Spotsylvania

In spite of losing about 17,000 men in the Battle of the Wilderness, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant pressed on toward Richmond. On May 8, north of Spotsylvania, the Union Army of the Potomac met Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Fighting continued for 2 weeks, resulting in approximately 30,000 casualties; among them was Union general John Sedgwick, who was killed by a sharpshooter.

The fighting reached its zenith May 12 when Union and Confederate armies struggled for 20 hours over a turn in the Confederate logworks known as the Bloody Angle. Though neither side could claim victory, Grant continued toward Richmond.