Battle of Spotsylvania • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The Forming for the Attack wayside marker is about halfway down a quarter mile trail that leads from Stop two on the Auto Tour to Andrson Drive. It is a short distance from the Upton’s Charge monument.
From the marker:
Forming for the Attack
Had you been here in 1864, you would have been standing at the edge of a field that stretched from here to the Confederate works. Upton’s men advanced four abreast in a column u this road. When they reached this point, they silently deployed into a line of battle just inside the wood line, to the left and right of the road.
To reach the Confederate line, Upton’s men wold have to charge across 200 yards of open ground, claw their way through a barrier of fallen trees purposely placed, and overrun a stout earth-and-log defensive line—all the while exposed to the artillery and infantry fire of the foe. At 5:50 p.m. Upton gave the order to advance.
From the quote at the lower left:
I felt my gorge rise, and my stomach and intestines shrink together in a knot, and a thousand things ushed through my mind… I looked about in the faces of the boys around me, and they told the tale of expected death. Pulling my cap down over my eyes, I stepped out….
Captain Charles Beckwith
121st New YorkVolunteers
From the caption to the main photo:
One of Upton’s regiments, the 96th Pennsylvania, drilling early in the war.
Map and directions to the Forming for the Attack wayside marker
The marker is about 275 yards southeast of Stop Two on the Spotsylvania Battlefield Auto Tour along the Upton’s Trail walking path. It is also 150 yards northwest of a pulloff along Anderson Drive by the continuation of the same trail. (38°13’19.3″N 77°36’17.6″W)
(go to the Upton’s Road page)
(go to the main Battle of Spotsylvania Auto Tour page)