On this day, May 12, 150 years ago one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War occurred. At 4:35 am this morning the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock launched a major assault on the tip of the Confederate salient named the "Mule Shoe" for its U shape. Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, commanding the IX Corps attacked the eastern side of the mule shoe. At 6:00 am the VI Corps under Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright attacked the western side. Later at 8:15 am the V Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren attacked Laurel Hill.
Francis C. Barlow's Division on the eastern flank of the II Corps smashed through Maj. Gen. Allegheny Johnson's Division, capturing most of the Confederates including their division commander before they could put up a fight. David Birney's Division overran Col. William Monaghan's and James A. Walker's Brigades (the Stonewall Brigade) at the tip of the angle. Most of the Confederate's ammunition was wet from a rainstorm that morning and they couldn't fire their muskets.
Also in Grant's favor what that Lee, thinking Grant was preparing to withdraw the previous day, moved most of the artillery out of the Mule Shoe in order to move the artillery quickly to support an immediate attack on Grant. Allegheny Johnson later ordered the artillery back, suspecting a possible attack by the Federals. Though the order did not reach the artillery till the next day and they didn't make it to the front lines till the very last second at 3:30 am. Due to the mistake much of the artillery was captured when the II Corps overran the angle before they could even unlimber and fire.
After the II Corps began making headway, Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon ordered a subsequent number of counter attacks into the angle, the first being Brig. Gen. Robert D. Johnston's Brigade of North Carolinians. They attacked the eastern side of the angle where Barlow's Division had broken through. Gordon continued to send individual brigades into the fight to retake the lost ground. In about 30 min of hard fighting the Confederates had pushed the Federal troops out and retaken the angle. Now it was a bitter, close quarters, often hand to hand fight that raged between the earthworks and entrenchments for the remainder of the day. The assault had turned into a stalemate. The fighting took place in the mud and rain, the Confederates standing behind the works and the Federals on the other side, firing directly into each other's faces at point blank range.
Among the Confederate regiments holding the Bloody Angle was the First South Carolina Volunteers, one of five regiments in Brigadier General Samuel McGowan's brigade. J. F. J. Caldwell, a twenty-six-year-old lieutenant in the regiment, has left us a detailed description of the Bloody Angle fighting from the Southern standpoint in his book, A History of a Brigade of South Carolinians.
"The 12th of May broke cool and cloudy. Soon after dawn a fine mist set in, which sometimes increased to a hard shower, but never entirely ceased, for twenty-four hours.
About ten o'clock, our brigade was suddenly ordered out of the works, detached from the rest of the division, and marched back from the line, but bearing towards the left. The fields were soft and muddy, the rains quite heavy. Nevertheless, we hurried on, often at the double quick. Before long, shells passed over our heads, and musketry became plainly audible in front. Our pace was increased to a run. Turning to the right, as we struck an interior line of works, we bore directly for the firing.
We were now along Ewell's line. The shell came thicker and nearer, frequently striking close at our feet, and throwing mud and water high into the air. The rain continued. As we panted up the way, Maj. Gen. Rodes, of Ewell's corps, walked up to the roadside, and asked what troops we were. 'McGowan's South Carolina brigade,' was the reply. 'There are no better soldiers in the world than these!' cried he to some officers about him. We hurried on, thinking more of him and more of ourselves than ever before.
. . . Soon the order was given to advance to the outer line. We did so, with a cheer and at the double quick, plunging through mud knee deep, and getting in as best we could. Here, however, lay Harris' Mississippi brigade. We were ordered to close to the right. We moved by the flank up the works, under the fatally accurate fire of the enemy, and ranged ourselves in the entrenchment. The sight we encountered was not calculated to encourage us. The trenches, dug on the inner side were almost filled with water. Dead men lay on the surface of the ground and in the pools of water. The wounded bled and groaned, stretched or huddled in every attitude of pain. The water was crimsoned with blood. Abandoned knapsacks, guns and accoutrements, with ammunition boxes, were scattered all around. In the rear, disabled caissons stood and limbers of guns. The rain poured heavily, and an incessant fire was kept upon tis from front and flank. The enemy still held the works on the right of the angle, and fired across the traverses. Nor were these foes easily seen. They barely raised their heads above the logs, at the moment of firing. It was plainly a question of bravery and endurance now.
We entered upon the task with all our might. Some fired at the line lying in front, on the edge of the ridge before described; others kept down the enemy lodged in the traverses on the right. At one or two places, Confederates and Federals were only separated by the works, and the latter not a few times reached their guns over and fired right down upon the heads of the former . . . .
The firing was astonishingly accurate all along the line. No man could raise his shoulders above the works without danger of immediate death. Some of the enemy lay against our works in front. I saw several of them jump over and surrender during relaxations of firing. An ensign of a Federal regiment came right up to us during the 'peace negotiations,' and demanded our surrender. Lieutenant Carlisle, of the Thirteenth regiment, replied that we would not surrender. Then the ensign insisted that, as he had come under a false impression he should be allowed to return to his command. Lieutenant Carlisle, pleased with his composure, consented. But, as he went back, a man, from another part of the line, shot him through the face, and he came and jumped over to us.
This was the place to test individual courage. Some ordinarily good soldiers did next to nothing, others excelled themselves. The question became, pretty plainly, whether one was willing to meet death, not merely to run the chances of it."
While the fight at the angle was raging, on Grant's right flank Warren's V Corps attacked Laurel Hill. After thirty minutes the attack petered out and Warren told Meade that he was not able to advance "at present." The irascible Meade ordered Warren to attack "at once at all hazards with your whole force, if necessary." Warren relayed the order to his division commanders: "Do it. Don't mind the consequences." The attack was yet another failure, adding to the high toll of casualties as the Union corps was held up by the fire of a single Confederate division. Not only was the V Corps unable to take its objective, it had also failed to draw Confederate troops from elsewhere in the line, as Grant had intended. Both Meade and Grant were upset with Warren's performance and Grant authorized Meade to relieve Warren, replacing him with Meade's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys. Humphreys diplomatically coordinated the withdrawal of the V Corps units without relieving Warren, but Meade began to order Warren's subordinates to reinforce Wright, and no further attacks against Laurel Hill would be planned.
Ambrose Burnside was also part of the grand assault, advancing against the eastern leg of the Mule Shoe before dawn. The attack by his division under Brig. Gen. Robert B. Potter against the sector just below Steuart's Brigade materially aided Hancock's breakthrough. The North Carolina brigade of Brig. Gen. James H. Lane fought back, reinforced by a Georgia brigade under Brig. Gen. Edward L. Thomas and the North Carolina brigade of Brig. Gen. Alfred M. Scales. The two sides became stalemated. At 2 p.m., Grant and Lee coincidentally ordered simultaneous attacks. Grant considered this sector to be lightly defended and hoped for a new breakthrough while Lee wanted to take out an artillery position that the IX Corps was using to harass his line. The advance by Union Brig. Gen. Orlando B. Wilcox's division against a minor salient in the line was stopped as Lane's brigade moved forward and hit them in the flank.
Confederate engineers created a new line of entrenchments about 500 yards behind the Mule Shoe. At 4:00 am the next morning the Confederates fell back to the new entrenchments, having fought throughout most of the day on May 12. The Federals suffered an estimated 9,000 casualties and Confederates about 8,000 with around 3,000 of which being captured. The carnage that remained after the battle that day is almost indescribable. Thousands of men lay dead, dying, or wounded in a space only around half a mile in width.
Grant's aide Horace Porter inspected the ground around the Mule Shoe the next day, telling of what he saw in Campaigning with Grant:
The appalling sight presented was harrowing in the extreme. Our own killed were scattered over a large space near the "angle," while in front of the captured breastworks the enemy's dead, vastly more numerous than our own, were piled upon each other in some places four layers deep, exhibiting every ghastly phase of mutilation. Below the mass of fast-decaying corpses, the convulsive twitching of limbs and the writhing of bodies showed that there were wounded men still alive and struggling to extricate themselves from the horrid entombment. Every relief possible was afforded, but in too many cases it came too late. The place was well named the "Bloody Angle."
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/spotsylvania-court-house.html
http://www.civilwarhome.com/spotsylvaniacourthouse.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Spotsylvania_Court_House
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Francis C. Barlow's Division on the eastern flank of the II Corps smashed through Maj. Gen. Allegheny Johnson's Division, capturing most of the Confederates including their division commander before they could put up a fight. David Birney's Division overran Col. William Monaghan's and James A. Walker's Brigades (the Stonewall Brigade) at the tip of the angle. Most of the Confederate's ammunition was wet from a rainstorm that morning and they couldn't fire their muskets.
Also in Grant's favor what that Lee, thinking Grant was preparing to withdraw the previous day, moved most of the artillery out of the Mule Shoe in order to move the artillery quickly to support an immediate attack on Grant. Allegheny Johnson later ordered the artillery back, suspecting a possible attack by the Federals. Though the order did not reach the artillery till the next day and they didn't make it to the front lines till the very last second at 3:30 am. Due to the mistake much of the artillery was captured when the II Corps overran the angle before they could even unlimber and fire.
After the II Corps began making headway, Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon ordered a subsequent number of counter attacks into the angle, the first being Brig. Gen. Robert D. Johnston's Brigade of North Carolinians. They attacked the eastern side of the angle where Barlow's Division had broken through. Gordon continued to send individual brigades into the fight to retake the lost ground. In about 30 min of hard fighting the Confederates had pushed the Federal troops out and retaken the angle. Now it was a bitter, close quarters, often hand to hand fight that raged between the earthworks and entrenchments for the remainder of the day. The assault had turned into a stalemate. The fighting took place in the mud and rain, the Confederates standing behind the works and the Federals on the other side, firing directly into each other's faces at point blank range.
Among the Confederate regiments holding the Bloody Angle was the First South Carolina Volunteers, one of five regiments in Brigadier General Samuel McGowan's brigade. J. F. J. Caldwell, a twenty-six-year-old lieutenant in the regiment, has left us a detailed description of the Bloody Angle fighting from the Southern standpoint in his book, A History of a Brigade of South Carolinians.
"The 12th of May broke cool and cloudy. Soon after dawn a fine mist set in, which sometimes increased to a hard shower, but never entirely ceased, for twenty-four hours.
About ten o'clock, our brigade was suddenly ordered out of the works, detached from the rest of the division, and marched back from the line, but bearing towards the left. The fields were soft and muddy, the rains quite heavy. Nevertheless, we hurried on, often at the double quick. Before long, shells passed over our heads, and musketry became plainly audible in front. Our pace was increased to a run. Turning to the right, as we struck an interior line of works, we bore directly for the firing.
We were now along Ewell's line. The shell came thicker and nearer, frequently striking close at our feet, and throwing mud and water high into the air. The rain continued. As we panted up the way, Maj. Gen. Rodes, of Ewell's corps, walked up to the roadside, and asked what troops we were. 'McGowan's South Carolina brigade,' was the reply. 'There are no better soldiers in the world than these!' cried he to some officers about him. We hurried on, thinking more of him and more of ourselves than ever before.
. . . Soon the order was given to advance to the outer line. We did so, with a cheer and at the double quick, plunging through mud knee deep, and getting in as best we could. Here, however, lay Harris' Mississippi brigade. We were ordered to close to the right. We moved by the flank up the works, under the fatally accurate fire of the enemy, and ranged ourselves in the entrenchment. The sight we encountered was not calculated to encourage us. The trenches, dug on the inner side were almost filled with water. Dead men lay on the surface of the ground and in the pools of water. The wounded bled and groaned, stretched or huddled in every attitude of pain. The water was crimsoned with blood. Abandoned knapsacks, guns and accoutrements, with ammunition boxes, were scattered all around. In the rear, disabled caissons stood and limbers of guns. The rain poured heavily, and an incessant fire was kept upon tis from front and flank. The enemy still held the works on the right of the angle, and fired across the traverses. Nor were these foes easily seen. They barely raised their heads above the logs, at the moment of firing. It was plainly a question of bravery and endurance now.
We entered upon the task with all our might. Some fired at the line lying in front, on the edge of the ridge before described; others kept down the enemy lodged in the traverses on the right. At one or two places, Confederates and Federals were only separated by the works, and the latter not a few times reached their guns over and fired right down upon the heads of the former . . . .
The firing was astonishingly accurate all along the line. No man could raise his shoulders above the works without danger of immediate death. Some of the enemy lay against our works in front. I saw several of them jump over and surrender during relaxations of firing. An ensign of a Federal regiment came right up to us during the 'peace negotiations,' and demanded our surrender. Lieutenant Carlisle, of the Thirteenth regiment, replied that we would not surrender. Then the ensign insisted that, as he had come under a false impression he should be allowed to return to his command. Lieutenant Carlisle, pleased with his composure, consented. But, as he went back, a man, from another part of the line, shot him through the face, and he came and jumped over to us.
This was the place to test individual courage. Some ordinarily good soldiers did next to nothing, others excelled themselves. The question became, pretty plainly, whether one was willing to meet death, not merely to run the chances of it."
While the fight at the angle was raging, on Grant's right flank Warren's V Corps attacked Laurel Hill. After thirty minutes the attack petered out and Warren told Meade that he was not able to advance "at present." The irascible Meade ordered Warren to attack "at once at all hazards with your whole force, if necessary." Warren relayed the order to his division commanders: "Do it. Don't mind the consequences." The attack was yet another failure, adding to the high toll of casualties as the Union corps was held up by the fire of a single Confederate division. Not only was the V Corps unable to take its objective, it had also failed to draw Confederate troops from elsewhere in the line, as Grant had intended. Both Meade and Grant were upset with Warren's performance and Grant authorized Meade to relieve Warren, replacing him with Meade's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys. Humphreys diplomatically coordinated the withdrawal of the V Corps units without relieving Warren, but Meade began to order Warren's subordinates to reinforce Wright, and no further attacks against Laurel Hill would be planned.
Ambrose Burnside was also part of the grand assault, advancing against the eastern leg of the Mule Shoe before dawn. The attack by his division under Brig. Gen. Robert B. Potter against the sector just below Steuart's Brigade materially aided Hancock's breakthrough. The North Carolina brigade of Brig. Gen. James H. Lane fought back, reinforced by a Georgia brigade under Brig. Gen. Edward L. Thomas and the North Carolina brigade of Brig. Gen. Alfred M. Scales. The two sides became stalemated. At 2 p.m., Grant and Lee coincidentally ordered simultaneous attacks. Grant considered this sector to be lightly defended and hoped for a new breakthrough while Lee wanted to take out an artillery position that the IX Corps was using to harass his line. The advance by Union Brig. Gen. Orlando B. Wilcox's division against a minor salient in the line was stopped as Lane's brigade moved forward and hit them in the flank.
Confederate engineers created a new line of entrenchments about 500 yards behind the Mule Shoe. At 4:00 am the next morning the Confederates fell back to the new entrenchments, having fought throughout most of the day on May 12. The Federals suffered an estimated 9,000 casualties and Confederates about 8,000 with around 3,000 of which being captured. The carnage that remained after the battle that day is almost indescribable. Thousands of men lay dead, dying, or wounded in a space only around half a mile in width.
Grant's aide Horace Porter inspected the ground around the Mule Shoe the next day, telling of what he saw in Campaigning with Grant:
The appalling sight presented was harrowing in the extreme. Our own killed were scattered over a large space near the "angle," while in front of the captured breastworks the enemy's dead, vastly more numerous than our own, were piled upon each other in some places four layers deep, exhibiting every ghastly phase of mutilation. Below the mass of fast-decaying corpses, the convulsive twitching of limbs and the writhing of bodies showed that there were wounded men still alive and struggling to extricate themselves from the horrid entombment. Every relief possible was afforded, but in too many cases it came too late. The place was well named the "Bloody Angle."
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/spotsylvania-court-house.html
http://www.civilwarhome.com/spotsylvaniacourthouse.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Spotsylvania_Court_House
http://www.amazon.com/Battles-Spotsylvania-Court-Yellow-Tavern/dp/0807130672/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399927476&sr=8-1&keywords=spotsylvania court house
http://www.amazon.com/Spotsylvania-Campaign-Military-Campaigns-Civil/dp/080787132X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399927512&sr=8-1&keywords=spotsylvania campaign
http://www.amazon.com/Trench-Warfare-under-Grant-Fortifications/dp/0807831549/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399927523&sr=8-1&keywords=trench warfare under lee and grant