Upton's Road

United States soldiers used this road to reach the clearing to begin their assault.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Amenities

2 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Trailhead

After being stymied in their attacks elsewhere on May 9 and 10, US commanders started to target other locations along the Confederate lines. Meanwhile, Confederate soldiers had dug miles worth of trenches, including a position known as the Muleshoe Salient (a salient is a piece of fortification that juts out from the main line). The Muleshoe, nearly a mile long and a mile wide, posed a threat to its own Confederate defenders because it opened them to attack from multiple directions at the same time. Federal officers planned to attack the Muleshoe in an attempt to cut the Confederate army in two.

A young officer named Emory Upton was tasked with attacking a piece of the Muleshoe not far from here. Given 12 regiments, totaling almost 5,000 men, Upton moved into position. Rather than standard line of battle, Upton’s force formed into a column that went forward like a large fist around 6 pm on May 10, 1864. Over the next hour and a half, both sides engaged in bloody hand-to-hand combat that saw Upton’s men punch through the Confederate defenses but then were in turn forced back by Confederate counterattacks. One Confederate wrote about the fighting that the soldiers “had to think like lightning to decide whether we would stay in the ditch and be bayoneted or made prisoners or run to the rear and probably be shot in the back.” Though Upton’s attack failed on May 10, it gave the Federal high command the idea to try a similar approach two days later with a much larger force.
 

While you're here...

Walk Upton's Road

0.5 mi (0.8 km) round trip
A half-mile trail that starts here follows near the path Upton’s troops marched to reach the Confederate positions. Walk the trail from the pullout or as a part of the longer Spotsylvania History Trail route.