Spotsylvania, Battle of
Civil War Battle Summary
Map of the Battle Field of Spotsylvania, 1865
This map of the battlefield at Spotsylvania Courthouse illustrates the Union positions in blue and Confederate positions in red. Roads, railroads, vegetation, drainage, and the names of area residents are all shown. The 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, 5th Wisconsin Infantry, 6th Wisconsin Infantry, 7th Wisconsin Infantry, and 36th Wisconsin Infantry all took part in the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in May, 1864. View the original source document: WHI 90853
Date(s): May 8-21, 1864
Location:Spotsylvania, Virginia (Google Map)
Other name(s): Spotsylvania Courthouse. Individual engagements are often referred to separately (see below).
Campaign: Grant's Overland Campaign (May-June 1864)
Outcome: Inconclusive
Summary
During a two-week long series of fights in and around Spotsylvania, Virginia, Confederate troops stalled the Union advance toward the capital at Richmond.
The Battle of Spotsylvania, Virginia, in May 1864 pitted 100,000 Union troops against 52,000 Confederates. The fiercest fighting occurred in pouring rain on May 12. For 23 hours straight the two sides fought hand-to-hand in a field near fortifications known as the Mule Shoe, and afterward as the Bloody Angle. Some historians consider it the most ferociously sustained combat of the entire war. Other notable combat includes assaults at Laurel Hill and Po River on May 10. When the battle was over, about 11,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded.
Wisconsin's Role
The 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 36th Wisconsin Infantry regiments took part in much of the fighting. Colonel Rufus Dawes of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry was in the field for the entire two weeks and was incorrectly reported as killed.
Links to Learn More
Read Firsthand Accounts of the Battle of Spotsylvania
Pages 264-273 of Colonel Rufus Dawes' memoir, "Service with the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers" (Marietta, Ohio, 1890)View Battle Maps
View Original Documents About the Following Engagements
[Source: Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields (Washington, 1993); Estabrook, C. Records and Sketches of Military Organizations (Madison, 1914); Love, W. Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion (Madison, 1866)]