Spotsylvania Battlefield

Today I visited the Spotsylvania Battlefield area of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, where the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House took place, from May 8th to 21st, 1864.  The first place where I stopped in was an exhibit shelter, a short walk from which are a monument, a cannon, and a directional marker.  All of these are seen in this first picture, along with a modern house in the background.

On the other side of the monument is the name "SEDGWICK", which refers to Union General John Sedgwick, and the phrase "6TH ARMY CORPS", which refers to the troops whom he commanded.  After ignoring warnings from his men to take cover from gunfire by Confederate sharpshooters, he was shot in the head and died instantly.

Here's another shot of the cannon and the directional marker.

I drove down the park's road to an area called the Bloody Angle, where some of the Civil War's fiercest fighting took place.  A short trail leads to these two monuments, one of which is dedicated to the 15 New Jersey Regiment.

The trail continues on to a monument for troops from Ohio who died in the battle.

A side road leads to the site of the McCoull house, which Confederate Corps commander Richard Ewell used as his headquarters.  While farmer Neill McCoull and his family took refuge in the basement, the house was struck by artillery rounds and small arms fire, but survived relatively intact.  It burned down in 1921.

The rock slabs showing where the house once stood are easier to see (to yours truly, it seemed) from the other side.

A trail leads from the parking area for the McCoull house to a monument to Ramseur's Brigade, led by Confederate Brigadier General Stephen Ramseur of North Carolina, and consisting of four regiments from that state.

After I resumed driving on the park's main road, I came upon these Confederate earthworks.

According to the sign in this next picture, these earthworks are part of the Confederate trenches for a salient (a battlefield structure that projects into enemy territory) called "Mule Shoe".

The last thing that I came across which I felt worthy of being photographed was this monument to the 17th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

The park's main road also took me to Heth's Salient, the eastern face of the "Mule Shoe", but I didn't find anything there that I could take a picture of.  Soon after I took the last picture, I came to the end of park's road and thus the end of today's exploration.