Maps of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

The position of Confederate troops (red) and Union troops (blue) are shown on these maps that plot the action on May 10 and May 12, 1864, during the nearly two-week-long Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. The so-called Mule Shoe salient, which was part of the Confederate entrenchments, is shown in both maps behind the curving red line. A salient in military terms is an exposed portion of a defensive line that projects into enemy territory, making it vulnerable from three sides. The Mule Shoe salient—which included a section that came to be known as the Bloody Angle—was the locus of some of the fiercest fighting of the entire Civil War, with hand-to-hand combat taking place inside the entrenchments.