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Spotsylvania Courthouse Essay

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Spotsylvania Courthouse Essay
On May 7, 1864 Ulysses S. Grant orders the army to of potomac to head toward Spotsylvania Court House. Spotsylvania Courthouse is a small town off a trail on the way to Richmond, Virginia. Grant was attempting to cut off Robert E. Lee’s army that was heading for Richmond or at least get Lee’s army into an open field where the Unions would be able to take advantage with their superior numbers. It was Conf. general J.E.B. Stuart’s job to stop the federals from getting to Spotsylvania. For a couple of days, a part of Stuart’s cavalry, led by Fitz Lee, battled union horseman for the control of the Brock Road. The Brock Road was the most direct route between the wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. Lee was forced to relinquish his position near …show more content…
Fortunately for Stuart and Fitz Lee, help was near at hand. General Richard Anderson, now in command of James Longstreet’s first corps, had marched for Spotsylvania over night and by morning of May 8, his troops were nearing Laurel Hill. Believing Spotsylvania to be within his grasp, Union Maj. Gen. Gouveneur K. Warren advanced his fifth corps up Laurel where they found Maj. Gen. Richard Anderson and Longstreet’s corps opposing them. Warren’s attempts to drive the Conf. back failed and the opposing sides began to settle.

During this time Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, the union sixth corps commander was shot dead, making him the highest ranking Union officer to be killed during the war. Grant tried to break the deadlock in Spotsylvania over the next 2 days. On May 9, Grant sent a portion of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock’s second corps across the the Po river attempting to find Lee’s left flank.Lee noticed what Hancock was doing so he shifted 2 divisions to counter the federals at Block House Bridge, Which forced the yankees back across the river. Grant spent the next day probing Lee’s line for weaknesses and nearly found one when a young colonel named Emory Upton breached the Conf. line for a short period of time with a
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