192 The American Civil War
to press southward again, keeping the
pressure on Lee.
Early on 7 May, Grant issued orders to
leave the Wilderness and head southeast
toward Spotsylvania Court House, where the
regional road net afforded a chance to slip
between Lee and Richmond. When Grant
turned south, despite having suffered as
grievous losses as had prompted other
commanders to return north, he put the war
in Virginia onto a new track. Soldiers sensed
the new resolve when they divined the
direction of the move, and cheered
boisterously. Tens of thousands of them
would be shot in the next four weeks,
but the army would continue to press
steadily southward.
The march toward Spotsylvania Court
House turned into a dramatic race fraught
with mighty consequences. In a remarkable
bout of prescience, Lee had ordered months
before the improvement of a set of woods
roads that paralleled the Brock Road, leading
toward Spotsylvania. He selected General
Richard H. Anderson, a phlegmatic officer, to
replace temporarily the wounded Longstreet
at the head of the First Corps. Anderson put
his troops on the road to Spotsylvania, and
found no good place to stop because of
burning woods and narrow byways - so he
kept marching all night long.
Federal progress on the far better Brock
Road faltered in the face of scattered, but
determined, resistance from Confederate
cavalry. General Philip H. Sheridan, a Grant
crony from the west, was new to command
of the Federal cavalry, which should have
shouldered the gray-clad skirmishers out of
the way with ease. Sheridan was scheming
this night, however, about getting out from
under Meade's orders and instead reporting
directly to his friend Grant. As a result, the
Confederate resistance held on at one
sketchy position after another all night.
Early on 8 May the race to Spotsylvania
ended with Confederates controlling the key
intersection on the Spindle Farm a matter of
moments before Meade's advance arrived
there. The consequence of Sheridan's
indifference and Anderson's inability to stop
Confederates used felled trees covered with earth to
fabricate an intricate set of field fortifications unlike
anything that had been used earlier in the war. This view
is in the vicinity of the nose of the Mule Shoe, near what
became 'the Bloody Angle.' (Public domain)was a very narrow margin of success for the
Confederates. All day long, Federals trudged
across an open field into Southern rifle fire,
hoping to gain the intersection that they
had lost in the race. They never succeeded,
on 8 May or on several subsequent days.
Thousands of them fell killed or wounded in
the forlorn attempts.
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
churned across a broad stretch of country for
two weeks, from the meeting engagement on
8 May until 21 May. Never before had field
armies in Virginia remained in close contact
for more than a few days. Now the war was
changing, edging away from dash and
maneuver toward mighty defensive works
and, eventually, positional warfare
resembling a siege.
Most of General Lee's defensive line at
Spotsylvania took advantage of good ground
along a ridge that covered four miles (6.4km)
of farming country between the Po and Ni
rivers. From the point at which the 8 May
race ended, units of both sides spread in
both directions, entrenching as they went.