After the Battle of the Wilderness, the advance of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade on Richmond by the left flank stalled at Spotsylvania Court House. For two weeks, from May 8 to 21, 1864, a series of bloody conflicts took place before Grant once again disengaged and continued his advance on the Confederate capital, known as his Overland Campaign.
Included in this tour, led by Civil War historians Ed Bearss and Gregg Clemmer, is the Bloody Angle. Here Grant captured nearly a division of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s men and almost cut his army in half during nearly 20 hours of perhaps the most ferocious sustained combat of the war. Also viewed is the Harris Farm, site of the Confederate effort to turn the Union’s right flank.
Lunch is at Scafa’s Italian Restaurant in Spotsylvania.
8 a.m. to 7 p.m. by bus from the Holiday Inn Capitol at 550 C St., S.W. with a pick-up stop at the Horner Rd. commuter lot bus shelter, I-95, Exit 158B, at about 8:25 a.m.
This tour includes up to two miles of walking.
Other Connections
This tour is sold out, but the chance to walk through history with Ed Bearss is still possible with this “The Seven Days Battle Tour.” Follow along as Bearss and Gregg Clemmer lead you through the second phase of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s 1862 advance up the Virginia Peninsula. Stops will be made along the way at Gaines’ Mill, Glendale battlefield, and Mavern Hill.
Join us as we travel from the great cathedral city of Reims to Paris to explore some of the most important sites of the Great War.
Visit the Smithsonian Journeys page to see more
European trips.
