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U. S. CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS |
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is a link to the definition of the word it marks.
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May 8-21, 1864 Estimated Casualties : 30,000 total
(US 18,000; CS 12,000)
After the Wilderness, Grant’s and Meade’s advance on Richmond by the left flank was stalled at Spotsylvania Court House
on May 8. This two-week battle was a series of combats along the Spotsylvania
front.
 Spotsylvania Battlefield - May 10, 1864. Troop positions are approximate. (The National Park is in green.) 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 Steuart were captured, Daniel and
Perrin mortally wounded. On May 21, Grant disengaged and continued his advance
on Richmond.
(Text Source: U.S. Gov't, National Park Service) |
| Sedgwick, the highest-ranking Northern Officer to die on a Civil War Battlefield, was killed at Spotsylvania. (Go to the Ranking Information page for comments on this.) |
| The Sedgwick Monument and Plaque, at the entrance to the Park, mark the location where Sedgwick was killed. (For the text of the Plaque, click on its photo.) |
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| The sides of the monument read: | |
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MARYLAND BRIGADE |
8TH MAY 1864 FIRST ASSAULT ON THE DEFENCES OF SPOTSYLVANIA |
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NEAREST APPROACH ON THIS FRONT 7TH MD. INF. |
2ND DIV. 5TH CORPS U.S.A. NEVER MIND CANNON NEVER MIND BULLETS PRESS ON AND CLEAR THIS ROAD. |
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