While I sit here on a beautiful spring morning, my thoughts drift back 145 years. I can imagine myself in Northern Virginia, between Fredericksburg and Richmond. The birds are singing, much as they are today, but off in the distance, to the south, I can hear a distant rumble. If it weren’t for the clear skies, I might conclude that a thunderstorm was moving into the area. As I ride my horse south, the noise becomes louder and is now mixed with cracks, and pops. It sounds like popcorn popping, over an open fire. Much like today, the breeze floats in from the south. Mixed with the breeze, however, is something different, something that turns my stomach – the smell of death. Death at new and frightening level. US Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, having vowed to Lincoln, “that there would be no turning back,” left the Wilderness and pushed southeast towards a small village, Spotsylvania Court House. The carnage had reached new levels, in the Wilderness, but Grant was not backing off. Unfortunately, for the Federal soldiers, CS General Robert E. Lee had beat him to Spotsylvania. Once there, he had set his Army of Northern Virginia to work, constructing some of the most formidable defensive works ever seen on this continent. They were waiting for Grant’s Army of the Potomac, nominally commanded by US Major General George Gordon Meade. The works, running roughly from the Po River, on Lee’s left, to the Brock Road, on his right, ran for several miles. Intuitively, Lee’s lines resembled a “V” shape. This shape allowed him the benefit of fighting along interior lines, making it very efficient to move troops from one sector, to another. Meade, fighting on exterior lines, would have a difficult time moving his three army corps, to support each other. There was however a weak spot in Lee’s lines. A large salient, called the “Mule Shoe,” presented a irresistible target for Grant – a target that would cost Lee many Southern men. Following is a narrative of the bloody two week struggle, that occurred 145 years ago, this week. The narrative appears on my website: BattlefieldPortraits.com.
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House(i)
Location: Spotsylvania County, VA (near Spotsylvania, VA)
Dates: May 8 – 21, 1864
Union Commander: Ulysses S. Grant, Lieutenant General
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee, General
Battle Summary:
In early March, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was called to Washington, D.C. Congress had recently reinstated the rank of lieutenant general, regular army. It was widely speculated that Grant would receive promotion to that rank while there. On March 9, in a formal ceremony, at the White House, Grant received his commission, to Lieutenant General – the first person to hold that rank, since George Washington.
As Lieutenant General, Grant would be the supreme commander of all U.S. land based forces, the largest force ever commanded – nearly 600,000 men. Grant went right to work, placing his friend, William T. Sherman, in command of all armies, in the west. Determining to be near the action, Grant chose to have a remote headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, currently camped in northern Virginia. Upon arriving at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, Grant met with its commander, Major General George Gordon Meade. Meade immediately offered to step aside, allowing Grant to place one of his confidants in charge. After meeting with Meade, Grant determined that it would be better for troop morale to keep Meade in place. In his first order to Meade, he made things very clear, “Lee’s army will be your objective. Where he goes, there you will go also.”
Grant’s overall strategy was one of action. His armies would no longer focus on capturing points, it would focus on annihilating the opposing armies. Meade would focus on Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, US Major General William T. Sherman would focus on CS General Joseph Johnston’s Army of Tennessee, now in Georgia. There would be simultaneous assaults, starting when the weather broke, that would keep Lee off balance, and not allow Confederate President Jefferson Davis to redirect forces to other theaters.
On May 5 and 6, 1864, the Army of the Potomac went into action. Again crossing the Rapidan River, into Spotsylvania County, Meade’s army met Lee for two days of fighting in what would be called the Battle of the Wilderness. This battle took place on nearly the same ground that one year earlier witnessed the most brilliant victory of Lee’s career. In May 1863, Lee would divide his army, hitting US Major General Joseph Hooker’s Army of the Potomac, in the flank and rear. Hooker would suffer a terrible defeat in the Battle of Chancellorsville. It was Grant’s desire to quickly cross the Rapidan and push through the tangle of the Wilderness, meeting Lee somewhere in the open. Instead, Lee was one step ahead of him and hit Grant before all of his army was prepared. The toll on both sides was terrible. Many of the wounded, that were unable to walk, or crawl, were burned alive from fires created overnight, by artillery shells. In the end, the battle waged two days, with neither side gaining much ground.
The North, and the South, would soon realize that U.S. Grant was not like the previous generals, in the east. In the past, when “Bobbie Lee” would attack the eastern troops, the army would retreat across the river to “lick its wounds.” Grant was determined to press Lee. On May 7, Grant issued Meade a simple directive, “General: Make all preparations during the day for a night march to take position at Spotsylvania Court-House.” During the early morning hours of May 8, the troops pulled back from their lines at the Wilderness and started marching east. Many of the troops were sure that Grant, like previous commanders, would retreat north of the Rapidan River. However, when the army turned south on the Brock Road, many cheers were given up for Grant. No longer would this army retreat in front of the foe.
The Overland Campaign, as the battles starting with the Wilderness, would be known, would usher in a new age for the fighting troops. Grant would continue to pound away on his foe, in an unrelenting fashion, for six unremitting weeks. Civilians on both sides, of the Mason Dixon Line, would be appalled by the blood shed.
Troops from US Major General Gouverneur Warren’s V Corps and Major General John Sedgwick’s VI Corps would arrive near Spotsylvania Court House on May 8. Upon arriving, they would find portions of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had already arrived and blocked the Brock Road near the Spindle farm. Fighting would start during the mid-morning, on May 8, and would last through most of the day. On May 9, troops from US Major General Winfield Scott Hancock’s II Corps would arrive along with Confederate CS Lieutenant General A.P. Hill’s 3rd Corps. Hancock would send two divisions, under Major Generals David Birney and Francis Barlow, to aide Warren’s V Corps, placing them on the right flank. These troops were opposed by one brigade under CS Brigadier General William Mahone and a division under CS Major General Henry Heth.
Earlier in the day, on May 9, the U.S. Army would lose the highest ranking officer, killed in action, during the entire Civil War. While assisting in placing his troops, Major General, regular army, John Sedgwick was chiding his lieutenants for attempting to “dodge” sharpshooter musketry. Speaking to his lieutenants, Sedgwick said, “What! What! Men dodging this way for 
single bullets! What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” At this, Sedgwick laughed, “All right, my man. Go to your place.” Then a dull thud was heard, with the general slowly rotating as he fell. He had been hit by an sharpshooter’s minie ball, below the left eye. It is said that his lips were curled in a smile as he died, perhaps frozen there, upon death, while bantering with his troops. Sedgwick would be succeeded by Brigadier General Horatio Wright, who would command the VI Corps for the remainder of the war.
On May 10, Hancock ordered Barlow, and Birney, to disengage, and pull north of the Po River, to assault another section of the rebel line. Francis Barlow’s division would be viciously attacked by Heth’s division while crossing the Po. Wright’s VI Corps, and Warren’s V Corps, would unsuccessfully assault Laurel Hill, while further northeast, at a salient that would forever be known as the “Mule Shoe,” Grant would send twelve regiments into a strongly entrenched foe. While salients were not always the preferred battle line formation, due to being easily enveloped by enfilade fire, Lee’s salient would continue to be a force over the next several days of fighting.
On May 11, Grant would continue to prepare his lines for the next offensive against R.E. Lee. However, south of Spotsylvania, at a crossroads called Yellow Tavern, the largest cavalry engagement, to that point in the war, was being waged. Before leaving the Wilderness, Major General Phil Sheridan, commander of the Union Cavalry, had pushed Meade to let him move independently on the Confederate cavalry, commanded by CS Major General J.E.B. Stuart. Meade was adamant that he needed Sheridan’s force on hand as they moved to Spotsylvania, but Grant overrode Meade and told him to send Sheridan. Sheridan repulsed Stuart’s cavalry at Yellow Tavern and rode close to Richmond, causing much consternation amongst her citizens. The largest loss, at Yellow Tavern, was J.E.B. Stuart. Stuart would die from his wounds, on May 12, and would be grieved in the south, nearly as much as Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, who died, almost to the day, one year before, at Guinea Station, Virginia. Stuart’s death would usher in a new era of Union cavalry supremacy.
Grant believed that the weakest point, in Lee’s line, was the apex of the “Mule Shoe.” His plan called for a simultaneous attack, to be launched early on May 12, against the north and east sides of the salient. Winfield Hancock’s II Corps would lead the attack on the north face, while the east face would be attacked by the IX Corps, commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside. At 4:30 AM, Hancock’s Corps started marching across the fields, in front of the Mule Shoe. They quickly reached the Mule Shoe, carrying approximately 1/2 mile into the salient, where they captured approximately 3,000 of CS Lieutenant General Richard Ewell’s 2nd Corps, before being repulsed all the way back to the outside of the salient. Grant would feed additional troops, from Wright’s VI Corps, against the west face of the salient. This area became known as the “Bloody Angle.”
Meanwhile, Burnside’s IX Corps was late starting and ran into a very strong attack by CS Brigadier General James Lane’s, and CS Colonel David Weisiger’s troops, near Spotsylvania Court House. Now, instead of a coordinated attack, against two sides of Ewell’s troops, U.S. Grant settled for an all out attack by Hancock’s Corps, and would feed Wright’s VI Corps into the west side, more or less piecemeal. We are left wondering, 140+ years later, what the outcome would have been, had Burnside’s attack been coordinated with Hancock’s? Could they have kept the ground that was gained early in the day? We’ll never know.
The action at the salient was not done. All along the works, at the Mule Shoe, the II and VI Corps continued to slug it out with Ewell’s troops. The fighting became hand-to-hand, in many areas, with soldiers firing through the works, at point blank range, into their foe. In many cases, they would use their empty muskets to club the enemy or would ram their bayonet through the works, into an unseen rebel. Early the next morning, a II Corps soldier wrote, “The trench on the Rebel side of the works was filled with their dead piled together in every way with their wounded. The sight was terrible and ghastly.” The area, near the Bloody Angle, would be so “hot” with musketry, that a 22 inch oak tree would be cut in two. Its stump now rests in the Smithsonian Institute, and the spot it was felled is prominently marked, on the west face of the Mule Shoe, where New Jersey troops from the VI Corps fought. In later years, this battle would be compared to the trench warfare used 50 years later, during World War I.
R.E. Lee would be forced to move his lines back to the base of the salient, in the overnight hours, of May 13. This position would be easier for him to defend. At dawn on May 13, Wright informed Meade that they were in the salient, and the Confederates had pulled back.
Overnight, on May 14, the Union V and VI Corps pulled out and moved to the east side of the salient, joining with Burnside’s IX Corps. From this position, Grant would attack Lee’s new position, on May 17.
In a desperate move, on May 19, Lee would send Ewell’s 2nd Corps on a reconnaissance mission, to find the Union right flank. It would be a circuitous route, from the base of the east side of the salient, around the north side, and would end with a bitter engagement with fresh Union troops, under Brigadier General Robert Tyler, at the Harris Farm. Tyler’s troops were “green,” having just arrived from garrison duty at Washington City. These troops were artillery men by trade and had been pushed into service, at Spotsylvania, as infantry. They fought gallantly, losing close to 1,500 casualties, compared to the 900, that Ewell would lose. This would end the fighting at Spotsylvania.
Campaign: Overland
Outcome: Draw (While Grant did not shatter Lee’s Army, and move onto Richmond, Lee also did not keep Grant bottled up at the Rapidan River line.)
Troop Strengths
Union: 111,000
Confederate: 63,000
Casualties (estimated):
Union: 18,000 (killed, wounded or missing/captured)
Confederate: 9,000+ (killed, wounded or missing/captured)
Battle Aftermath:
Once again, after Spotsylvania, Ulysses S. Grant would disengage his army, and move around R.E. Lee’s right flank. The armies would meet again, a few miles southeast of Spotsylvania, on the North Anna River. Lee, working on interior lines, would beat Grant there, and entrench south of the North Anna. Grant would come very close to sacrificing his army at the North Anna River. If it were not for a masterful disengagement, Grant’s army would have been separated, by the Confederates and the North Anna River, where they could have been beaten separately. During Spotsylvania, Grant would set the tone for the entire Overland Campaign, when he stated, “I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” It would.
In the end, Grant was fighting a battle of numbers. Grant had a supply of fresh troops to continue replacing his casualties, Lee did not. After Cold Harbor, Mary Lincoln would call Grant a butcher, a description that would be repeated throughout the rest of the war. However, Grant did not deserve this characterization. The numbers do not bear it out. In a terrific book, by Edward H. Bonekemper III, “A Victor, Not a Butcher,” total Union casualties during the Overland, Petersburg and Appomattox campaigns, were 116,954. Confederate losses in R.E. Lee’s opposing army, during the same period, were 106,573. A significantly higher proportion of loss, than Grant suffered. Bonekemper’s analysis lists total casualties, as a percentage of troops engaged, for each of the primary generals, during the course of the war. Grant had a significantly lower number, and lower percentage of loss than Lee. Grant’s total was 15%, while Lee’s was 20%. Bonekemper’s conclusion is that while the losses were staggering, during Grant’s Overland Campaign, they were acceptable based on the overall situation in the north. Grant knew he had to be on the offensive. It was an election year, and in order for Lincoln to be re-elected, against the “Copperheads,” and Peace Democrats, victories would need to happen.
Grant’s strategy worked. Lee had informed Richmond, that he could not win a war against Grant, if it came to a siege, below Richmond. This would become Grant’s exact battle plan. Separate Lee, and Richmond, from their base of supplies in the deep south, and lay siege to their lines. It would take time, but Grant’s tactical plan would work. After another masterful disengagement, and flanking move, after Cold Harbor, Lincoln would telegraph Grant, “I begin to see it: you will succeed. God Bless you all.”
The Overland Campaign would be the opening act for U.S. Grant, that would take him all the way to Appomattox Court House, eleven months later, where he would receive the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
(i) Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, at BattlefieldPortraits.com.