- Joined
- Oct 10, 2012
- Location
- Mt. Jackson, Va
At dawn on May 12, Union General Winfield Scott Hancock’s troops emerged from the morning fog and overran the Rebel trenches, taking nearly 3,000 prisoners and more than a dozen cannons. While the Yankees erupted in celebration, the Confederates counterattacked and began to drive the Federals back. The battle raged for over 20 hours along the center of the Confederate line—the top of an inverted U—which became known as the “Bloody Angle.” Lee’s men eventually constructed a second line of defense behind the original Rebel trenches, and fighting ceased just before dawn on May 13.
Around the Bloody Angle, the dead lay five deep, and bodies had to be moved from the trenches to make room for the living. The action around Spotsylvania shocked even the grizzled veterans of the two great armies. Said one officer, “I never expect to be fully believed when I tell what I saw of the horrors of Spotsylvania.”
And yet the battle was not done; the armies slugged it out for another week. In spite of his losses, Grant persisted, writing to General Henry Halleck in Washington, D.C., “I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.”
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/north-and-south-see-bloody-day-at-the-bloody-angle
Around the Bloody Angle, the dead lay five deep, and bodies had to be moved from the trenches to make room for the living. The action around Spotsylvania shocked even the grizzled veterans of the two great armies. Said one officer, “I never expect to be fully believed when I tell what I saw of the horrors of Spotsylvania.”
And yet the battle was not done; the armies slugged it out for another week. In spite of his losses, Grant persisted, writing to General Henry Halleck in Washington, D.C., “I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.”
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/north-and-south-see-bloody-day-at-the-bloody-angle