Battle of Spotsylvania • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House lasted from May 8 to May 21, 1864. It immediately followed the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5 & 6. Other than dealing with the loss of about 30,000 casualties in the Wilderness, the organization of the armies remained the same. Four Union infantry corps still faced three Confederate infantry corps, with the cavalry corps of both armies for the most part dueling with each other away from the battlefield.
It was during the two weeks of fighting at Spotsylvania Court House that the armies changed.
The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia (see organization)
Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia saw major changes during the battle. In the Battle of the Wilderness Longstreet had been lost to friendly fire, with Richard Anderson moved from his division in the Third Corps to replace him. On May 8 A.P. Hill’s chronic sickness became so severe that he could no longer stay in the saddle, and Jubal Early was brought from his division in the Second Corps to take over. On May 11 J.E.B. Stuart was mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern. Lee was left with only one of his four corps commanders he had started with a week earlier, Richard Ewell in the Second Corps.
The Union Army of the Potomac (see organization)
In the Army of the Potomac Mott’s Fourth Division of the Second Corps was discontinued and its brigades attached to Birney’s Third Division. A new Fourth Division was created of heavy artillery regiments sent down from the Washington defences to fight as infantry – inexperienced troops who would die in great numbers in the coming weeks. Robinson’s Second Division of the Fifth Corps would be broken up and its brigades distributed to other divisions in the corps. The Artillery Reserve was dissolved and its batteries distributed to the artillery brigades of the individual corps.
And it was the Second Corps that took the most severe damage during the battle. Hancock’s attack on the Muleshoe on May 12 killed or captured the better part of Johnson’s Division, including its commander Edward Johnston. Losses were so heavy that the survivors of 14 regiments from three brigades – including the legendary Stonewall Brigade – were consolidated into one understrength brigade. The majority of four artillery batteries were also lost. The remnants of the division were consolidated into Early’s Division under the the command of John Gordon.