The Final Week of Bloodshed – Conclusion to Spotsylvania

The fight thus far at Spotsylvania had been nothing short of a slaughter house. The continuous fighting for twenty hours at the Bloody Angle was the pinnacle of that slaughter with 17,000 casualties in all. Who was to blame? Many pointed fingers at Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant’s “grit of a bulldog” as Abraham Lincoln called…

“Sheer Madness” – Spotsylvania, May 10th, 1864

The Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia were stuck again at Spotsylvania Court House, with the Confederates maintaining the high ground at Laurel Hill as they had over the last two days, and the Federals under Ulysses Grant desperate to find a weak spot in the graycoat’s defenses. Under the impression…

“Infernal Engines of War” – Spotsylvania, May 9th, 1864

On the night of May 8th, 1864, the Army of the Potomac and Army of Northern Virginia found themselves once more in a stalemate. Union General Gouverneur Warren’s V Corps and General John Sedgwick’s VI Corps bloodied themselves against the unified forces of Confederate General Richard Anderson, the new commander of the First Corps, and…

Todd’s Tavern Trouble – May 7th, 1864

The first roadblock on the road to Spotsylvania was Todd’s Tavern. Another important intersection just five miles south of the Union line, Todd’s Tavern lay at the crossroads of Brock Road (north-south) and Catharpin Road (east-west). Ulysses Grant ordered Phillip Sheridan and his cavalry to clear Brock Road of all Confederates. Here’s where the trouble…

Chancellorsville Mansion – One House, So Much History

This statement is not for history buffs. This statement is for those who are just getting into Civil War military history or who did not read my previous posts about that pivotal battle in May of 1863. Chancellorsville was NOT a town. It was not a city. It might have had a post office, but…