Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Part 1 | "Our Rain of Lead"

welcome everyone to history gone Wilder part of half history will travel I'm your host the Wilder historian Dr Lucas Wilder and this episode starts the battle for Spotsylvania Courthouse part of my animation for the entire Overland campaign if you haven't watched my series on the Wilderness please check it out it'll give you context as to how the two armies got to this point if you like what I do please consider subscribing to the channel if you haven't done so already join the patreon page and purchase something from the Teespring store or Etsy shop every little bit helps thank you the battle of the Wilderness ended on May 6th jiss Grant commander of all Union forces and making his headquarters with the army of the pomac now had a decision to make he hadn't made any Headway in the thick underbrush of the Wilderness so he could either move East to Fredericksburg and fight along the main rail line to Richmond or move in a more southeasterly Direction and bypass Robert El's right flank to put his army in between Robert El Le's Army and the Confederate Capital at Richmond he would choose the latter early on May 7th Grant sent word to the commander of the army of the pomac George Gordon me to begin moving his men towards Spotsylvania Courthouse Governor K Warren's fifth core would lead the advance Robert E Lee commanding the army of Northern Virginia wagered that Grant would move towards Bania Courthouse especially since intelligence reports indicated that the river crossing equipment had been removed from the Rapidan River on May 7th Lee ordered Richard Anderson the temporary commander of James Long Street's Corp after that General wounding on May 6th to pull his men away from the front lines at dark and prepare to March towards psylvia Courthouse Anderson would take a crude road that Lee ordered brigador General William Pendleton to construct known as Pendleton's Road a sharp engagement between union general Philip Sheridan's Cavalry and Confederate general Jeb Stewart's Cavalry raged at Todd's Tavern a key location on the Brock Road the most direct route to Spotsylvania Courthouse Union Cavalry controlled Todd Tavern but Confederate Cavalry remained on the Brock Road blocking the path for the Union's fifth Corp late in the day on May 7th Anderson's core and Warren's fifth Corp began moving toward the courthouse Fitz U Lee and his Cavalry guarded the intersection of the Brock Road in the Old Courthouse Road but Federal Horsemen were behind him already at Spotsylvania Courthouse Anderson's Corp led by Joseph Kershaw's division was approaching the intersection to help Le Cavalry the Confederate cavalryman oversaw by their core Commander Jeb Stewart and their division Commander Fitz U Lee cut down small pine trees to form a breast workor to defend against the approaching Union infantry Warren's fifth Corp was now going to attempt to capture the intersection leading to spania courthouse the third and second South Carolina arrived first and took the place of the Rebel Horsemen L's Brigade of Robinson's division met stiff resistance from the Confederate infantry the withering fire from the south Carolinians forced L's men back even before some of them came into battle line but there were more blue troops coming a member of the second South Carolina remembered that when Union troops reached a large Wild Cherry Tree on the right side of the road the third fired a solid and withering volley into it and this was quickly followed by a similar volley by our regiment the federals seemed completely surprised staggered and as we continued our reign of lead into their ranks broke and retreated in great disorder down the hill and took shelter in a Woods in their rear more Rebels were making their way to the scene of the engagement Anderson and Joseph Kershaw not knowing the terrain had Jeb Stewart Place the Infantry regiments as they came up the rest of John hedigan troops filed to the left as Joseph Bartlett and Andrew Dennison's Union brigades reached the field the marylanders under Dennison were just as surprised to see Confederate infantry as L's men were and in a rush to attack intermingled into a solid mass in the the attack by Dennison John Robinson was shot in the knee and Dennison was hit in the arm both men would lose their limbs to amputation Charles Phelps who took over as commander of Dennison's Brigade would be pinned under his horse the marylanders after a brief fight pulled away from the engagement Joseph Bartlett was unsure about attacking the Confederate position his division Commander Charles Griffin ordered him to take the position but Bartlett was concerned about the enemy's strength and artillery in front of him when Bartlett insisted on Griffin looking at the situation personally Griffin arrived and looked at the Confederate position Griffin explained that all that was in front of them was a few dismounted Cavalry and for him to take it with the bayonet Bartlett's men rushed into the woods concealing the South Carolinians the pennsylvanians on the brigade's right made it the breast works but many were taken prisoner as they were too tired to fight or run from the previous couple days of hard marching and fighting Bartlett's men now fell back Warren was in a desperate situation he was to lead the Union Army to Spotsylvania Courthouse but now three of his brigades had been thrown back Warren had to clear the road more of his brigades were now on the field and he would try to dislodge the rebels again romae SS's Brigade Advanced at a diagonal with swater 62nd Pennsylvania on their right at almost a perpendicular angle to the Confederates who threw flank and fire into the Union ranks the attack didn't last long as the blue regiments faded from the field Warren now only had Jacob schatz's Brigade and Richard coulter's Brigade available to attack but schatz's Brigade was spread out guarding artillery batteries so couter was left to attack the Confederate Works reports are scarce as to what happened during coulter's attack or even in what formation the men were in but apparently they got close enough to the rebel breast Works to plant at least one flag on the entrenchments then were pushed back to the southeast Wilson's Cavalry who stayed in control of Spotsylvania Courthouse during the opening phase of the engagement would lose control of the location when good Brian and William watford's brigades approached from the south which made Confederate control of the Brock Road in the Old Courthouse Road intersection more secure losander Cutler former commander of the iron Brigade now rode at the head of William wadsworth's division when that division Commander got mortally wounded in the wilderness the division now marched down the Brock Road ready to be fed into the Fortified Confederate position more than just the union division under Cutler made it to the field Charles Fields division of Anderson core also made it to the intersection of the Old Courthouse Road in the Brock Road bent on preventing Grant from getting to the courthouse when the three brigades of Cutler attacked each Brigade faced trouble Ross's front line made up of the 95th New York and the 52nd Pennsylvania got turned back from the spindle Farm amidst the burning of the spindle home which had been targeted by Confederate artillery because Union Sharpshooters used it as a concealed location to fire on the rebel lines Edward Bragg and William Robinson ran into part of William Perry's Alabama Brigade who had also Advanced against the approaching Federal Soldiers with flank and fire hitting them as well as gunfire from the front Cutler's division pulled back it was now about 11:30 a.m. on May 8th and the army of Northern Virginia was making a stand on the Brock Road each side now rushed troops to the precarious sector Grant was unlike other Union Generals Lee had faced such a stubborn stand in the wilderness may have convinced other Union Generals to retreat but Grant was moving south when the soldiers in the army of the pomac began their March towards Spotsylvania Courthouse they cheered because they were heading toward Richmond not like the other times where a hardfought battle resulted in a Northern withdrawal

Channel: History Gone Wilder | Have History Will Travel

Views: 4,636

Keywords: American Civil War, Overland Campaign, Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, George Meade, Battle of the Wilderness, Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Bloodiest Civil War Battle, Confederacy, Union, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Confederate Generals, Greatest Civil War Battles

Id: EgK-o6f-168

Length: 7min 41sec (461 seconds)

Published: Tue May 07 2024