The Final Fight for Spotsylvania Court House

The Final Fight for Spotsylvania Court House | Overland 160

Рет қаралды 10,037

Ай бұрын

This video is part of our series commemorating the 160th Anniversary of The Overland Campaign. You can view the full series here: • The Overland Campaign ... #spotsylvaniacourthousetour
The Trust Education team wraps up our coverage of the fighting at Spotsylvania Court House.
The American Battlefield Trust preserves America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educates the public about what happened there and why it matters. We permanently protect these battlefields for future generations as a lasting and tangible memorial to the brave soldiers who fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.

Пікірлер: 43

@Rowehouse1819 Ай бұрын

You guys did overland campaign justice. Thanks for everything!

@dadsongs Ай бұрын

Again, I can't thank you enough. What a great summation of a monumental struggle. Also, great to see Sarah IN FRONT of the camera. I hope to see more from her.

@sethgraves4572 Ай бұрын

This has been such an amazing series! It has been years since I visited Spotsylvania Courthouse...watching this series just makes me want to load up the family and go visit it again. Thank you all so much.

@nancyarnold2363 Ай бұрын

Wonderful series! Thank you!!

@annmcgehee1728 Ай бұрын

Excellent overview as Grant continues to push ever closer to Richmond/ Petersburg!!!

@TheJimmyidol 20 күн бұрын

Thanks from a Canadian Civil War history fan. I've been reading about it since a boy and I'm 60 now.

@legiox3719 Ай бұрын

Been waiting for this video to appear all day!

@terryeustice5399 Ай бұрын

Sheer numbers are the difference in the end of the Army of Northern Virginia. Thank you Sarah, Chris, Dan and Kris. And The American Battlefield Trust Association for these Videos on the Overland Campaign. Thank you for your dedication. 💯❤️👊💕👍

@Zzyzx-- Ай бұрын

Yeah, that's what happens when you whittle your army down by fighting senseless battles and are forced to react instead of manuevering to your advantage. Lee owns this, just like he owned Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. In Overland he finally had to face a superior General who was unimpressed with his reputation and was not going to retreat.

@craigcolandro2781 Ай бұрын

@@Zzyzx-- Just as Grant owned Cold Harbor, right? Not superior in my opinion, an equal perhaps. Grant was no genius, he simply knew it was a numbers game and could sacrifice as many men as needed to eventually win by attrition. Pretty obvious reasoning when you think about it, the fact that all of the Union Generals before him couldn't figure that out tells you a lot about them.

@Zzyzx-- Ай бұрын

@@craigcolandro2781 Grant made plenty of mistakes during his military career, Cold Harbor and the Crater being two of them in 1864. They were two more tragic mistakes in a tragic war but neither jeopardized the existence of the Union. Lee fought battles resulting in casualties the South couldn't possibly sustain. His mistakes resulted in final Confederate defeat and he himself saw it coming. There's a big difference between having the numbers and using the numbers to win - witness McClellan at Antietam who had double the troops and better supplies than Lee and barely managed a tactical draw. If military victory is nothing but a numbers game, shouldn't Davis and Lee have known this and planned the South's campaigns accordingly? They both knew the North could make good it's losses and the South couldn't. The South could definitely have won independence from the Union despite the North's advantages in numbers but they had to stay reasonably intact and in existence to do so. But that wasn't Lee's mentality. Longstreet and Lee famously clashed at Gettysburg over offensive versus defensive fighting. The Confederate losses of 1862-63 led to Lee facing a larger, stronger Union army in 1864 while, at the same time, Sherman abandoned his supply line and cut the heart out of Georgia. Things could have worked out very differently for the South if in '64 they still had most of the troops Lee squandered in '62-63. No, Grant and Lee are not equals. Grant lost some tactical battles but always won the strategic victories. Lee won several tactical battles, some brilliantly, but never won a truly strategic victory, one that would lead to Southern independance. Grant was clearly the superior General and for my money, the greatest General of the Civil War.

@gsilcoful Ай бұрын

Thank you.

@Zzyzx-- Ай бұрын

Another great Overland episode by ABT - really enjoying this series, finally giving this campaign the coverage it deserves!

@bigsarge2085 Ай бұрын

Incredible history.

@jasonharris2006 Ай бұрын

spotsy? Like potsy? ..lol...love you guys and your mission!!!

@ktd9 Ай бұрын

Great presentation as usual…Thanks !!!❤❤❤🙏🙏

@lawrencemyers3623 Ай бұрын

Good presentation, as always. Am also looking forward to Chris Mackowski's book on Spotsylvania coming out later this year.

@waltw4537 Ай бұрын

This has been a great educational series. Thanks. Nan! The wind is sounding a bit like cannon in the distance.. Great analysis. Thanks again.

@davidfolts5893 Ай бұрын

Thank you for your great Civil War content!

@danieljosiahcotton Ай бұрын

You guys have done an amazing job. Thanks so much!

@ronyantz7349 Ай бұрын

These were the battles that spelled the end ! Lee's forces were being bleed out!

@cmdrflake Ай бұрын

If there’s any place that embodies the futility of war, this campaign is an excellent example. Lee lost too many men he couldn’t replace. Grant knew that and exploited it for the final year of the war.

@John-1850 Ай бұрын

I am enjoying your series of videos so much! I hope you can continue all year.

@MrFrostings Ай бұрын

“It’s a pleasure to be with us”? Haha! Good one Chris

@bills6963 Ай бұрын

Brilliant stuff (as always)!

@georgelesnick2003 Ай бұрын

Two more historians who put way more weight on Grant’s memoirs than they should. More herd mentality. They casually say Lee could not predict Grant’s movements. Where did Lee ever say that? It’s nonsense. What Lee actually said was he could not predict the movements of Meade. Meade is the one who moved that army. He handled the tactics. When Grant said that Meade handled all the details so he could mature his overall plans He meant that. It manifested itself in him often sitting in the rear of the army, sitting on a log whittling a piece of wood. The first thing RE Lee said after he signed the surrender instrument at Appomattox was please let General Meade know about this. He knew who was pounding him all those many months leading to Appomattox. Even if today’s historians don’t.

@HahaHaha-vs4ib Ай бұрын

Hello! I’m new to Civil war history and just wanted to ask something, is there something about German volunteers in the union army?

@citizenbobx Ай бұрын

What do you mean?

@DeepRiverAsheville 18 күн бұрын

I think Spotsylvania doesn’t get the recognition and honor it deserves for being one of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Also, the ferocity and viciousness with which it was fought, especially in the Mule Shoe demands more historical attention and significance; the only comparable battle for ferocity and viciousness that I can think of is at the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, though it was smaller in size.

@craigcolandro2781 Ай бұрын

The loss of the Alsop and Harris farms to modern development is such a shame, wish it were not so, but it is.

@JeagerTank 24 күн бұрын

Youell be sorry. Youell regret that. Youell be back. Youell be relieved to know. Youell know better next round.

@georgelesnick2003 Ай бұрын

I’m flabbergasted. Did I just hear Chris M say the army and leadership out west was superior to the AOP? Please. The arm at West was not even up against the second string. Lightning movements? How long was the Vicksburg campaign? Very insulting to the army, the Potomac and its leadership for that matter.

@johnzajac9849 Ай бұрын

Is Grant trading Union lives for votes for Lincoln in November 1864?

@dsmonington Ай бұрын

That makes zero sense. Dead union soldiers loses Lincoln support, not increases it.

@Zzyzx-- Ай бұрын

Wow, I guess it would have worked out much better for his legacy if Grant had just stayed north of the Rapidan and avoided all these controversies about illegal campaign contributions for Lincoln

@DeepRiverAsheville 18 күн бұрын

Two final comments about Spotsylvania: First, why doesn’t the National Park Service cut down the trees in the Mule Shoe so we can see what it looked like on say, May 12th? Second, and some if not all of you make think me blasphemous and disrespectful, but why not rebuild the earthworks to look like what they did on May 12th, 1864? Why on this battlefield and all the others for that matter must we try to imagine what the earthworks actually looked like to the men of both armies in the CW?