Spotsylvania Courthouse panoramas: The Bloody Angle

      Savage, hand-to-handing fighting took place at The Bloody Angle on May 12, 1864.
              "In this angle of death the dead and wounded rebels lie ... literally in piles." 

Remove the monuments and cut the grass and brush and the scenes above might pass for a golf course fairway or a city park in Anywhere, USA. But this is hallowed ground -- ground where Yankees and Rebels slugged it out in savage, and sometimes hand-to-hand, fighting beginning May 10, 1864 at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. Two days later, a 1,300-man brigade of South Carolinians defended The Bloody Angle -- a slight angle in the Rebel earthworks -- for 18 hours in a downpour against thousands of Yankees. A New York Times correspondent eloquently described the horror of battle in the May 18, 1864 edition:

Close-up of the 15th New Jersey monument at the
 Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Va.

So terrific was the death-grapple, however, that at different times of the day the rebel colors were planted on the one side of the works and ours on the other, the men fighting across the parapet. Nothing during the war has equaled the savage desperation of this struggle, which was continued for fourteen hours, and the scene of the conflict, from which I have just come, presents a spectacle of horror that curdles the blood of the boldest. The angle of the works at which [General Winfield Scott] HANCOCK entered, and for the possession of which the savage fight of the day was made, is a perfect Golgotha. In this angle of death the dead and wounded rebels lie, this morning, literally in piles -- men in the agonies of death groaning beneath the dead bodies of their comrades. On an area of a few acres in rear of their position, lie not less than a thousand rebel corpses, many literally torn to shreds by hundreds of balls, and several with bayonet thrusts through and through their bodies, pierced on the very margins of the parapet, which they were determined to retake or perish in the attempt. The one exclamation of every man who looks on the spectacle is, 'God forbid that I should ever gaze upon such a sight again.'

In early April, John Cummings of the superb Spotsylvania Civil War blog served as my Spotsylvania Courthouse battlefield guide. He explained the fighting at The Muleshoe salient, showed me where Rebels were buried in the woods and gently (and correctly) reminded me not to walk on what remains of the earthworks. John's passion for the battlefield and excellent photographic analysis of it (see here, here and especially here) make his blog well worth visiting. Speaking of worth visiting, the National Park Service is holding 150th anniversary events commemorating the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. Several of the NPS tours, which begin Thursday, will be held in real-time, 150 years after the momentous events occurred.

Monument to McGowan's Brigade of South Carolinians who defended 
The Bloody Angle on May 12, 1864.

The "gulley" in the monument base represents the trench behind the earthworks defended
 by McGowan's brigade. During the battle, which was fought in a downpour, the 
trench filled with water -- and corpses.

History lost: Salem Church (Va.) battlefield

     Pan to left to see the 23rd New Jersey monument. Pan to right to see Salem Church.

Nearly hidden, this battlefield marker is
 near Salem Church.

As fellow blogger John Cummings noted in my post on the loss to development of the Harris Farm battlefield, there have been major preservation victories in Spotsylvania County (Va.), where four major Civil War battles took place. For example, a huge development was stopped at the site of major fighting that occurred at Chancellorsville on May 1, 1863. But sadly, Cummings noted, among "horrific losses" are sites such as the Brown Farm, where Winfield Scott Hancock launched his assault on the Mule Shoe on May 12, 1863, and Myer's Hill, where George Meade was nearly captured two days later. The Salem Church battlefield, which I visited for the first time in early April, is another one of those major defeats for preservationists.

An interchange built in the 1960s on I-95 spawned massive development along State Route 3 (the historic Orange Turnpike), leading to the destruction of the site where Union and Confederate armies suffered more than 9,500 casualties on May 3, 1863. Even the National Park Service web site concedes: "Salem Church is located amongst a virtual sea of shopping malls."

The Mysteries and Conundrums blog explains the loss in greater detail  and provides two neat photos of what the battlefield looked like before it was virtually wiped out. Salem Church, behind Rebel lines during the battle and used as a field hospital, remains -- an island in a sea of asphalt and other urban clutter. I shot the interactive panorama above during my visit, amazingly not capturing six-lane State Route 3 when it was packed with traffic.

Six-lane State Route 3 makes visiting Salem Church a challenge. (Google Maps)

      Salem Church battlefield has been nearly obliterated by development. (Google Maps)