tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693055636846442705.post8991678062750853683..comments2024-02-21T08:35:35.568-05:00Comments on Spotsylvania Civil War Blog: A Busy, Late June Morning at Spotsylvania BattlefieldJohn Cummingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15664001896165763192noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693055636846442705.post-44580251366683783292015-10-08T08:17:04.331-04:002015-10-08T08:17:04.331-04:00Thomas Carter, who commanded the artillery within ...Thomas Carter, who commanded the artillery within the salient, left us with a clue to what this opening may be.<br />On May 11th he complained to both Gen. Lee and Gen. Ewell about the shape and layout of the Confederate line. To making his point he stated that when Upton's men attacked on May 10 his guns were unable to bear on the Federals to their left at Doles salient. To take them under fire he had to move guns out in front of the works. This was through a opening in the works made for that purpose.<br /> Now Nelson's guns along that section of the line were withdrawn during the action. That withdrawal caused great confusion among the infantry trying to move from the right side of the salient to meet Upton's men.<br /> Is this the spot for Carter's cut? Quite possibly. Yet it is also possible that his cut was eradicated when the Federals turned the works during and after they captured them on the 12th.<br /> <br /> Russhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17006862900142157825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4693055636846442705.post-1605131588929387132010-08-17T17:18:12.729-04:002010-08-17T17:18:12.729-04:00"Cut" in the works could have been made ..."Cut" in the works could have been made by either Carrington's or Tanner's batteries; both were located near the McCoull road and the West Angle - ref. The Charlottesville, Lee Lynchburg and Johnson's Bedford Artillery, Robert Moore, p. 43, sketch by Sgt Major Wilbur Fisk Davis. Today several caisson lunettes can be observed behind the SC monument and southwest of the McCoull trail.<br />R. C. M. Page mentions a "cut" made in the line when trying to explain why he could not recover Carter's captured guns the evening of May 12, 1864. ref: SHSP (1879) p.535-36.<br />It's not likely a "cut" for the farmer to move between fields. Edward Landram's 25 acres were in front of the West Angle. The McCoull/Fairchild farm was on the opposite side of the earthworks. This part of Fairchild's (later G.M. Harbert's) property was never a farmer's field. It was a shot-up forest after the battle. Ref: <br />SCH deed book AB p366, and book 83 p309, sketch made when sale was made for the Ohio monument and recorded in 1913. sketch shows a wire fence between Edward's house and the Ohio monument and another wire fence running parallel to works.<br />I have observed NPS lawn mowers using this "cut" over the years to move their tractors from one side of the works to the other (did they wear it down further?)Scott Stokeshttp://StokesSb@msn.comnoreply@blogger.com