Front cover of an issue of the Fredericksburg Guidebook

Battle of Spotsylvania

Read about the Battle of Spotsylvania.

At 6:30 a.m. on May 7 Grant issued a directive to the Army of the Potomac commander, Major General George Gordon Meade. The order, one of the most important of Grant’s military career, began, “General: Make all preparations during the day for a night march to take position at Spotsylvania Court House.” On the nights of May 7-8 the Union Fifth Corps and the Confederate First Corps, moving independently and unknown to each other, led the marches of their respective armies toward Spotsylvania Court House. In the morning the lead elements met on the Spindle farm along the Brock Road, and the fighting lasted throughout the day as more units from each army arrived. Elements of the Federal Sixth Corps joined in the attack around midday, but the Union troops were unable to force their way through, and nightfall found two sets of parallel fieldworks across the Brock Road. What the Federals had thought would be a rapid march into open country had stalled behind these works. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House was under way. This two-week battle was a series of combats along the Spotsylvania front. The Union attack against the Bloody Angle at dawn, May 12-13, captured nearly a division of Lee’s army and came near to cutting the Confederate army in half. Confederate counterattacks plugged the gap, and fighting continued unabated for nearly 20 hours in what may well have been the most ferociously sustained combat of the Civil War. On May 19, a Confederate attempt to turn the Union right flank at Harris Farm was beaten back with severe casualties. Union generals Sedgwick (VI Corps commander) and Rice were killed. Confederate generals Johnson and Stuart were captured, Daniel and Perrin mortally wounded. On May 21, Grant disengaged and continued his advance on Richmond.
Timeline

  • May 8 – 21, 1864
  • May 8: Combat at Laurel Hill
  • May 8: Combat at Corbin’s Bridge
  • May 9: Combat at Ni River
  • May 10: Combat at Po River
  • May 10: Combat at Bloody Angle (Salient)
  • May 12-13: Combat at Bloody Angle
  • May 15: Combat at Piney Branch Church
  • May 18: Combat at Harrison House
  • May 19: Combat at Harris Farm