Prelude to Battle - May 11, 1864

On this day 155 years ago, a chilling lull fell over the battlefield at Spotsylvania Court House after the previous day's intense fighting. The fighting had been raging here since the 8th and, but for some small-scale skirmishing, nothing of significance occurred on this day.

Grant, while disappointed in the Army of the Potomac's failures the day before, had reason for optimism. Upton's assault had pierced the Confederate lines at the Mule Shoe and had done so with only 5,000 men. Had he been properly supported, it was reasonable to assume that a major breakthrough could have been achieved on the evening of the 10th. This logic was backed up by Horatio Wright, the new commander of the Union VI Corps after the death of John Sedgwick two days prior.

Wright believed that if a corps-sized assault hit the Mule Shoe, a breakthrough of the Confederate lines could be achieved. And so Grant and Meade came together at army headquarters and came to the conclusion that it should be Hancock's II Corps to lead the grand assault on the Mule Shoe. Burnside's IX Corps would support Hancock on his left flank. While Burnside and Hancock were attacking the salient, Wright and Warren would be applying pressure on Laurel Hill with the VI and V Corps.

On the morning of May 11, Grant sent a now-famous message via telegraph to the War Department Office in Washington. Addressed to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, the message read quite simply: "The result to this time is much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy as well as those of the enemy. I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."

On the Confederate side, Robert E. Lee continued to remain baffled by Grant's intentions. While his army at held up well since the campaign began back on May 4, his despatches paint a picture of a man who knows he is facing an opponent quite unlike anyone he had fought previously. On the evening of the 11th, intelligence reports convince Lee that Grant is about to withdraw north to Fredericksburg.

Sensing opportunity, Lee wanted to be able to move quickly with an immediate attack should Grant begin falling back to the north. To make sure this happened, Lee ordered all artillery within the Mule Shoe to be withdrawn to the east to make ready for a rapid move to the right. This played right into the Union hands for, at that very moment, 20,000 Union soldiers were making ready to attack the very position Lee had just weakened.

Thus the stage was now set for one of the bloodiest and most savage hand-to-hand fights in the annals of military history...