Todd's Tavern
N 38° 14.860 W 077° 40.129
18S E 266455 N 4236663
The Union and Confederate cavalries clashed at the crossroads in the race for Spotsylvania Court House.
Waymark Code: WMEHR0
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 06/01/2012
Views: 4
In the spring of 1864, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was appointed general-in-chief of the Union army and he launched an offensive against the Confederate army in Virginia. While Federal forces came from the east and south, Grant led the Army of the Potomac on the Overland Campaign from the north driving Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to Petersburg.
On May 7, after suffering the loss of thousands of men in two days of fighting in the overgrown, entangled woods of the Wilderness
, Grant ordered a march south to the open ground of Spotsylvania Court House where the Federal army could use their greater numbers to better advantage.
Gen. George Meade told Gen. Philip Sheridan, Union cavalry chief, to clear the way. He ran into a division of Confederate cavalry commanded by Gen. Fitzhugh Lee. Fitz Lee was outflanked by Federals moving up Brock Rd. and Catharpin Rd. to the intersection where Todd's Tavern stood and was forced to retreat, but he continued to hamper the Union advance by felling trees across Brock Rd. and shooting at the soldiers as they tried to clear them. This action allowed the Confederate army to win the race to Spotsylvania Court House.
Grant and Meade stayed at Todd's Tavern the night of May 7. All the beds were taken and they slept on the floor. They left the next morning leaving Gen. Winfield Hancock occupying the intersection.
Todd's Tavern was destroyed in 1884. Today, there are three CWDT markers near the intersection where it stood:
- TODD'S TAVERN ☆ ☆ ☆ Union Army Headquarters
- TODD'S TAVERN ☆ ☆ ☆ Clash of Cavalry
- TODD'S TAVERN ☆ ☆ ☆ March to Spotsylvania
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