✦ History

Part of American Civil War

Battle of Spotsylvania

May 8–21, 1864 · Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia

Result Inconclusive

The battle was tactically inconclusive, but both sides claimed victory: the Confederacy because it held its defenses, the Union because the Federal offensive continued while Lee's irreplaceable losses mounted. With almost 32,000 casualties on both sides, Spotsylvania was the costliest battle of the campaign.

On the map Contemporaries

Union

Confederacy

United States
Confederate States of America
Ulysses S. Grant George Meade John Sedgwick military commander
Robert E. Lee

Strength and losses

Strength
108,000–115,400100,000, 100,000
Casualties
18,39918,000
Killed
2,7252,730, 2,725
Wounded
13,41613,470, 13,416
Missing
2,2582,300, 2,258
Strength
52,000–63,00052,000, 50,000
Casualties
12,68712,000
Killed
1,5151,000
Wounded
5,4144,000
Missing
5,7584,000
Guns lost
18

Units

Army of the Potomac George Meade Major general · 1863–1865 Cavalry Corps (Union Army) Philip Henry Sheridan Major general · 1864 II Corps (Union Army) Winfield Scott Hancock Major general · 1864 Irish Brigade (Union Army) IX Corps (Union Army) Under Grant's direct orders, not the Army of the Potomac, until May 24, 1864 Ambrose Burnside Major general · 1864 V Corps (Union Army) Gouverneur Kemble Warren Major general · 1864–1865 Iron Brigade 20th Maine Infantry Regiment
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VI Corps (Union Army) John Sedgwick Major general · 1864 Horatio Gouverneur Wright Major general · 1864 14th Infantry Regiment (United States) 1st Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment 4th Infantry Regiment (United States) 7th Indiana Infantry Regiment 87th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
Army of Northern Virginia Strength c. 52,000 Robert E. Lee General · 1862–1865 Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia J. E. B. Stuart Major general · 1862–1864 First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia Richard Herron Anderson Lieutenant general · 1864 Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia Richard S. Ewell Lieutenant general · 1863–1864 Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia A. P. Hill Lieutenant general · 1863–1865 Jubal Early Lieutenant general · 1864 44th North Carolina Infantry Regiment

Related events 1 degree away • 2 degrees away

 
Battle of the Wilderness
 
Battle of Spotsylvania
 
Battle of New Market

Also involved 4