Blood in front of the Angle

The swale in front of the Bloody Angle
Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield
Sunday, October 21, 2012

The landscape in front of the angle looked bloody indeed over the weekend with the sumac in full fall color. Federal soldiers from the Sixth Corps, attacking across this field, got into the bottom of the swale and stayed in it as long as they could for the shelter it provided as they advanced. The topography acted like a giant funnel, pushing them from the far side of the field in the direction of where the camera is now positioned. Coming up and out of the swale deposited them along the Confederate lines at a spot that became known as the Bloody Angle because of the intense hand-to-hand combat that took place there over a 22-hour period.