Battle of Spotsylvania • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
The Confederate Earthworks display and wayside marker are a side trip from the Auto Tour at the western end of Anderson Drive about 1/3 mile west of Tour Stop Three. They are next to the Grant’s May 18th Attack wayside marker.
Anderson Drive originally continued on a short distance west to connect with Brock Road, and a small section of original Confederate earthworks was leveled at the time of construction in the 1930s. After that entrance to the park was closed, the gap in the earthworks became an ideal location to recreate the original earthworks to show how they would look before 150 years of erosion had worn them down.
Civil War Earthworks
The gentle mounds that meander through Spotsylvania Court House battlefield once looked like the reconstructed earthwork in front of you. The armies built more than 12 miles of trenches here, using whatever tools they could find. Lee’s last line, extending off to your right and left, was completed May 12, while fighting ranged at the Bloody Angle, a mile ahead of you. You can see original works on either side of the reconstruction.
Spotsylvania’s earthworks illustrate the changing nature of the Civil War. By 1864 the tactics of maneuver and open-field fighting had given way to trench warfare. Whenever soldiers took position, they started digging. Shielded by earthworks, battle lines moved closer together; soldiers toiled under fire for days on end; attacks became more costly. The war became a daunting struggle to survive not just bullets but stress and exhaustion too.
Do not walk on the earthworks!
This reconstruction replaces original works obliterated by a road in the 1930s. The earthworks on either side are original and fragile.
Over the years the earthworks eroded, filling the ditch and creating the gentle mounds that you see today.
This reconstruction of the earthworks used on the Spotsylvania battlefield replaces a short section of original works that were destroyed during road construction in the 1930s. The defenders would first build a barricade of logs held in place by upright posts. The view below shows the defender’s side of the works.
The front of the log barricade (below) was protected by a layer of dirt thick enough to stop small arms fire. Often a small gap between the earth and the top log (called a head log) was built to allow defenders to fire through the earthworks without exposing themselves over the top. These type of defences could be put up very rapidly in the wooded Virginia countryside, with soldiers using mess tins, cups and their bare hands to pile up the protective dirt.
On the far side of the sign in the photo (which reads “Confederate Trenches. Lee’s Final Line) are the remains of the original Confederate earthworks. The logs have rotted away and 150 years of rain and snow has worn down the dirt, but you can still see them. Please respect the fragility of these relics from the past and avoid walking on them so that they will be there for future visitors.
(go to Stop 6 on the Auto Tour)
(return to the main Battle of Spotsylvania Auto Tour page)
Location of the marker
The Confederate Earthworks and Grant’s May 18th Attack wayside markers are at the western end of Anderson Drive about 1/3 mile west of Tour Stop 4. Anderson Drive used to connect through to Brock Road but now ends here at a small parking area. (38°12’51.4″N 77°36’28.0″W)