Section #1 - The American Civil War: 1861-65
Chapter 58: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House Plays Out
Grant’s hopes for an easy win at Spotsylvania are dashed once Lee’s army beats him there and has time to set up a sturdy defense.
His opening move, primarily by Warren’s V Corps, is turned back on May 8 at Laurel Hill by Richard Anderson’s I Corps.
On May 10 he orders an attack on all fronts which is again repulsed by the Grays who enjoy interior lines of defense, allowing them to readily shift troops to any emerging weak spots.
Map courtesy of the National Park Service, Division of Publications
The one positive sign for Grant occurs at the salient known as the Mule Shoe, where Colonel Emery Upton experiments with a narrow column of tightly packed regiments with fixed bayonets that run forward holding their fire until upon the enemy works. This produces a momentary breech against George Dole’s brigade until his reinforcements arrive. Grant immediately promotes Upton to Brigadier General.
Grant comes again on May 14, led by another Upton-like strike against the Mule Shoe by Hancock’s II Corps which breeches the Confederate defense. Hand to hand combat follows at the Bloody Angle with Horatio Wrights VI Corps sustaining the Union gains. But the Confederates hold on their left and the fighting ends by nightfall.
Five days later, Grant again shifts east of Lee heading toward the crossing of the North Anna River twenty-five miles south.
The Confederate lose 12,687 and the Union 18,399. Those KIA include Blue Generals Thomas Stevenson and the beloved “Uncle John” Sedgwick, whose final words before being hit below his left eye by a sharpshooter are: “they couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”
