Map (db m66234) HM
“How well do l remember the night before my first day in school. I remember the night before because my mother washed my little white coat and today l can see it hanging on the line in the kitchen. I had been told that I was . . . — — Map (db m84595) HM
On the 8th of May we had the hardest march of the war….as we neared Spottsylvania the rattling of musketry told us too plainly our day’s trials were not over….
Sergeant James M. Thompson
6th Alabama Infantry
After two days of . . . — — Map (db m66218) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m10252) HM
Thousands of brave Americans were killed on the Civil War battlefields of Spotsylvania county. Seven hundred and fifty soldiers from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi. North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia were . . . — — Map (db m183685) HM
After dark, May 5, 1863, Union soldiers left their trenches and began making their way toward U.S. Ford. A cold rain drenched the soldiers to the skin and turned the woodland roads to mud. At the ford, the Rappahannock River rose five feet in . . . — — Map (db m12858) HM
Upon reaching Chancellorsville on April 30, 1863, General Joseph Hooker deployed the Army of the Potomac in a defensive perimeter around the intersection. General Henry W. Slocum's Twelfth Corps held the center of the Union line. For three days . . . — — Map (db m21931) HM
An entry in the cemetery burial ledger written “Montgomery’s Signal Corps, Heth’s Division” Could Be A Clue To J.R. Montgomery…
Dear Father
This is my last letter to you. I went into battle this evening as courier for Genl. Heth. I have . . . — — Map (db m183686) HM
(Front): In these woods, during the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5 and 6, 1864, Vermont's "Old Brigade" suffered 1,234 casualties while defending the Brock Road and Orange Plank Road intersection. (Back): "The flag of each . . . — — Map (db m7523) HM
The Tapp Farm exemplifies the lifestyle of most Wilderness residents. Catharine Tapp, age 55 in 1860, leased her land from the Lacy family who owned nearby Ellwood. The Widow Tapp shared her modest 1-1/2 story log home with five relatives and a . . . — — Map (db m6090) HM
Known as The Wilderness, the land is comprised of approximately 9,000 acres of rolling fields and dense woods and was the site of what became the first stage of an epic a confrontation between the armies of Ulysses S. Grant and . . . — — Map (db m84598) HM
This site was the location of the third Spotsylvania courthouse. In 1722 the first county court session was held at Germanna (now in Orange County) and a courthouse was built soon after. The court was relocated to Fredericksburg in 1732. In 1778 the . . . — — Map (db m65065) HM
Joseph Sanford, Sr. sold the tavern to Elijah Fisher in 1869 and left the area. A steady stream of owners followed: Jack Shelton (1872), Joseph Bittle (1887), A. B. Rawlings (1890), H. A. Carner (1897), Thomas B. Coleman (1906). A fire in 1909 . . . — — Map (db m148392) HM
After two days on inconclusive fighting in the Wilderness, Union Gen. U.S. Grant determined to push on to Spotsylvania Court House, ten miles south. Possession of the roads near Spotsylvania would give the Army of the Potomac the inside track, . . . — — Map (db m3589) HM
En route to Spotsylvania, Union Gens. U.S. Grant and George Meade halted at Todd’s Tavern, a country inn that once occupied this site. Finding all the beds taken, the generals stretched out to rest on the dirt floor. In the morning, a military band . . . — — Map (db m3590) HM
On May 7, 1864, Union Gen. George Meade ordered his chief of cavalry, Gen. Philip Sheridan, to clear the road to Spotsylvania. Barring the way was a division of Confederate cavalry commanded by Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, posted here at Todd’s Tavern. . . . — — Map (db m3591) HM
The Courthouse continued to be adapted for use over the years. In the 1920's a second addition added to the back to give its current configuration. This addition housed rooms for the judge and jury. By 1927, a court annex had been added next to . . . — — Map (db m216693) HM
Both politicians and the public were extremely war-weary and anxious for the Civil War to end. By summer 1862, President Abraham Lincoln knew that conditions had worsened and that new tactics were necessary to thwart Confederate advances. That new . . . — — Map (db m84596) HM
Early on May 10, 1864, General Gershom Mott's division of 1,500 Union soldiers arrived on this ground and began constructing earthworks amid the harassing fire of Confederate sharpshooters concealed in the timber, just a few hundred yards away. The . . . — — Map (db m52962) HM
Just before 6 p.m. on May 10, 1864, 5,000 Union soldiers led by Colonel Emory Upton—formed in deep masses rather than traditional battle lines—emerged from the woods ahead of you and dashed across this field. They reached the main . . . — — Map (db m66231) HM
By the night of May 8, the Confederate army was in firm possession of Spotsylvania Court House. With Lee entrenching, Grant looked for opportunities to attack. Reports from the front indicated that the Confederates were in force on both their left . . . — — Map (db m66221) HM
Just after noon on May 5, 1864, Union troops raced toward this intersection. With Confederates from General A.P. Hill's corps sweeping down the Orange Plank Road from the west, blue-clad troops under George W. Getty arrived here just moments before . . . — — Map (db m4969) HM
Over a century has elapsed since the destiny of the nation was debated by arms at Spotsylvania. Many physical changes have altered the appearance of the battlefield during these years including the reclamation of old fields and pastures by an . . . — — Map (db m10315) HM
Following its failure to take Laurel Hill on May 8, 1864, General Gouverneur K. Warren's Fifth Corps entrenched here. This crescent-shape work protected two Union cannons. Warren's line extended from the Po River, one mile to your right, to the . . . — — Map (db m72888) HM
Few families of modest means became so famous. In this field lived widow Catherine Tapp, who with other family members eked out an existence from the poor soil. The Tapps occupied a lopsided log cabin about 300 yards in front of you – seven people . . . — — Map (db m6057) HM
May 5, 1864. In the early afternoon, Wadsworth's Division of Warren's Corps hit the right flank of Rodes' Confederate Division near this point. Its left already crippled by Griffin's Division on the Turnpike a mile north, Rodes' line here staggered . . . — — Map (db m7408) HM
May 5, 1864. Since Longstreet's Corps was still on the way from encampment near Gordonsville, Lee began this battle with only two of his three corps. Keeping Ewell on the defensive in the Orange Turnpike sector, he pushed A.P. Hill's Corps eastward . . . — — Map (db m7466) HM
