Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

Thomas' Legion
American Civil War HOMEPAGE
American Civil War
Causes of the Civil War : What Caused the Civil War
Organization of Union and Confederate Armies: Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery
Civil War Navy: Union Navy and Confederate Navy
American Civil War: The Soldier's Life
Civil War Turning Points
American Civil War: Casualties, Battles and Battlefields
Civil War Casualties, Fatalities & Statistics
Civil War Generals
American Civil War Desertion and Deserters: Union and Confederate
Civil War Prisoner of War: Union and Confederate Prison History
Civil War Reconstruction Era and Aftermath
American Civil War Genealogy and Research
Civil War
American Civil War Pictures - Photographs
African Americans and American Civil War History
American Civil War Store
American Civil War Polls
NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY
North Carolina Civil War History
North Carolina American Civil War Statistics, Battles, History
North Carolina Civil War History and Battles
North Carolina Civil War Regiments and Battles
North Carolina Coast: American Civil War
HISTORY OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
Western North Carolina and the American Civil War
Western North Carolina: Civil War Troops, Regiments, Units
North Carolina: American Civil War Photos
Cherokee Chief William Holland Thomas
HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS
Cherokee Indian Heritage, History, Culture, Customs, Ceremonies, and Religion
Cherokee Indians: American Civil War
History of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Nation
Cherokee War Rituals, Culture, Festivals, Government, and Beliefs
Researching your Cherokee Heritage
Civil War Diary, Memoirs, Letters, and Newspapers

Confederate Army Order of Battle
Army of Northern Virginia

Gen Robert E. Lee, commanding

First Corps

MG Richard H. Anderson

Division

Brigade

Regiments and Others

Kershaw's Division
     BG Joseph B. Kershaw

Kershaw's Brigade


   Col John W. Henagan

  • 2nd South Carolina
  • 3rd South Carolina
  • 7th South Carolina
  • 8th South Carolina
  • 15th South Carolina
  • 3rd South Carolina Battalion

Humphreys' Brigade


   BG Benjamin G. Humphreys

  • 13th Mississippi
  • 17th Mississippi
  • 18th Mississippi
  • 21st Mississippi

Wofford's Brigade


   BG William T. Wofford

  • 16th Georgia
  • 18th Georgia
  • 24th Georgia
  • Cobb's (Georgia) Legion
  • Philip's (Georgia) Legion
  • 3rd Georgia Battalion Sharpshooters

Bryan's Brigade


   BG Goode Bryan

  • 10th Georgia
  • 50th Georgia
  • 51st Georgia
  • 53rd Georgia

Field's Division
     MG Charles W. Field

Jenkins' Brigade


   Col John Bratton

  • 1st South Carolina
  • 2nd South Carolina Rifles
  • 5th South Carolina
  • 6th South Carolina
  • Palmetto Sharpshooters

Gregg's Brigade


   BG John Gregg

  • 3rd Arkansas
  • 1st Texas
  • 4th Texas
  • 5th Texas

Law's Brigade


   Col William F. Perry

  • 4th Alabama
  • 15th Alabama
  • 44th Alabama
  • 47th Alabama
  • 48th Alabama

Anderson's Brigade


   BG George T. Anderson

  • 7th Georgia
  • 8th Georgia
  • 9th Georgia
  • 11th Georgia
  • 59th Georgia

Benning's Brigade


   Col Dudley M. Du Bose

  • 2nd Georgia
  • 15th Georgia
  • 17th Georgia
  • 20th Georgia

Corps Artillery
     BG Edward P. Alexander

Haskell's Battalion


   Maj John C. Haskell

  • Flanner's (North Carolina) Battery
  • Garden's (South Carolina) Battery
  • Lamkin's (Virginia) Battery
  • Ramsay's (North Carolina) Battery

Huger's Battalion


   Ltc Frank Huger

  • Fickling's (South Carolina) Battery
  • Moody's (Louisiana) Battery
  • Parker's (Virginia) Battery
  • Smith's (Virginia) Battery
  • Taylor's (Virginia) Battery
  • Woolfolk's (Virginia) Battery

Cabell's Battalion


   Col Henry C. Cabell

  • Callaway's (Georgia) Battery
  • Carlton's (Georgia) Battery
  • McCarthy's (Virginia) Battery
  • Manly's (North Carolina) Battery

Second Corps

LTG Richard S. Ewell

Division

Brigade

Regiments and Others

Early's Division
     MG Jubal A. Early

     BG John B. Gordon

Pegram's Brigade


   Col John S. Hoffman

  • 13th Virginia
  • 31st Virginia
  • 49th Virginia
  • 52nd Virginia
  • 58th Virginia: Col. Francis H. Board

Johnston's Brigade


   BG Robert D. Johnston (w)
   Col Thomas M. Garrett (k)
   Col Thomas F. Toon

  • 5th North Carolina
  • 12th North Carolina
  • 20th North Carolina
  • 23rd North Carolina

Gordon's Brigade


   BG John B. Gordon
   Col Clement A. Evans

  • 13th Georgia
  • 26th Georgia
  • 31st Georgia
  • 60th Georgia
  • 61st Georgia

Johnson's Division
     MG Edward Johnson
(c)

Stonewall Brigade


   BG James A. Walker (w)

  • 2nd Virginia
  • 4th Virginia
  • 5th Virginia
  • 27th Virginia
  • 33rd Virginia

Jones' Brigade


   Col William Witcher (w)

  • 21st Virginia
  • 25th Virginia
  • 42nd Virginia
  • 44th Virginia
  • 48th Virginia
  • 50th Virginia

Steuart's Brigade


   BG George H. Steuart (c)

  • 1st North Carolina
  • 3rd North Carolina
  • 10th Virginia
  • 23rd Virginia
  • 37th Virginia

Hays' Brigade


   BG Harry T. Hays (w)

  • 1st Louisiana
  • 2nd Louisiana
  • 5th Louisiana
  • 6th Louisiana
  • 7th Louisiana
  • 8th Louisiana
  • 9th Louisiana
  • 10th Louisiana
  • 14th Louisiana
  • 15th Louisiana

Rodes's Division
     MG Robert E. Rodes

Daniel's Brigade


   BG Junius Daniel (mw)
   Col Bryan Grimes

  • 32nd North Carolina
  • 43rd North Carolina
  • 45th North Carolina
  • 53rd North Carolina
  • 2nd North Carolina Battalion

Ramseur's Brigade


   BG Stephen D. Ramseur (w)

  • 2nd North Carolina
  • 4th North Carolina
  • 14th North Carolina
  • 30th North Carolina

Battle's Brigade


   BG Cullen A. Battle (w)

  • 3rd Alabama
  • 5th Alabama
  • 6th Alabama
  • 12th Alabama
  • 26th Alabama
  • 61st Alabama

Doles' Brigade


   BG George P. Doles

  • 4th Georgia
  • 12th Georgia
  • 44th Georgia

Corps Artillery
     BG Armistead L. Long

Braxton's Battalion


   Ltc Carter M. Braxton

  • Carpenter's (Virginia) Battery
  • Cooper's (Virginia) Battery
  • Hardwicke's (Virginia) Battery

Nelson's Battalion


   Ltc William Nelson

  • Kirkpatrick's (Virginia) Battery
  • Massie's (Virginia) Battery
  • Milledge's (Georgia) Battery

Page's Battalion


   Maj Richard C. M. Page

  • W. P. Carter's (Virginia) Battery
  • Fry's (Virginia) Battery
  • Page's (Virginia) Battery
  • Reese's (Alabama) Battery

Cutshaw's Battalion


   Maj Wilfred E. Cutshaw

  • Carrington's (Virginia) Battery
  • A. W. Garber's (Virginia) Battery
  • Tanner's (Virginia) Battery

Hardaway's Battalion


   Ltc Robert A. Hardaway

  • Dance's (Virginia) Battery
  • Graham's (Virginia) Battery
  • C. B. Griffin's (Virginia) Battery
  • Jones's (Virginia) Battery
  • B. H. Smith's (Virginia) Battery

Third Corps

LTG A. P. Hill
MG Jubal A. Early

Division

Brigade

Regiments and Others

Anderson's Division
     BG William Mahone

Perrin's Brigade


   BG Abner Perrin k)
   Col John C. C. Sanders

  • 8th Alabama
  • 9th Alabama
  • 10th Alabama
  • 11th Alabama
  • 14th Alabama

Mahone's Brigade


   Col David A. Weiseger

  • 6th Virginia
  • 12th Virginia
  • 16th Virginia
  • 41st Virginia
  • 61st Virginia

Harris's Brigade


   BG Nathaniel H. Harris

  • 12th Mississippi
  • 16th Mississippi
  • 19th Mississippi
  • 48th Mississippi

Perry's Brigade


   Col David Lang

  • 2nd Florida
  • 5th Florida
  • 8th Florida

Wright's Brigade


   BG Ambrose R. Wright

  • 3rd Georgia
  • 22nd Georgia
  • 48th Georgia
  • 2nd Georgia Battalion
  • 10th Georgia Battalion

Heth's Division
     MG Henry Heth

Davis's Brigade


   BG Joseph R. Davis

  • 2nd Mississippi
  • 11th Mississippi
  • 26th Mississippi
  • 42nd Mississippi
  • 55th North Carolina

Cooke's Brigade


   BG John R. Cooke (w)

  • 15th North Carolina
  • 27th North Carolina
  • 46th North Carolina
  • 48th North Carolina

Walker's Brigade


   BG Henry H. Walker (w)
   Col Robert M. Mayo

  • 13th Alabama
  • 1st Tennessee (Provisional)
  • 7th Tennessee
  • 14th Tennessee
  • 40th Virginia
  • 47th Virginia
  • 55th Virginia
  • 22nd Virginia Battalion

Kirkland's Brigade


   BG William W. Kirkland

  • 11th North Carolina
  • 26th North Carolina: Col. John R. Lane
  • 44th North Carolina
  • 47th North Carolina
  • 52nd North Carolina

Wilcox's Division
     MG Cadmus M. Wilcox

Lane's Brigade


   BG James H. Lane

  • 7th North Carolina
  • 18th North Carolina
  • 28th North Carolina
  • 33rd North Carolina
  • 37th North Carolina

McGowan's Brigade


   BG Samuel McGowan (w)
   Col Joseph N. Brown

  • 1st South Carolina (Provisional)
  • 1st South Carolina (Orr's Rifles)
  • 12th South Carolina
  • 13th South Carolina
  • 14th South Carolina

Scales' Brigade


   BG Alfred M. Scales

  • 13th North Carolina
  • 16th North Carolina
  • 22nd North Carolina
  • 34th North Carolina
  • 38th North Carolina

Thomas' Brigade


   BG Edward L. Thomas

  • 14th Georgia
  • 35th Georgia
  • 45th Georgia
  • 49th Georgia

Corps Artillery
     Col
R. Lindsay Walker

Poague's Battalion


   Ltc William T. Poague

  • Richard's (Mississippi) Battery
  • Utterback's (Virginia) Battery
  • William's (North Carolina) Battery
  • Wyatt's (Virginia) Battery

Pegram's Battalion


   Ltc William J. Pegram

  • Brander's (Virginia) Battery
  • Cayce's (Virginia) Battery
  • Ellett's (Virginia) Battery
  • Marye's (Virginia) Battery
  • Zimmerman's (South Carolina) Battery

McIntosh's Battalion


   Ltc David G. McIntosh

  • Clutter's (Virginia) Battery
  • Donald's (Virginia) Battery
  • Hurt's (Alabama) Battery
  • Price's (Virginia) Battery

Richardson's Battalion


   Ltc Charles Richardson

  • Grandy's (Virginia) Battery
  • Landry's (Louisiana) Battery
  • Moore's (Virginia) Battery
  • Penick's (Virginia) Battery

Cutts' Battalion


   Col Allen S. Cutts

  • Patterson's (Georgia) Battery
  • Ross' (Georgia) Battery
  • Wingfield's (Georgia) Battery

Cavalry Corps

MG JEB Stuart

Division

Brigade

Regiments and Others

Hampton's Division
     MG Wade Hampton III

Young's Brigade


   BG Pierce M. B. Young

  • 7th Georgia
  • Cobb's (Georgia) Legion
  • Phillips' (Georgia) Legion
  • 20th Georgia Battalion
  • Jeff Davis (Mississippi) Legion

Rosser's Brigade


   BG Thomas L. Rosser

  • 7th Virginia
  • 11th Virginia
  • 12th Virginia
  • 35th Virginia Battalion

Butler's Brigade


(Elements started arriving May 20th)
   BG Matthew Butler

  • 4th South Carolina
  • 5th South Carolina
  • 6th South Carolina

Fitzhugh Lee's Division
     MG Fitzhugh Lee

Lomax' Brigade


   BG Lundsford L. Lomax

  • 5th Virginia
  • 6th Virginia
  • 15th Virginia

Wickham's Brigade


   BG Williams C. Wickham

  • 1st Virginia
  • 2nd Virginia
  • 3rd Virginia
  • 4th Virginia

W.H.F. Lee's Division
     MG W. H. F. Lee

Chambliss' Brigade


   BG John R. Chambliss

  • 9th Virginia
  • 10th Virginia
  • 13th Virginia

Gordon's Brigade


   BG James B. Gordon

  • 1st North Carolina
  • 2nd North Carolina
  • 5th North Carolina

Horse Artillery
     Maj R. Preston Chew

Breathed's Battalion


   Maj James Breathed

  • Hart's (South Carolina) Battery
  • Johnston's (Virginia) Battery
  • McGregor's (Virginia) Battery
  • Shoemaker's (Virginia) Battery
  • Thomson's (Virginia) Battery

Key
 
Military Rank
Gen = General
LTG = Lieutenant General
MG = Major General
BG = Brigadier General
Col = Colonel
Ltc = Lieutenant Colonel
Maj = Major
Cpt = Captain
Lt = Lieutenant
 
Other
w = wounded
mw = mortally wounded
k = killed
c = capture

(Related reading below.)

References: Rhea, Gordon C. The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7-12, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997; ----. To The North Anna River: Grant and Lee May 13-15, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000; Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.

Recommended Reading: The Battles For Spotsylvania Court House And The Road To Yellow Tavern, May 7-12, 1864. Description: The second volume in Gordon C. Rhea's peerless five-book series on the Civil War's 1864 Overland Campaign abounds with Rhea's signature detail, innovative analysis, and riveting prose. Here Rhea examines the maneuvers and battles from May 7, 1864, when Grant left the Wilderness, through May 12, when his attempt to break Lee's line by frontal assault reached a chilling climax at what is now called the Bloody Angle. Drawing exhaustively upon previously untapped materials, Rhea challenges conventional wisdom about this violent clash of titans to construct the ultimate account of Grant and Lee at Spotsylvania. Continued below.

About the Author: Gordon C. Rhea is also the author of The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5–6, 1864; To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13–25, 1864, winner of the Fletcher Pratt Literary Award; Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26–June 3, 1864, winner of the Austin Civil War Round Table’s Laney Prize, and Carrying the Flag: The Story of Private Charles Whilden, the Confederacy’s Most Unlikely Hero. He lives in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, with his wife and two sons.

Site search Web search

Advance to:

Recommended Reading: To the North Anna River: Grant And Lee, May 13-25, 1864 (Jules and Frances Landry Award Series). Description: With To the North Anna River, the third book in his outstanding five-book series, Gordon C. Rhea continues his spectacular narrative of the initial campaign between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in the spring of 1864. May 13 through 25, a phase oddly ignored by historians, was critical in the clash between the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia. During those thirteen days—an interlude bracketed by horrific battles that riveted the public’s attention—a game of guile and endurance between Grant and Lee escalated to a suspenseful draw on Virginia’s North Anna River. Continued below.

From the bloodstained fields of the Mule Shoe to the North Anna River, with Meadow Bridge, Myers Hill, Harris Farm, Jericho Mills, Ox Ford, and Doswell Farm in between, grueling night marches, desperate attacks, and thundering cavalry charges became the norm for both Grant’s and Lee’s men. But the real story of May 13–25 lay in the two generals’ efforts to outfox each other, and Rhea charts their every step and misstep. Realizing that his bludgeoning tactics at the Bloody Angle were ineffective, Grant resorted to a fast-paced assault on Lee’s vulnerable points. Lee, outnumbered two to one, abandoned the offensive and concentrated on anticipating Grant’s maneuvers and shifting quickly enough to repel them. It was an amazingly equal match of wits that produced a gripping, high-stakes bout of warfare—a test, ultimately, of improvisation for Lee and of perseverance for Grant.

 

Recommended Reading: The Spotsylvania Campaign: May 7-21, 1864 (Great Campaigns). Description: A very detailed examination of the Spotsylvania Campaign. A dramatic study of the campaign and the clash of the titans - Robert E. Lee against Ulysses S. Grant – and it is a book that you will refuse to put down. Continued below.

About the Author: John Cannan has established a reputation among Civil War writers in a remarkably short time. His distinctions include three books selected by the Military Book Club. He is the author of The Atlanta Campaign, The Wilderness Campaign, and The Spotsylvania Campaign. Cannan is an historic preservation attorney residing in Baltimore.

 

Recommended Reading: The Spotsylvania Campaign (Military Campaigns of the Civil War) (Hardcover). Description: The Spotsylvania Campaign marked a crucial period in the confrontation between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in Virginia. Waged over a two-week period in mid-May 1864, it included some of the most savage fighting of the Civil War and left indelible marks on all involved. Approaching topics related to Spotsylvania from a variety of perspectives, the contributors to this volume explore questions regarding high command, tactics and strategy, the impact of fighting on officers and soldiers in both armies, and the ways in which some participants chose to remember and interpret the campaign. They offer insight into the decisions and behavior of Lee and of Federal army leaders, the fullest descriptions to date of the horrific fighting at the "Bloody Angle" on May 12, and a revealing look at how Grant used his memoirs to offset Lost Cause interpretations of his actions at Spotsylvania and elsewhere in the Overland Campaign. Continued below...

Meet the Contributors:

—William A. Blair, Grant's Second Civil War: The Battle for Historical Memory
—Peter S. Carmichael, We Respect a Good Soldier, No Matter What Flag He Fought Under: The 15th New Jersey Remembers Spotsylvania
—Gary W. Gallagher, I Have to Make the Best of What I Have: Robert E. Lee at Spotsylvania
—Robert E. L. Krick, Stuart's Last Ride: A Confederate View of Sheridan's Raid
—Robert K. Krick, An Insurmountable Barrier between the Army and Ruin: The Confederate Experience at Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle
—William D. Matter, The Federal High Command at Spotsylvania
—Carol Reardon, A Hard Road to Travel: The Impact of Continuous Operations on the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia in May 1864
—Gordon C. Rhea, The Testing of a Corp Commander: Gouverneur Kemble Warren at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania

 

Recommended Reading: If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (Hardcover). Description: The termination of the war and the fate of the Union hung in the balance in May of 1864 as Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac clashed in the Virginia countryside—first in the battle of the Wilderness, where the Federal army sustained greater losses than at Chancellorsville, and then further south in the vicinity of Spotsylvania Courthouse, where Grant sought to cut Lee's troops off from the Confederate capital of Richmond. This is the first book-length examination of the pivotal Spotsylvania campaign of 7-21 May. Continued below.

Drawing on extensive research in manuscript collections across the country and an exhaustive reading of the available literature, William Matter sets the strategic stage for the campaign before turning to a detailed description of tactical movements. He offers abundant fresh material on race from the Wilderness to Spotsylvania, the role of Federal and Confederate cavalry, Emory Upton's brilliantly conceived Union assault on 10 May, and the bitter clash on 19 May at the Harris farm. Throughout the book, Matter assesses each side's successes, failures, and lost opportunities and sketches portraits of the principal commanders. The centerpiece of the narrative is a meticulous and dramatic treatment of the horrific encounter in the salient that formed the Confederate center on 12 May. There the campaign reached its crisis, as soldiers waged perhaps the longest and most desperate fight of the entire war for possession of the Bloody Angle—a fight so savage that trees were literally shot to pieces by musket fire. Matter's sure command of a mass of often-conflicting testimony enables him to present by far the clearest account to date of this immensely complex phase of the battle. Rigorously researched, effectively presented, and well supported by maps, this book is a model tactical study that accords long overdue attention to the Spotsylvania campaign. It will quickly take its place in the front rank of military studies of the Civil War.

 

Recommended Reading: Trench Warfare under Grant and Lee: Field Fortifications in the Overland Campaign (Civil War America) (Hardcover). Description: In the study of field fortifications in the Civil War that began with Field Armies and Fortifications in the Civil War, Hess turns to the 1864 Overland campaign to cover battles from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor. Drawing on meticulous research in primary sources and careful examination of trench remnants at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, and Bermuda Hundred, Hess describes Union and Confederate earthworks and how Grant and Lee used them in this new era of field entrenchments.

Return to American Civil War Homepage

Best viewed with Internet Explorer or Google Chrome

google.com, pub-2111954512596717, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0