Tour of Spotsylvania - April 12 – 13, 2025
Spotsylvania Tour Registration
https://thebattleofgettysburgpodcast.com/products/tour-of-spotsylvania-april-12-13-2025
“I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." – Lt. General Ulysses Grant
“They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!" – Maj. General John Sedgwick
Join battlefield guides Jim Hessler and Chris Army on April 12 – 13, 2025, for a 1.5 day educational and social tour of the bloody and chaotic Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House was the second major battle in Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign. Following the inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness (our 2024 tour!), Grant's army disengaged from Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and moved southeast to refight Lee under more favorable conditions.
Elements of Lee's army beat Grant to the critical crossroads of the Spotsylvania Court House and began entrenching. Fighting occurred from May 8 through May 21, 1864, as Grant tried repeatedly to break the Confederate line. Perhaps the most noteworthy and desperate of the assaults occurred when Winfield Hancock and Horatio Wright’s forces attacked the area known as the Mule Shoe and the “Bloody Angle".
The battle was tactically inconclusive although both sides declared victory. Grant’s offensive continued and Lee’s army suffered more irreplaceable losses. Spotsylvania was the campaign’s bloodiest battle, with almost 32,000 combined casualties on both sides, including five general officers among the killed or mortally wounded.
Tour Includes:
· All-day Saturday (April 12) and half-day Sunday (April 13) educational tour of sites associated with the NPS Spotsylvania battlefield.
· There will be some walking on NPS-maintained trails.
· Maps
· Water
· Carpool: as in past tours we will carpool from point to point. (No bus.)
· Lunch: bring your own or we will concentrate in a central area around lunchtime on Saturday to buy your own.
When:
· April 11: Optional Friday night arrival. Hotel information below.
· April 12: Saturday tour from approximately 9:30 am – 5:00 pm. Lunch break in between.
· April 13: Sunday 1/2-day tour in morning. Try to conclude by lunchtime.
Cost:
· $98 per person for 1.5-days tour, handouts, and water.
· Hotel:
We have an optional room block at the Hampton Inn Fredericksburg for those who wish to stay over and not travel. (This is the same hotel we have used in the past.) The optional hotel is not included in tour costs.
Hampton Inn and Suites by Hilton Fredericksburg
1080 Hospitality Lane
Fredericksburg, Virginia, 22401, USA
(540) 786 -5530
Rate: $149 / night (King or two Queens)
HOTEL BOOKING LINK: https://group.hamptoninn.com/7dfzv8
Group Name: Hessler Spaugy
Arrival Date: 4/11/2025
Departure Date: 4/13/2025
Cut-off Date: 3/12/2025