11/12/2025
The opening shots of what would end up being an almost two-week fight at Spotsylvania Court House occurred on May 8, 1864, near the Spindle Farm, and now known as Laurel Hill. Making the attacks on the previously arriving Confederate troops were the soldiers of Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren’s Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac.
After marching down Brock Road early that morning, several of the brigades in Warren’s Corps filed to the right and into position to make attacks on their foes across the way. Warren hoped to secure the Confederate position before it became too strong. In effort to meet the emergency, the Federal attacks happened largely in piecemeal fashion. Getting enough reinforcements into position in time proved troubling, and little effort went into maneuvering to find an advantage. The Confederate defenders rebuffed the assaults. At one point in the fighting, Gen. Warren rode forward, grabbed a flag, and attempted to rally the troops. It proved futile as the casualty count continued to grow.
In 2018, CVBT saved 14.4 acres where the Fifth Corps brigades embarked on their attacks at Laurel Hill. These acres also witnessed additional action in the following days. We are currently campaigning to save 7 acres just a few hundred yards west of there. Will you help us? https://bit.ly/4n82taD
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress
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