The Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse

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 the center of General Robert E. Lee's six-mile long defensive line. For 22 hours on May 12 and May 13, 1864, combat raged here.

Confederate troops created the Muleshoe on the night of May 8, 1864, while attempting to weave together two lines of earthworks that ran at right angles to one another. Lee recognized that it was inherently weak—subject to Converging fire from many directions. To bolster the line, he constructed stout trenches, fortifying them with upwards of 30 cannon. Even so, the Salient remained his most vulnerable point—a fact bloodily demonstrated on May 12, 1864.

This is a wretched line. I do not see how it can be held!
General Robert E. Lee
May 9, 1864

(captions)
Salients, like the Muleshoe, subject their defenders to a deadly, converging crossfire.
In the event the enemy breaks through, defenders find themselves being attacked in both front and rear.

Fraises—sharpened branches like these—obstructed Union the advance on the Muleshoe Salient.

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Show me all markers in:  Spotsylvania, VA  |  Spotsylvania County  |  22553  |  Virginia  |  United States of America

Spotsylvania Campaign
Attack on the Muleshoe
Bloody Angle, Crowded Ravine
Aftermath
Spotsylvania Campaign
McGowan's Brigade
49th New York Infantry
Spotsylvania Campaign
126th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
15th Regiment New Jersey Volunteers

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