The Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse

Like Lee, General Ulysses S. Grant recognized the Muleshoe's weakness and made plans to exploit it. On May 12, just after dawn, 20,000 men of General Winfield S. Hancock's Second Corps stormed across the field in front of you—from left to right—and swept over the Confederate works, capturing 3,000 men and 20 cannons. It was one of the most successful Union attacks of the Civil War.

Capture of the Muleshoe nearly cut the Army of Northern Virginia in two, threatening its very existence. Lee counterattacked in a desperate attempt to regain the lost ground, or at least to buy time to build a new line, close to 1,000 yards behind the outer line. For the rest of day, both generals funneled every available man into the Salient. Grant fought to win; Lee to survive. The result was the most violent sustained combat in American history.

Every Confederate realized the desperate situation and every Union soldier knew what was involved. For a time, every soldier was a fiend. The attack was fierce—the resistance fanatical. Corporal John Haley, 17th Maine Volunteers

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The fighting on May 12 took place in a driving rain. This image shows reinforcements from the Union Sixth Corps fighting from the ravine in front of you.

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

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

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