It remains a unique and very exciting battle and hopefully there will be more written about it in the future. Union soldiers recall the fighting at the mule shoe salient. Anderson on their left, ewell in the center, and a. Jul 05, 2010 the park encompasses four major civil war battlefields fredericksburg, chancellorsville, wilderness, and spotsylvania court house. The two armies fought night and day without letup from may 8 to may 21 spreading out around spotsylvania. The bloody angle battle of spotsylvania couthouse february 4, 2020 february 4, 2020 by shawn in the last year of of the us civil war, us grant had taken command of the army and had began his efforts to maneuver r. The battles for spotsylvania court house and the road to yellow tavern, may 712, 1864 rhea esq. The confederates eventually recaptured the earthworks on the west side of the mule shoe. Spotsylvania, the bloody angle within those two weeks it was the events of may 12 that stood out in everyones recollection both at the time and after the war.
The unions bloody miscue at spotsylvanias muleshoe american. The confederate army was composed of three corpslongstreet now r. He orders general winfield scott hancock to rush the defenses at the muleshoe. Heres how the bloody angle turned into the worst fighting. Four major civil war battles were fought on spotsylvania soil, including one of the bloodiest of the war, the battle of spotsylvania court house in may 1864. Another runs about 1,000 yards to the site of the landram house. Clockwise the monument with the stack of cannon balls on the top is the 49 th ny regiment, on the right with the rounded top is 15 th nj regiment. General grant remains convinced that a human battering ram can take the confederate position at laurel hill near spotsylvania court house. Exactly how it became so bloody, and whats become of it since, is quite a tale.
Battle of spotsylvania court house battlefield map. The bloody angle spotsylvania, an american civil war engagement at the battle of spotsylvania court house 1864. Yellow tavern and bloody angle on may 11, during the battle of spotsylvania court house, general j. Nov 02, 2010 the battle of spotsylvania court house, sometimes simply referred to as the battle of spotsylvania, was the second major battle in lt. Photo, print, drawing confederate shell in tree at the bloody angle near mccools house, spottsylvania i. Fredericksburg and spotsylvania national military park.
In a comment yeasterday, reader todd berkoff queried about plans for the bloody angle at spotsylvania especially questioning the decision to remove the foot bridge that sits atop the bloody angle. Lees army of northern virginia, awaited the assault of 5,000 union troops from the 2nd corps of the army. Bloody angle, battle of spotsylvania confederate lines youtube. On the morning of may 12, 1864, 1,200 entrenched confederates, the front line of general robert e. The brutality of the bloody angle is brought out in full ghastliness as is the determination. The confederate experience at spotsylvania s bloody angle william d.
Horatio wright, a federal general, wrote of the fighting. The battle of spotsylvania court house, sometimes more simply referred to as the battle of spotsylvania or the 19thcentury spelling spottsylvania, was the second major battle in lt. Caroline county, virginia map of the area between fredericksburg and hanover, va. The bloody angle gettysburg, in the american civil war, an area of the gettysburg, pa battlefield 1863 the bloody angle spotsylvania, an american civil war engagement at the battle of spotsylvania court house 1864 the bloody angle, a skirmish during the british retreat from the battles of lexington and concord of the american revolution 1775. Mcgowans south carolina brigade at the bloody angle the. Confederate shell in tree at the bloody angle near mccools house. Spotsylvania court house, battle of encyclopedia virginia. Read more the bloody angle battle of spotsylvania couthouse. After the efforts of the wilderness, grant learned why old mars lee was so feared. Some of the wounded prisoners were placed in the same field hospitals as the federals, and treated by the union surgeons. Heres how the bloody angle turned into the worst fighting of the civil war gen. The bloody angle gettysburg, in the american civil war, an area of the gettysburg, pa battlefield 1863 the bloody angle spotsylvania, an american civil war engagement at the battle of spotsylvania court house 1864 the bloody angle, a skirmish during the british retreat from. Confederate shell in tree at the bloody angle near mccools. Following the bloody but inconclusive battle of the wilderness, grants army disengaged from confederate general robert e.
Battle of spotsylvania the bloody angle as confederates worked on a new line of entrenchments in rear of the mule shoe, the desperate fighting continued around those entrenchments for many hours. The union sixth corps now joined the fray, and for the next eighteen hours the most horrifying closequarters combat ever witnessed on the continent spilled the lifeblood of numberless americans. The bloody angle spotsylvania, an american civil war engagement at the battle of spotsylvania court house 1864 the bloody angle, a skirmish during the british retreat from the battles of lexington and concord of the american revolution 1775 the bloody angle, a section of doyers street manhattan in new york citys chinatown. Spotsylvania battle, civil war history vacation at. Union soldiers recall the fighting at the mule shoe. View the aftermath of the battle of spotsylvania at the bloody angle in the online exhibit dignity of duty, based on the journals of erasmus corwin gilbreath. Apr 22, 2014 union soldiers recall the fighting at the mule shoe salient at spotsylvania courthouse by mark april 22, 2014 after the battle of the wilderness on may 5th to 7th, 1864, lieutenant general ulysses s. Spotsylvania tree stump destroyed in civil war smithsonian. May 12, 2014 after being mauled by the army of northern virginia in the battle of the wilderness, which took place in the dense central virginia woods from may 5 to 7, 1864, maj. Battle of spotsylvania court house battlefield map details of union confederate armies bloody angle battle of spotsylvania court house campaign maps killed wounded captured list of army casualties. On a two hundred yard stretch of the line around the bloody angle the. Within a 24hour period during the battle of spotsylvania, north and south wracked up more than 15000 casualties.
May 12, 2016 the infamous bloody angle was a slight angle on the western side of the salient, between harris and mcgowans brigades not the actual tip of the salient. May 01, 2014 battle of spotsylvania the bloody angle as confederates worked on a new line of entrenchments in rear of the mule shoe, the desperate fighting continued around those entrenchments for many hours. Named for the section of the muleshoe salient, a bulge in the confederate earthworks. Battle of spotsylvania the bloody angle the civil war. Whoever controlled the knoll controlled the salient. Along a 200 yard stretch of the confederate line centered at what was called the west angle of the mule shoe. The battles for spotsylvania court house and the road to.
Twenty hours later, the oncepeaceful meadow had acquired a new name, the bloody angle. Lee were dug into what seemed like an invulnerable network of trenchworks and rifle pits near spotsylvania courthouse, virginia. It is on the walking trail just a few yards east of the 49th new york monument. Mar 23, 2016 whether it was because of bullets or hatchets, doyers street was literally stained red during its most violent years, earning the street its immortal nickname. Grant continued his overland campaign by moving the union army southeast toward spotsylvania courthouse. Confederate shell in tree at the bloody angle near mccools house, spottsylvania i. Horatio wright on the western edge of the mule shoe, which became known as the bloody angle. Mort kunstlers comments the eighteen hours of combat at the bloody angle at the spotsylvania court house, virginia, ranks among the legendary actions of the civil war. The bloody angle is important to civil war history in that it ushered in a level of ferocity and brutality in civil war combat that had never been seen prior to the spotsylvania campaign.
Visitors to the scene of the bloody angle at spotsylvania will recognize some of the numbered items as they survive today. After the battle of the wilderness may 56, in which union generalinchief ulysses s. Bloody angle 1938 by the numbers taken seventytwo years ago, this photograph demonstrates how time marches on, and how even subtle differences can add up. Feb 12, 2020 fredericksburg and spotsylvania national military park. The stubborn stand by confederate troops at the bloody angle gave lee the time he needed to construct a new line of earthworks across the base of the mule shoe salient.
Hancock annihilates johnsons division and seizes the salient, but his troops recoil in the face of confederate counterattacks. Jun 23, 20 while the may 12 combat at the bloody angle marked the height of the spotsylvania fighting, it was not the end of it. Photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed between 1880 and 1889 photograph. Harris brigade of mississippians and mcgowans brigade of south carolinians battled portions of the union vi corps. The army of the potomac, exhausted from its attacks on the angle, did not immediately test the. Penandink on grid drawn in pencil, mounted on cloth. Heres how the bloody angle turned into the worst fighting of the. The point to be assaulted was a salient of fieldworks on the confederate center, afterward called the bloody angle. The bloody angle is stop 3 on the auto tour, about. Oct 01, 20 this is all that remained of a large oak tree caught in the crossfire at the battle of spotsylvania where 2,000 men died.
In this 200yardwide stretch, at what the troops called the bloody angle, all hell broke loose as union and confederate soldiers standing only a few feet apart shot, bludgeoned and bayoneted one another beyond recognition. The compass rose is one of several erected on the battlefields of spotsylvania county. The civil war would see a lot more bloodshed before it ended in 1865, but spotsylvania stood out to soldiers who fought there. Confederate shell in tree at the bloody angle near. Within a 24hour period during the battle of spotsylvania, north and south wracked up more than 15,000 casualties. The battle of spotsylvania aka the battle of spotsylvania court house, fought may 821, 1864, included some of the most desperate handtohand fighting of the civil war. Stuarts famed confederate cavalry made a stand against. The center of the confederate line at spotsylvania was what became known as the muleshoe, a protruding salient about a mile in depth and width, vulnerable to federal attack on three sides. The battle of spotsylvania court house, fought may 821, 1864, was the second major engagement of the overland campaign during the american civil war 18611865. Grant pushed his troops southeast toward the small hamlet of spotsylvania court house, intending to get between the confederates and their capital. The monument to mcgowans south carolina brigade is at the bloody angle of the mule shoe, stop 3 on the spotsylvania battlefield auto tour. The army of the potomac, exhausted from its attacks on the angle, did not immediately test the new line. Battle of spotsylvania court house battlefield map details of union confederate armies bloody angle battle of spotsylvania court house campaign maps killed wounded. So terrific was the deathgrapple, however, that at different times of the day the rebel colors were planted on the one side of the works and ours on the other, the men fighting across the parapet.
The park encompasses four major civil war battlefields fredericksburg, chancellorsville, wilderness, and spotsylvania court house. Grant had tried to turn confederate general robert e. Lee has elements of the csa army that has reached spotsylvania before the union army and he orders his confederates to dig in for the coming assaults. On may 8, units of union generals warren and sedgwick attack across a 4 mile front in areas known as the laurel hill and the mule shoe that later became known as the bloody angle.
The markers in this photo at the bloody angle are lower left small marker is where a 22inch oak tree fell by small arms fire. Just after 6 oclock, early in the evening of may 10, 1864, near spotsylvania. Fredericksburg and spotsylvania national military park response to. The battles for spotsylvania court house and the road to yellow tavern, may 712, 1864. Grant faced a quandary in his overland campaign driving towards richmond. Over the next two hours as a downpour drenched the field, more troops, including uptons brigade, moved in. This is all that remained of a large oak tree caught in the crossfire at the battle of spotsylvania where 2,000 men died. Grant continued to move the fighting to the south and east. In the battle of spotsylvania, may 12, 1864, general edward johnsons division of seven thousand men were taken prisoners at the salient known as bloody angle. Bloody angle spotsylvania court house battlefield va. Union soldiers recall the fighting at the mule shoe salient at spotsylvania courthouse by mark april 22, 2014 after the battle of the wilderness on may 5th to 7th, 1864, lieutenant general ulysses s. The slight angle is shown here in the center of the photo just to the left of the bridge over the trenches. May 11, 2017 bloody angle, the spotsylvania, virginia, may 12, 1864 artwork by mort kunstler. I chose to paint this scene even though i had been warned that it would be nearly impossible.
Another compass is on the spotsylvania battlefield at the brock road entrance to the park. The unions bloody miscue at spotsylvanias muleshoe. Battle of spotsylvania court house civil war battles. In the 200 yard long area that saw some of the heaviest and gruesome fighting, it became known as the bloody angle the intense action took place at a section of a rebel salient known as the angle where the fighting reached an unprecedented level or savageness. On the morning of may 12, 1864, the site of the daring union assault on the center of the confederate line became the scene of the fiercest handtohand combat of the civil war, and thereafter was known as the bloody angle. Apr 24, 2017 in the last year of of the us civil war, us grant had taken command of the army and had began his efforts to maneuver r. Veterans of the battle returned after the war and erected monuments near the bloody angle.
Their tormented souls still wander the battlefield and warn away the unwary with their wailing. By the end of those two weeks, there were 18,000 more union soldiers added to the list of dead, wounded, and missing and 10,000 more for the confederates. The angle occupied a small knoll that commanded adjacent parts of the confederate line. Battle of spotsylvania court house military wiki fandom. Around midmorning, an extremely extensive, bloody fight broke out around a slight bend in the trenches that became known as the bloody angle. On the 150th anniversary of the battle of spotsylvania, museum fellow jesse gant shares the story of one dramatic civil war relic.
Attacks in long columns against heavy fortifications were too apt to get tangled up amongst enemy obstacles and their own numbers, leaving them extremely vulnerable to enemy counterattack unless supporting assaults were perfectly coordinated. Photo the bloody angle aftermath of battle of spotsylvania civil. For 22 hours union and confederate soldiers vied for possession of the angle, firing across the works or engaging one another in grim, handtohand combat. The bloody angle was an example of an innovative idea that had turned into a disaster when implemented on a larger scale. Bloody angle the following describes the bloody angle. As i promised in my response, here is a map of what we plan on doing. The eighteen hours of combat at the bloody angle at the spotsylvania court house, virginia, ranks among the legendary actions of the civil war. The battle was fought in the rapidanrappahannock river area of central virginia, a region where more than 100,000 men on both sides fell.
In simply reading that sentence, youre likely already remembering images from gangs of new york, the godfather, the warriors and on and on but what youre probably not picturing is a strange little 200yard stretch called doyers street, one of the few streets in manhattan bent at a nearly 90degree angle and one of. Virginia spotsylvania county, spotsylvania struggle for the bloody angle the battle of spotsylvania courthouse for 22 hours combat raged on the landscape in front of you. Grants 1864 overland campaign of the american civil war. The battle of spotsylvania court house, sometimes simply referred to as the battle of spotsylvania or the 19th century spelling spottsylvania, was the second major battle in lt. As the spotsylvania fight waned and grant moved to find a way around lee, the two armies remained in constant contact and combat as they moved closer to richmond. The same fury of rifle bullets that cut down 2,000 combatants tore away all twentytwo inches of this trees trunk. Civil war maps, available online, spotsylvania county. In this 200yardwide stretch, at what the troops called the bloody angle, all hell. Rhea captures the feeling in his book about the battle. Spotsylvania, virginia historical markers the historical. The carnage of bloody angle during the battle of spotsylvania.
The granite monument stands around eight feet high. At dawn on may 12, hancocks union corps attacked the confederate muleshoe salient at a section that became known as bloody angle. Just after 6 oclock, early in the evening of may 10, 1864, near spotsylvania court house, virginia, a union officer waved a handkerchief. On may 12, 1864, the combined fire of union and confederate guns near the bloody angle at the battle of spotsylvania managed to annihilate this tree, leaving a bulletriddled stump. This unit actually fought about 100 yards to the left of the bloody angle as viewed from the perspective shown here. Such fights as the 18hour slugfest over the bloody angle caused casualties the confederates could not withstand. Jul 23, 20 we visited the bloody angle at spotsylvania a couple of weeks ago so i wanted to learn about what happened there and ive had an education. General barlow and the bloody angle the new york times. Here, the armies of ulysses s grant and robert e lee saw one of the most intense clashes in american history the union attack on the confederateheld bloody angle. In the last year of of the us civil war, us grant had taken command of the army and had began his efforts to maneuver r. The infamous bloody angle was a slight angle on the western side of the salient, between harris and mcgowans brigades not the actual tip of the salient. The bloody angle of the spotsylvania court house battlefield was left littered with bodies during the civil war.
General barlow and the bloody angle the new york times sections home search skip to content. This shattered stump was once a healthy oak tree in a rolling meadow just outside spotsylvania court house, virginia. What others are saying american civil war art saving the flag, the wheatfield, battle of gettysburg, by don troiani. One follows the perimeter of the muleshoe around to tour stop six. Looking at the bloody angle battlefield from the confederate lines. Although the fighting extended for half a mile, the battle focused on and became identified with a slight bend in the confederate lines known thereafter as the.
Bloody angle, the spotsylvania, virginia, may 12, 1864. For nine more days, the army of the potomac hovered around the village, looking for opportunities to strike. Lees army of northern virginia into a position to be destroyed or taken. From may 5 to may 12, 1864, the army of the potomac lost around 32,000 men killed, wounded or missing in the battles of the wilderness and spotsylvania court housemore than for all union armies combined in any previous week of the war. Here the confederate line broke off at an angle of ninety degrees, the right parallel, about the length of a small brigade, being. The bloody angle accounted for almost 18,500 casualties on the union side, and almost 12,700 on the confederate. The fighting focused on a slight bend in the works west of the apex, known to history as the bloody angle. The 15th new jersey monument, shown here, was dedicated on may 12, 1909, the 45th anniversary of the fight at the bloody angle. Over the next two weeks, the action at spotsylvania, many times at close quarters around the area of the mule shoe and bloody angle, was a horrific display of civil war fighting. The light colored monument in the background is the 126 ohio regiment. It is inscribed on the front with the regiments of the brigade and their commanding officers and on the. New york city has always been inextricably linked with its gangs.