Maryland Monument - Spotsylvania Court House VA
N 38° 12.705 W 077° 36.924
18S E 271017 N 4232543
A small granite monument to a Maryland Brigade stands in the woods where they launched their assault across the open field of Laurel Hill during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in May 1864.
Waymark Code: WM93W4
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 06/24/2010
Views: 7
Tucked back among the trees at Laurel Hill of the
Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield is a small granite monument to the Maryland Brigade. A nearby historical marker reads:
MARYLAND
MONUMENT
Judge Charles E. Phelps of the Maryland Court of Appeals erected this granite monument shortly after the turn of the century. On May 8, 1864, Phelps, then colonel of the 7th Maryland, helped lead the headlong charge of the Maryland
Brigade across these open fields west of the Brock Road. Confederate infantry and artillery concealed parallel to the existing road on your left, shattered the Federal attack. Phelps fell wounded near this spot, which marks the Union highwater point during the opening battle at Spotsylvania.
The monument inscriptions:
Side #1:
8TH MAY 1864
FIRST ASSAULT ON
THE DEFENCES OF
SPOTTSYLVANIA.[sic]
Side #2:
MARYLAND
BRIGADE
Side #3:
NEAREST APPROACH
ON THIS FRONT
7TH MD. INF.
Side #4:
2ND DIV. 5TH CORPS
U. S. A.
"NEVER MIND CANNON!
NEVER MIND BULLETS!
PRESS ON AND CLEAR
THIS ROAD!"
Laurel Hill is across Brock Rd. from the entrance to the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield exhibit center and it is all part of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park. There is a marked trail (part of the Spotsylvania History Trail) that leads to the Maryland Monument through an opening in the trees. There are also the remnants of earthworks located about 50' behind the monument. The battlefield is open daily dusk to dawn. There is no admission.