“They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”  —Last words of Brig. Gen. John Sedgwick, May 9, 1864

It was a bright morning in early May 1864 in the Shenandoah Valley as the Civil War Battle of Spotsylvania was set to become among the first of the final major conflicts between Union and Confederate armies commanded by Gens. Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee, respectively. By the numbers of troops involved and the 32,000 casualties, Spotsylvania was the principal battle of the Overland Campaign and one of the most significant of the American Civil War. After several days of bloody conflict, both sides declared victory. Grant did not drive Lee’s army from the battlefield, and Lee did not advance his army to Fredericksburg, Virginia.