Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 33.djvu/324

 320 Southern Historical Society Papers.

THE BATTLE NEAR SPOTSYLVANIA COURT- HOUSE ON MAY 18, 1864. See Ante p. 16.

An Address Delivered Before R. E. Lee Camp, No. i, C. V., on the Night of January 20, 1905.

By COL. W. E. CUTSHAW.

My Comrades:

In accepting- your kind invitation to repeat the address made be- fore the Association of Richmond Howitzers, I beg to refer to the dates of the several battles and engagements in the neighborhood of Spotsylvania Courthouse that the distinct points of the address may be clearly brought forth, without confusion or mixing with those of other dates.

After the battles of the Wilderness, the army of the Potomac, under General Grant, moved to the left towards Spotsylvania. The army of Northern Virginia, under General Lee, also moved and confronted the Northern army, and, on the 8th of May, had an en- gagement with it near Spotsylvania Courthouse. On the loth of May portions of the Confederate lines were attacked by the Federal army and repulsed. On the i2th of May the centre of the Confed- erate lines was assaulted and broken by the Federal army at what was known as the Salient, or Bloody Angle, threatening a great disaster to the Confederate army. On the 1 3th of May the Con- federate lines were moved back to a revised position, nearly a mile in rear of the former Salient, and these new lines were assaulted by an early morning attack of May i8th by very nearly the same Fed- eral troops that were engaged on the 1 2th. It is this attack and repulse that makes the subject of my paper. Both the army of the Potomac and the army of Northern Virginia had seen service in the field for nearly three years, and in every essential were, indeed,. veteran soldiers. It is doubtful if the courage and the endurance of any soldiers in any army was surpassed by that of the Confeder- ate soldier, and his example, either in attack or resistance, is not surpassed by the armies of the world, impelled as he was by the purest patriotism under unexampled Christian leaders to do his