Battle History
The attack on the 12th was the last of the hard fighting
about Spottsylvania. Hancock was ordered to hold his corps in
readiness to renew the assault at 4 o'clock the next morning,
but owing to a dark and rainy night the other commands were
not in position at the appointed hour to support him and the
attack was abandoned. Artillery firing was kept up from the
13th to the 18th, chiefly to cover the movement of the army to
a position covering the Fredericksburg road on Lee's right,
and there was a slight skirmish near Piney Branch Church on
the 15th. In his report Grant says: "Deeming it impracticable
to make any further attack upon the enemy at Spottsylvania
Court House, orders were issued on the 18th with a view to a
movement to the North Anna, to commence at 12 o'clock on the
night of the 19th." This movement was interfered with by
Ewell coming out of his works late on the afternoon of the
19th and attacking the Federal right near the Harris farm on
the Fredericksburg road north of the Ny river. The attack was
promptly repulsed, but it delayed the movement to the North
Anna until the night of the 21st.
The Union loss at Spottsylvania, during the ten days
fighting, was 2,725 killed, 13,416 wounded and 2,258 missing.
The Confederate losses were not officially reported and
various estimates have been made, some of which place the
total in killed, wounded and missing as high as 15,000. Maj.
Jed Hotchkiss, who was topographer for Lee's army and author
of the Virginia volume of the Confederate Military History,
places the total loss at 8,000 and significantly adds: "but
these were 18 per cent of the army."
Source: The Union Army, vol. 6
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Last Modified: Sunday, July 19 1998