Landram Farm - Spotsylvania Court House VA
N 38° 13.653 W 077° 35.715
18S E 272831 N 4234247
The Landram Farm was turned into a bloody killing field during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
Waymark Code: WM95HE
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 07/02/2010
Views: 4
In the late 1800s, Willis Landram owned a farm of 170 acres in Spotsylvania Court House, VA where his family grew wheat, corn, and potatoes and raised a few cows, sheep, and pigs. In May 1864, The Landrams' hard, but peaceful, existence was interrupted by the clash of the Union and Confederate armies.
General Lee's Confederate troops built a network of trenches and bulwarks on his farmland. These earthworks became known as the Muleshoe. On May 12, Union soldiers attacked and the battle was on. The longest sustained hand-to-hand combat of the Civil War occurred at the Bloody Angle of the Muleshoe. It raged for twenty hours. Union commander General Winfield Scot Hancock made the Landram house his headquarters with its panoramic view of the farm fields/battlefield. The Landram farm became a killing field of devastation and carnage.
The house was extensively damaged, but survived the war. It burned down in 1905. Two chimneys are all that remain of the house today.
The Landram Farm and house site can be seen at the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield via the Bloody Angle Trail which passes through preserved earthworks, the fields, and to the remaining house ruins. The posted coordinates point to two historic displays (The Landram House and Farm to Killing Field) near the treeline where Union troops emerged from when they attacked the Confederate earthworks. A little further down the dirt road, the house site with marker and monument is located at:
- N 38° 13.681' W 077° 35.612'
The battlefield is part of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park which is open dawn to dusk. Admission is free.