Battle of Spotsylvania Court House at next Wayne CWRT
The next Wayne County Civil War Round Table program, which is free to attend, will be July 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wayne County Historical Society schoolhouse, located on the Wayne County Historical Society campus at 546 E. Bowman St. in Wooster.
The program will feature Charles Lepold, who will present the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, which took place in Virginia from May 8, 1864, to May 21, 1864, and had the third-highest number of casualties in the Civil War. Neither side won. The North would replace its lost soldiers while the South could not. In this battle it became clear the war had become one of attrition and not so much of maneuver.
Topics discussed will be mayhem at the Muleshoe, squabbling generals, birth of Blitzkrieg, field engineering, Lee errs again, mud marches and the 32,000 casualties. Bringing this battle closer to home, two companies raised in Wayne County fought at Spotsylvania. Highlights of the activities of Company “E” of the 4th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and Company “B” of the 60th Ohio Volunteer Infantry will be pointed out during the presentation.
Lepold is the chair of the military committee at the Wayne County Historical Society and on the board of the WC Civil War Round Table. A Q-and-A discussion will follow. Those planning to attend may want to watch a short YouTube video of the battle before attending.