Spotsylvania Court House Historic District
N 38° 12.102 W 077° 35.337
18S E 273302 N 4231363
Spotsylvania Court House is also known as the Crossroads of the Civil War.
Waymark Code: WME37P
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 03/28/2012
Views: 4
In 1863, the Confederate army turned the courthouse at Spotsylvania, Virginia into a stockade to hold Union prisoners captured during the
Battle of Chancellorsville which disrupted the peace of this quiet rural village. But it was the following year when this little town found itself under fire and caught in the middle of some of the bloodiest fighting of the war when the armies of Lee and Grant clashed during the march to Richmond.
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House left the village devastated with many of the buildings severely damaged by the crossfire including the courthouse, but it was not until the turn of the century before any major reconstruction or rebuilding was done. In 1900, the original courthouse, rendered unsafe because of the war damage, finally underwent an extensive renovation, but it maintained the same design and columns. Besides the courthouse, there are other buildings including two churches which were damaged, but still stand today -- Old Berea Christian Church which has been converted into a museum and Christ Church which still bears bullet holes in its exterior brick walls -- and help make up the Spotsylvania Court House Historic District.
There are two CWDT historical markers across the street from the Spotsylvania Courthouse on Courthouse Rd. Both are part of the Lee vs. Grant: The 1864 Overland Campaign on the Civil War Discovery Trail.
- Spotsylvania Court House ☆ ☆ ☆ Historic District
- Spotsylvania Court House ☆ ☆ ☆ In the Path of War
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