NPS Photo Visiting the Battlefield Things to Do History Battlefields & National Park Service Attractions Battlefields & National Park Service Attractions Revel in a glimpse of American history and learn why Spotsylvania is known as the "Crossroads of the Civil War". SpotsylvaniaBattlefieldExhibit Shelter The Spotsylvania Battlefield driving tour begins at the Spotsylvania Battlefield Exhibit Shelter beside Laurel Hill where the battle opened. Casualties mounted on the ridgeline, and one New Yorker wrote it was a terrible fire and the boys fell thick and fast as the leaden hail poured in upon us. By nightfall, the battle lines were drawn and both armies resorted to pickaxes and shovels to start digging a labyrinth of trenches and fortifications. The Muleshoe Salient in essence connected Lees left, at Laurel Hill, and his right, closer to the Fredericksburg Road, and had several smaller salients that jutted out towards the Federal lines. Be sure to visit Chatham Manor and the Fredericksburg National Cemetery also. In its brief attack, the 17th Michigan suffered 189 casualties of 225 men going into actiona loss of 84%. This 8-part tour follows the people and events that shaped the struggle between the US Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in May of 1864. For the time being, Burnside reported directly to Grant. In 0.6 miles park in the pull out for Tour Stop #6, East Face of Salient. Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, (8-21 May 1864), Union failure to smash or outflank Confederate forces defending Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War (1861-65). Please enable JavaScript on your browser to best view this site. Donations to the Trust are tax deductible to the full extent allowable under the law. Purchase a touring CD from the bookstore. E. Lee's defenses known as The Mule Shoe & where intense fighting occurred at The Bloody Angel. " Roger Grace OpenMapTiles OSM Continue along the park road (now Burnside Drive) for 0.7 miles to Tour Stop #8, Fredericksburg Road, and park in the pull out to your right. Erected in 1887, this is one of the earliest monuments put up on what became the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park. Robert E. Lee recognized this. Try the following GPS coordinates: 38.219245, -77.614099). The grounds at Ellwood are open and accessible via a gravel driveway from dawn to dusk. Though they tried to retain secrecy, moving 20,000 soldiers inevitably made noise heard by Confederates in the Muleshoe. Below is a summary of the driving tour. Civil War | Itinerary VA Spotsylvania Battlefield Exhibit Shelter: 9550 Grant Drive West, Spotsylvania, VA 22553 (Is this address not working for you? With the failure of the attack on May 18, Grant and Meade reached the conclusion that they had done everything they could do at Spotsylvania. VA After the two-day long battle of the Wilderness on May fifth and sixth, that resulted in a combined 30,000 casualties, the United States Army of the Potomac continued moving. Recently Updated Federal dead were transported to the National Cemetery in Fredericksburg; Confederate dead were brought to several local cemeteries, including one nearby in Spotsylvania. The Confederate Army reached the crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House by a hair and blocked the US Army from moving further south. Retrace your steps to continue on the driving tour. Learn more about visiting Spotsylvania Battlefield. As the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House reached its conclusion, both sides looked to control the Fredericksburg Road. Spotsylvania Court House Historic District With a stern voice, Lee reproached his subordinate and said, How can you expect to control these men when you have lost control of yourself? The first two weeks of May 1864 had all but destroyed the Army of Northern Virginias upper command and the Confederates were in dire straits. Stop 2 takes you across the river to Chatham Manor, a Union headquarters and field hospital. Visit Permits & Reservations to learn about permits. Stop 6 East Face of Salient Here at Spotsylvania, Burnsides orders were to attack in conjunction with the assaults against the Muleshoe Salient, but there was little connecting his lines with Winfield Hancocks to his right. More fighting lay in the immediate future along the banks of the North Anna River and at an intersection of roads called Cold Harbor. With many of the trenches dug at night, the soldiers blindly followed the contours of the landscape, trying to stay on the high ground. Robert E. Lee tried to personally lead soldiers into combat, something he had also tried to do just four days earlier at the Wilderness, but was talked out of it by staff members. Throughout the day, Union and Confederate brigades thrown towards the Muleshoe spilled over the Bloody Angle and into this section of works. Soldiers used to fighting for only short periods of time were thrown into the maelstrom for hours on end. Explore the infamous Mule Shoe where Robert E. Lees earthworks can still be seen today. Stops 3-6 are along the Confederate defensive line, including the location of the only Union breakthrough during the battle. Part 4 of the Spotsylvania Driving Tour takes a look at the area surrounding the Harrison House. But Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, overseeing the Army of the Potomac, realized to end the war quicker, they had to beat Gen. Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia into submission. Tour Dates: May 16-20, 2023 (Fredericksburg, Virginia) Gordon, the preeminent chronicler of the 1864 Overland Campaign, will conduct a walking tour of every foot (or very nearly so) of designated Park Service trails on the Wilderness and Spotsylvania battlefields (two full days on each), interpreting the ground as we go. What had been important for farmers carrying their goods to market now became vital to generals planning how to move tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of cannon. The vacant Harrison House was utilized by Gen. Richard Ewell, commanding the Confederate armys Second Corps, as his headquarters. They will not fail you here. With cries of Lee to the rear! Gordons men turned Lee back towards safety before they plunged forward towards the Bloody Angle. In front of you runs the Courthouse Road, known during the Civil War as the Fredericksburg Road. Uptons 5,000 men had pushed aside Doless small brigade, but now became entangled with thousands of other Confederates who rushed forward. He would become the highest-ranking Union General to die in the Civil War. This is the best place to start exploring 300 years of Spotsylvania history and everything we have to inspire a different vacation experience for you. The Wilderness battlefieldis a battlefield on which you could spend countless hours and never do the same thing twice. By the morning of May 18, nearly 12,000 Federal soldiers from three corps had arranged themselves to attack Lees position. Some veterans came back after the war, to place monuments and remember fallen comrades. Many of the historic earthworks have been preserved. James Longstreet, commanding the armys First Corps, had been perilously wounded at the Wilderness. Many thanks to everyone of you. Harding drove himself to the battlefield and along the way got into a fender-bender with a local motorist. During the battle, members of the McCoull family hid in the basement while the rest of the house served as headquarters for Confederate general Edward Johnson, until his capture on May 12. A driving tour of the battlefield begins at the Visitor Center on Lafayette Boulevard. Although the Federals did manage to breakthrough Lee's right flank, the success was short lived, and the Confederate position held strong for the remainder of the battle. Sometimes cutting paths through the unforgiving Wilderness to make their own roads, the Confederates pressed on to get away from the fires and suffocating smoke created by the battle of the Wilderness. In late November 1863, Meade attempted to steal a march through the Wilderness and strike the right flank of the Confederate army south of the Rapidan River. Download the NPS app at the Apple Store or on Google Play, Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center: 1013 Lafayette Boulevard, Fredericksburg, VA 22401, Chatham Manor: 120 Chatham Lane, Fredericksburg, VA 22405. Follow the remaining tour stops to understand how this two week battle unfolded, with its horrific climax at the Bloody Angle, tour stop 3. Federal cannon opened fire on the distant Confederate trenches before the U.S. infantry swept forward. Do what strikes your fancy. Hill, commanding Lees Third Corps, was onset by a debilitating sickness that left him no choice but to turn command over to a subordinate. Soldiers built fortifications, bombproof, and winter huts to live in. Like so many other times during the war, it fell to the civilians to pick up the pieces. Battle of Spotsylvania Tour the Battlefield Monuments& Markers The Armies. Hike the trails through the woods and read the interpretive markers. Battlefield Tours of Virginia (formerly known as Fredericksburg Tours) provides Civil War private battlefield tours in Virginia. With mere feet sometimes the only distance separating the two sides, both Federal and Confederate soldiers fought along the Muleshoe. The last fighting to occur at Spotsylvania took place in the evening hours of May 19 when those attacks hit about a mile and a half to your left on ground outside of the park today. See the famous Bloody Angle where the fightings were the most intense and desperate. Details:http://www.visitfred.com/listings/things-to-do/history/stafford-civil-war-park, The Stafford Civil War Park contains the winter encampment site of the Federal 11th Army Corps. If you take the short walk from the exhibit shelter to the park entrance, you will see a monument dedicated to Union Gen. John Sedgwick, killed on May 9. And Stonewall Jackson was wounded on the dark battlefield by his own men, and died of pneumonia on May 10, 1863. All stops have at least a pull-off, and some have large parking areas for extensive trails. A Civil War itinerary from the Slaughter Pen Farm to the Bloody Angle, Help Save 125 Battlefield Acres in Virginia, Stafford and Spotsylvania, VA | December 11, 1862, Spotsylvania and Orange Counties, VA | May 5, 1864. - BATTLE OF SPOTSYLVANIA COURTHOUSE - What Park: Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park. All moved by the same impulse, we sat down on the wet ground and wept. Neither side knew just how intense the prolonged fight here would be. The fighting continued May 9 at Laurel Hill and along the banks of the Po River to the west of the park today. Wilderness Battlefield Exhibit Shelter: 35347 Constitution Highway, Locust Grove, VA 22508 Stop 4 Harrison House Do what strikes your fancy. 120 Chatham Ln They marched south, towards the North Anna River. Spotsylvania is a battlefield on which you could spend countless hours and never do the same thing twice. Meadeconcluded that the Confederate line was too strong to attack and retired during the night of December 1-2, ending the winter campaign.

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