Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park - Virtual Tour Stop, Spotsylvania Court House (U.S. National Park Service)

On the morning of May 7, 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant made the key decision of the Civil War. Rather than retreat or remain in the same spot as the Army of the Potomac had always done previously, the Union army would go forward. Grant issued orders to march to Spotsylvania Court House. The importance of this place was not the court house building, shown here, but because the of a road intersection in the community called Spotsylvania Court House.

During the night of May 7, much of the Union army began southeast along the Brock Road, shown here. The building on the left is the Sanford Hotel.

Other Union troops advanced from the Wilderness toward the crossroads on a series of roads and across country eventually reaching the Fredericksburg Road, shown here. The intersection of this road with the Brock Road is in the center of this photo. The building with the columns in the middle of the photo is the Sanford Hotel shown in the previous image. This building still survives, although now as an office building. The building on the left is the court house which burned about 1900. A new and larger court house occupies this spot today.

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