On Orange Plank Road (County Route 621) at Brock Road (County Route 613), on the right when traveling east on Orange Plank Road.
"We can not dedicate we can not consecrate we can not hallow this ground the brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract." The State of New Jersey merely marks the surrounding twenty . . . — — Map (db m4970) HM
Near Grant Drive, on the left when traveling east.
(Front): 1861-1865 15th Reg't N.J. Vol's. Erected by the State of New Jersey to mark the portion of the Confederate line held by the 14th Georgia Regiment. and assaulted May 12, 1864, by the 15th Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, . . . — — Map (db m115891) HM
Near Grant Drive, on the left when traveling east.
(Front): 49th N.Y. Inf'y 3rd Brig. 2d Div. 6th Corps. Held this position May 12, 1864. (Left):The muffled drums sad roll has beat. The soldiers last tattoo. No more on life's parade shall meet that brave and fallen few. On fame's . . . — — Map (db m10312) HM
On Grant Drive 0.1 miles north of Brock Road (County Route 613), on the left when traveling north.
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, . . . — — Map (db m10716) HM
On Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 208) at Marshall Park Lane, on the right when traveling north on Courthouse Road.
Softball and baseball were played by Spotsylvania’s African American children, teens and young adults in back yards, on church grounds and in open fields. Some, such as Layton Fairchild, Sr. (right), grew up playing baseball and were . . . — — Map (db m84599) HM
On Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 208), on the left when traveling south.
May 12 - 18, 1864, between the armies of Lee and Grant is unmatched for its display of unyielding heroism and devotion to duty and principle. Here thousands of valorous men, fighting with bayonets and clubbed muskets, wrote their imperishable . . . — — Map (db m3665) HM
On Courthouse Bypass (Virginia Route 208) at Courthouse Road (Business Virginia Route 208), on the right when traveling west on Courthouse Bypass.
In 1864, the field in front of you was partially forested. On May 8, Union cavalry galloped across this land to attack Spotsylvania Court House itself but soon came scrambling back in retreat.
At 4:35 A.M. on May 12, while almost 20,000 Union . . . — — Map (db m73749) HM
On Courthouse Bypass (Virginia Route 208) at Courthouse Road (Business Virginia Route 208), on the right when traveling west on Courthouse Bypass.
The ground before you was hotly contested for two full weeks during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. From May 8 to May 21, 1864, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant sought to drive the Confederates from their earthworks and cripple Gen. Robert E. . . . — — Map (db m78955) HM
Near Orange Plank Road (County Route 621) 0.5 miles west of Hill-Ewell Drive, on the right when traveling west.
On the morning of May 6, 1864, Confederate troops of General A.P. Hill's corps flew out of the woods to your left into the Tapp field, some of them in abject panic. They fled the thunderous advance of more than 20,000 Union troops. Wrote one man: . . . — — Map (db m112425) HM
On Jackson Trail East, on the right when traveling south.
Jackson's marching soldiers filled this narrow road from shoulder to shoulder making it slow and tedious work for any mounted officer to pass along the column. One of Stonewall's aides, Captain James Power Smith, attempted to catch up to the General . . . — — Map (db m3920) HM
On Jackson Trail East at Brock Road (County Route 613), on the right when traveling west on Jackson Trail East.
Jackson's most direct route toward the enemy's flank lay in the right turn onto the Brock Road here. Instead of following that route he turned left, or southward, proceeded a quarter of a mile, and then turned right into a parallel woods road. This . . . — — Map (db m3921) HM
On Jackson Trail West, on the right when traveling west.
May 2, 1863. Deluding the enemy was the secret of Jackson's success. Since his troops had been observed from Federal signal stations as they marched across the front of Hooker's army, he turned them south on the Brock Road to create the impression . . . — — Map (db m3927) HM
On Jackson Trail West, on the right when traveling north.
If a balloonist had been high overhead, Jackson's column might have resembled a huge serpent as it wound through the forest. Closer up, it became thousands of marchers in worn battle dress. From this point, they stretched back about six miles to the . . . — — Map (db m3929) HM
On Jackson Trail West, on the right when traveling north.
May 2, 1863. Hour by hour, the long gray columns of Jackson's Corps splashed through the shallow ford here, which was not stone-paved then, stirring the crossing into a mud hole. Before the water of this branch of Poplar Run ran clear again in its . . . — — Map (db m3931) HM
On Jackson Trail West, on the left when traveling north.
"Stonewall" Jackson's way here was a woodland road west of and parallel to the Brock Road. This park trail approximates the old appearance. No tar, asphalt, or cement highway existed in the 1860's. Even the best of that time, the stone turnpikes and . . . — — Map (db m3932) HM
On Jackson Trail West at Brock Road (County Route 613), on the left when traveling north on Jackson Trail West.
May 2, 1863. The head of Jackson's column reached this point about 12:30 p.m. Eight miles away, the rear , under fire of Federal guns, was closing up near the Catharine Furnace. Jackson planned to turn the column right onto the Plank Road (1 mile . . . — — Map (db m3934) HM
On Orange Plank Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling west. Reported permanently removed.
Longstreet’s troops began erecting these infantry entrenchments after fighting on the evening of May 6 and improved them the following day. This was a reserve line, the main Confederate position being a few hundred yards in font of you along modern . . . — — Map (db m6089) HM
Near Courthouse Road (County Route 208), on the right when traveling north.
(Front): Erected and dedicated May 12, 1918, by the Spotsylvania Chapter United Daughters of the Confederacy, Confederated Southern Memorial Association and citizens of Spotsylvania County, to commemorate and perpetuate the valor and . . . — — Map (db m10436) HM
Near Orange Plank Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling west. Reported missing.
A celebrated battlefield episode of the Civil War happened here at the Widow Tapp Field on the morning of May 6, 1864. The Army of Northern Virginia and its commander, R.E. Lee, faced disaster on the Orange Plank Road as a powerful Union attack . . . — — Map (db m112324) HM
On Anderson Drive, on the right when traveling south.
These gentile mounds are all that remain of the formidable earthworks held by George Doles' Georgia Brigade. The trenches running perpendicular to the main line are called traverses and made these works appear like a series of three-sided roofless . . . — — Map (db m10297) HM
On Courthouse Road (Route 208), on the right when traveling south.
Education was the responsibility of parents and churches until after the Civil War. Wealthier families hired tutors or sent their children to private schools. Poor children often learned a trade and received a basic education as apprentices.
In . . . — — Map (db m3710) HM
On Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 208) 0 miles from Bloomsbury Lane (County Route 1470), on the right when traveling south.
On 19 May 1864 Confederate forces commanded by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell attacked Brig. Gen. Robert O. Tyler's heavy artillery division on the Union right flank near the Harris farm, Bloomsbury, about one-quarter mile northwest. Newly arrived from . . . — — Map (db m3656) HM
On Monument Drive at Knob Hill Court, on the right when traveling north on Monument Drive.
In commemoration of the deeds of the First Regiment Heavy Artillery Massachusetts Volunteers (Armed as Infantry) Three hundred and ninety eight of whose members fell within an hour around this spot during an action fought May 13, 1864 Between a . . . — — Map (db m155952) HM
In memory of
Sophia M. Silva 1980 - 1996
Kathryn "Kati" N. Lisk 1984 - 1997
Kristen M. Lisk 1982 - 1997
they were taken from us too soon. — — Map (db m3671) HM
On Grant Drive 0.1 miles north of Brock Road (County Route 613), on the left when traveling north.
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 . . . — — Map (db m10736) HM
Near South Harris Farm Road at Pond View Lane, on the right when traveling south.
(sidebar)
On May 4, 1864, Union Gen. George Meade’s Army of the Potomac crossed the Rappahannock River to engage Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and to destroy it. The attack began the Overland Campaign, part . . . — — Map (db m73746) HM
Near South Harris Farm Road at Pond View Lane, on the right when traveling south.
Organized in January 1862, the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery spent most of its first two years of service in the defenses of Washington, D.C. Trained as artillerists, the regiment manned the large-caliber cannons in the forts that protected the . . . — — Map (db m73747) HM
On South Harris Farm Road at Pond View Lane, on the right when traveling south on South Harris Farm Road.
The Civil War devastated Central Virginia. Four major battles were fought within a fifteen-mile radius of where you now stand and resulted in more than 100,000 casualties. The National Park Service protects portions of these battlefields, but . . . — — Map (db m155953) HM
Near Gordon Drive, on the right when traveling west.
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 . . . — — Map (db m10284) HM
On Courthouse Road (Bypass State Road 208) at Old Courthouse Road (Business State Road 208) on Courthouse Road.
After four days of probing attacks, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered a frontal assault against the Confederate lines at Spotsylvania Court House on 12 May 1864. The focal point of the attack was the Muleshoe Salient, an outward bulge in the Confederate . . . — — Map (db m8915) HM
Near Orange Plank Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling west.
As Union battle lines surged into the forest across the Orange Plank Road on your right, and poised in the trees at the far end of the Tapp Field, grayclad figures loped into view from behind you. The leading Confederate units peeled right into the . . . — — Map (db m155890) HM
On Orange Plank Road (County Route 621) 0.5 miles west of Hill-Ewell Drive, on the right when traveling west.
Here, for a few moments on the bright spring morning of May 6, 1864, Robert E. Lee faced disaster for his army. The woods to your right and the fields in front of you swarmed with Union troops. The artillery behind you stood as the only organized . . . — — Map (db m155891) HM
On Orange Plank Road (County Route 621) at Wilderness Park Drive, on the left when traveling east on Orange Plank Road.
Brigadier General and Brevet Major General United States Volunteers commanding the 4th Division V Corps Army of the Potomac was mortally wounded near this spot May 6, 1864 and died two days later in the field hospital of Hill’s Confederate Corps: He . . . — — Map (db m6062) HM
On Germanna Highway (State Highway 3), on the right when traveling east.
The building complex known collectively as Wilderness Tavern appeared in the early 19th century to serve the needs of travellers. Located on either side of the Fredericksburg-Orange Turnpike, the original roadbed of which survives today as the . . . — — Map (db m7499) HM
Near Grant Drive, on the left when traveling east.
These one hundred and sixty-two acres known as the Landram Farm, were presented to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States commandery of the State of Pennsylvania and . . . — — Map (db m10327) HM
Near Grant Drive, on the left when traveling east.
These stone chimneys are all that remain of the Landram house, a prominent landmark during the Spotsylvania Campaign. The Confederate picket reserve stood here shivering in the early morning fog on May 12, 1864 when the silence was suddenly . . . — — Map (db m10326) HM
Near Orange Plank Road (County Route 621) 0.5 miles west of Hill-Ewell Drive, on the right when traveling west.
On May 6, 1864, General Robert E. Lee faced one of the greatest crises of his career. A dawn assault by the Union army had routed A.P. Hill's corps and threatened the destruction of the entire Confederate army. Just when all seemed lost, a body of . . . — — Map (db m112424) HM
Near Anderson Drive, on the right when traveling north.
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 . . . — — Map (db m10283) HM
Near Orange Plank Road (Virginia Route 621), on the right when traveling west.
Many accounts relate the story of General Lee’s personal attempt to lead the charge of the Texas Brigade. No two versions entirely agree and we may never know which details belong to history and which belong to mythology. Colonel Charles S. . . . — — Map (db m6093) HM
Near Pritchett Road 0.1 miles west of Block House Road (County Route 648), on the right when traveling west.
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 . . . — — Map (db m10255) HM
Near McCoull Road, on the left when traveling north.
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, . . . — — Map (db m10291) HM
(Front):South Carolina McGowan's Brigade Brig. Gen. Samuel McGowan 1st S.C. Infantry Col. Comillus W. McCreary Orr's Rifles Lt. Col. George McD. Miller 12th S.C. Infantry Maj. Thomas F. Clyburne 13th S.C. Infantry Col. Benjamin T. . . . — — Map (db m19073) HM
On Grant Drive 0.1 miles north of Brock Road (County Route 613), on the left when traveling north.
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.
The . . . — — Map (db m10740) HM
On Germanna Highway (State Highway 3), on the right when traveling east.
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
Near McCoull Road, on the left when traveling north.
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
On Jackson Trail East, on the right when traveling south.
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
On Grant Drive at Brock Road (County Route 613), on the left when traveling north on Grant Drive.
(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 m156385) HM
On Monument Drive at Knob Hill Court, on the right when traveling north on Monument Drive. Reported missing.
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
Near Catharpin Road (County Route 612) 0.9 miles from Old Plank Road (County Route 610), on the right when traveling south.
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
Near Post Oak Road (County Route 606) 0.6 miles west of Pamunkey Road (County Route 612), on the right when traveling west.
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
On Grant Drive at Brock Road (County Route 613), on the right when traveling north on Grant Drive.
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
On Grant Drive at Brock Road (County Route 613), on the right when traveling north on Grant Drive.
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
On Hancock Road 0.1 miles south of Brock Road (County Route 613), on the left when traveling south.
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
On Anderson Drive, on the right when traveling south.
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
On Anderson Drive, on the right when traveling south.
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
On Anderson Drive, on the right when traveling south.
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
On Grant Drive, on the right when traveling north.
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
Near Grant Drive, on the left when traveling east.
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
Near Grant Drive, on the left when traveling east.
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
Near Gordon Drive, on the left when traveling north.
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
Near Gordon Drive, on the left when traveling north.
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
On Gordon Drive, on the right when traveling east.
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
On Burnside Drive, on the right when traveling east.
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
On Gordon Drive at Anderson Drive, on the right when traveling west on Gordon Drive. Reported missing.
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
On Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 208) near Brock Road, on the right when traveling north.
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
On Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 208) at American Legion Drive, on the left when traveling south on Courthouse Road. Reported permanently removed.
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
On Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 208) near Brock Road, on the right when traveling south.
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 . . . — — Map (db m3712) HM
On Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 208) near Brock Road, on the right when traveling south.
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
On Courthouse Road (Business Virginia Route 208) at Judicial Center Lane (County Route 631), on the right when traveling north on Courthouse Road. Reported permanently removed.
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
On Lanes Corner Road (County Route 659) 0.2 miles south of Post Oak Road (County Route 606), on the left when traveling south.
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
Near State Park Lane 2.7 miles south of Lawyers Road (County Route 601).
The year is 1917. Everybody in Spotsylania County has a brother,relative or friend fighting in Europe. All of America has mobilized its resources to fight and win the Great World War.
Gleaming in the afternoon sun, a year-old rail line runs on . . . — — Map (db m82267) HM
On Grant Drive 0.1 miles north of Brock Road (County Route 613), on the left when traveling north.
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
On Orange Plank Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling west.
Remembers the valor and devotion of her sons who served at the Wilderness May 6, 1864 From near this spot the Texas Brigade pleaded with General Lee not to expose himself to Federal fire and then after seeing him to safety, launched a vigorous . . . — — Map (db m155889) HM
On Monument Drive at Knob Hill Court, on the right when traveling north on Monument Drive.
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
On Grant Drive 0.1 miles north of Brock Road (County Route 613), on the left when traveling south.
"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
On Brock Road (County Route 613) near Grant Drive, on the right when traveling west.
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 m3692) HM
On Courthouse Road (Business Virginia Route 208) north of Massaponax Church Road (County Route 608), on the left when traveling north.
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
On Piney Branch Road (Virginia Route 624) 0.3 miles south of Catharpin Road (County Route 612), on the left when traveling south.
“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 going to . . . — — Map (db m84595) HM
Near Brock Road (County Route 613) 0.2 miles south of Hancock Road, on the right when traveling south.
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
On Orange Plank Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling west. Reported permanently removed.
Brigadier General John Gregg formed his four Confederate regiments near the far edge of the Tapp Field behind you and advanced them about 400 yards toward the Union battle line, which stood near here. The Southerners moved diagonally across the . . . — — Map (db m6088) HM
Near Orange Plank Road (County Route 621) at Brock Road (County Route 613), on the right when traveling east.
(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
Near Orange Plank Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling west.
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
Near Catharpin Road (County Route 612) 0.9 miles from Old Plank Road (County Route 610), on the right when traveling south.
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
On Lake Anna Parkway (Bypass Virginia Route 208), on the right when traveling north.
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
Near Catharpin Road (County Route 612) 0.9 miles south of Old Plank Road (County Route 610), on the right when traveling south.
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
Near Grant Drive, on the left when traveling east.
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
On Hancock Road, on the left when traveling south.
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
On Hill-Ewell Drive, on the right when traveling south.
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 . . . — — Map (db m6057) HM
On Hill-Ewell Drive, on the right when traveling south.
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
On Hill-Ewell Drive at Orange Plank Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling south on Hill-Ewell Drive.
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
Near Orange Plank Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling west.
May 6, 1864, Hancock's Federal soldiers opened the second day of battle about 5 a.m. Hill's Confederates were driven westward to this vicinity, the small clearing of the Widow Tapp Farm where Lee had his headquarters. As Col. William T. Poague's . . . — — Map (db m7490) HM
On Hill-Ewell Drive, on the right when traveling south.
May 5-6, 1864. The bluecoats of Crawford's Division emerged into the sunlight of this clearing, the Chewning Farm, on May 5 in a predetermined move toward Parker's Store on the Orange Plank Road. Lee's eastward thrust, however, changed all Union . . . — — Map (db m155695) HM
On Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 208) at Massaponax Church Road (Virginia Route 613), on the right when traveling south on Courthouse Road.
Virginia churches suffered heavily in the Civil War, being used by contending armies as headquarters, hospitals and barracks. Zion Church was no exception. In August 1862, Union soldiers stopped briefly at the church during an expedition to . . . — — Map (db m3709) HM
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