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U. S. CIVIL WAR
PHOTOGRAPHS
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SPOTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE
(PAGE 1 OF 8)
OUR VISIT TO SPOTSYLVANIA
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 13
Spotsylvania C. H. Vicinity, May 19, 1864.
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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.)
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 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)
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MAJOR GENERAL JOHN SEDGWICK
Commander of the Sixth Corps
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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.)
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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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Sedgewick's position when he was killed.
The Confederate line was near the trees in the far distance (Laurel Hill).
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View from the Confederate Line (Laurel Hill).
Sedgewick's position is directly below the red arrow.
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Spot where General Sedgwick was killed.
Drawing by Alfred Rudolph Waud, ca. May 9, 1864.
7th Maryland Monument on Laurel Hill
7th Maryland Infantry Monument
(2nd Division, 5th Corps)
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The sides of the monument read:
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MARYLAND
BRIGADE
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8TH MAY 1864
FIRST ASSAULT ON
THE DEFENCES OF
SPOTSYLVANIA
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NEAREST APPROACH
ON THIS FRONT
7TH MD. INF.
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2ND DIV. 5TH CORPS
U.S.A.
NEVER MIND CANNON
NEVER MIND BULLETS
PRESS ON AND CLEAR
THIS ROAD.
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Notes
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