At daybreak on May 8, 1864, the commissary wagons came forward and brought the rations to the troops and then the train was sent to the rear. The men left the entrenchments they had built yesterday and moved about a mile to the right. The whole army then was moved by the right flank in the direction of Spotsylvania Court House.
The Confederates had a longer march to get to Spotsylvania than the Federals, so during the day on May 7th, anticipating General Grant’s move, General Lee had a road cut through the forest to shorten the route for his forces. At about 11:00 P.M. that night, General Anderson, who was commanding the Confederate 1st Corps after the wounding of General Longstreet at the Wilderness, ordered his troops to begin their march to Spotsylvania on the road that Lee had had cut through the forest. Fires which had been started during the Battle of the Wilderness still burned and many of the dead were yet lying where they fell. The smoke and smell were terrible, and there was no suitable place for the men to rest, so Anderson kept them marching until they could get to a suitable bivouac area. Upon reaching Shady Grove Church Road, his men turned eastward and didn’t stop to bivouac until they had reached the Block House Bridge. In the meantime, the Confederate cavalry conducted a very stubborn defense, trying to buy time for the infantry to reach Spotsylvania first, but it was at the point of being overwhelmed, because Union General Warren’s infantry had entered the battle, and Union cavalry under James Wilson had circled around to the east and entered Spotsylvania by the Fredericksburg Road. General Jeb Stuart was commanding the Confederate cavalry, and he sent urgent messages to Anderson for help causing Anderson to hurry his troops forward. The Confederate cavalry had fallen back to the high ground known as Laurel Hill. As the Confederate infantry arrived, they were formed into line of battle and successfully repulsed several Federal assaults.
The 2nd Corps, which included Rodes’ Division followed at about 8:00 A.M. on May 8, 1864, with Battle’s Brigade following behind the Brigades of Ramseur, Daniel, and Dole. They proceeded along the path hacked out of the forest by Anderson’s pioneers to the Catharpin Road near White Hall. The heat and humidity of the day soon became debilitating. One 2nd Corps marcher recalled the torture of the march: “Our Brigade moved like a race horse down a new road cut by our pioneers through a grove of large oak trees. The woods were on fire on each side of the road and it was suffocating marching through the smoke and fire. Men fainted, broke down, and fell out all the way. The sun shown hot and we suffered very much. After three or four hours through this purgatory we came in sight of a field of wheat... A welcome sight. We rested here about twenty minutes.” Moving towards Shady Grove Church, frequently at the double-quick, the men arrived there at about 1:00 P.M. They continued southeast along the Shady Grove Church Road.
Meanwhile, at Laurel Hill the Union command continued to bring up reinforcements in an attempt to turn Anderson’s right flank. However, it was after five o’clock that afternoon before all three divisions of Union General Sedgwick arrived, and a more concerted attack would not be made until between 6:00 - 6:30 P.M. Rodes’ Division, making as good time as Stonewall’s old “foot cavalry” had ever made in the past, had arrived just prior to this. As they neared the Block House Bridge just before 6:00 P.M., they could hear firing. They turned north onto the Old Court House Road and marched about a mile before they were filed to the right.
The front regiment of the division was halted and ordered to “close up and dress on center”, each regiment in turn receiving the same order, until their line was complete. Astride his magnificent black stallion, General Rodes moved along the line shouting words of encouragement to his men, who lustily cheered him as he passed. Here once again, Rodes’ very mobile Sharpshooters were utilized to hold off the Union advance, allowing the Confederates to consolidate their position at Laurel Hill. With everything quiet, Brigadier General Cullen Battle rode over to Major Eugene Blackford and gave him orders to move forward. The bugle sounded, and the sharpshooters moved out. Although very outmanned, the Sharpshooters held off the Federals by using the new tactic of splitting ranks, taking cover and then enfilading the line. When they had advanced about one hundred and fifty yards, the division was ordered forward.
Just before Battle’s Brigade moved forward, General Rodes rode down the line, and as he passed Company D of the 5th Alabama Infantry, he stopped and addressed some of the company: “Boys, you played hell the other evening; now, when the order is given I want you to run over those Yankees in front.” The Regiments of Battle’s Brigade from left to right were: 12th Alabama, 6th Alabama, 61st Alabama, 5th Alabama and then the 3rd Alabama.
Ramseur’s Brigade and Battle’s Brigade were ordered forward. Battle’s eager Alabamians took the lead in a 600 yard push against the Pennsylvanians of Samuel Crawford’s 3rd Division of V Corps. The men crossed a level field and they could see the long line of skirmishers ahead of them. Soon the two skirmish lines began to fight. The order came down the line, “Forward!” and the men moved ahead at the double quick. When they were about one hundred and fifty yards from the woods in their front, the Yankee battle line opened fire on them, but the Confederates didn’t halt. They continued over a fence and into the pines after them. The pines were so thick, that they could barely see the sky above them. They drove the Federals back about a quarter of a mile when darkness put an end to the fighting. An Alabamian boasted that Battle’s charge “made the saucy Yankees ‘about face’ and hunt a more comfortable position a short distance further back.” During this battle, Rodes’ old brigade, now commanded by General Cullen Battle, drove back the Pennsylvanian Troops facing them. These were the same troops, the 5th Pennsylvania Infantry, that had mauled them so badly at the Battle of South Mountain. The engagement had lasted only about half an hour and resulted in the wounding of Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Hobson, Privates Edward Hutchinson and Charley Briggs of Company D. Adjutant Charles Pegues also received a slight wound, being grazed in the neck.
The regiments, and even the brigades, were fearfully mixed up. Captain Williams of Company D continues, “It was so dark, we could literally see nothing. When troops get in that condition the only way that they can get straightened out and back into their commands is to call for their colors; as “Where is the 5th Alabama?” etc., when the color guard will answer them. The Yankees would sometimes answer, and very often our soldiers would walk right into the Yankees and be taken prisoner. One of our best soldiers, “Bunk” Butler, as he was familiarly known in Greensboro, was taken prisoner in this way. General Grant’s first orders were that no more prisoners should be exchanged, so we never saw “Bunk” from that evening until after the surrender. He laughingly told me that he had walked calling the 5th Alabama until he had completely broken down. After a while, he heard the welcome sound of “here is the flag of the 5th Alabama.” He walked right over, and just as he was in the act of saying: “boys, you were d—d hard to find,” a half a dozen voices said “Throw that gun down, Jonnie, we have got you.” “Bunk” said he threw it down as if it were a red hot iron.”
These early battles of 1864 had seen a dramatic change in the way the two armies were engaged. Although battle lines were still to be used, the Confederates took a decidedly defensive posture, entrenching at every opportunity and building extensive log fortifications. Fortified rifle pits appeared on the battlefield manned by excellent marksmen with long-ranged rifles. Confederate Sharpshooters often controlled the battlefield, drawing in Brigades, enfilading, and driving them off. Also, skirmishers now stayed in close contact with the enemy, sniping incessantly. The Whitworth rifle, which was of British manufacture, were used primarily by the most skilled Confederate Sharpshooters. Its’ long range precision was reputedly the best of all weapons used in the war. When the telescopic sight was used, the rifle had an effective range of about 1,800 yards. A Rebel sharpshooter killed Union General "Uncle John" Sedgwick during the fighting at Spotsylvania Court House on the morning of May 8th, striking him in the right cheek, just under the eye. This occurring just after he had remarked to a frightened soldier that he had seen “dodging”, that the Confederate sharpshooters “could not hit an elephant at this distance.” The shooter was a half mile away! More and more, the infantry found themselves pressed as close to the ground as possible, less they draw the attention of some marksmen.
After the confrontation at Laurel Hill, the Confederate lines were then drawn around the north side of Spotsylvania Courthouse on undulating ground diversified by field, pine thickets, and patches of woods. The line was crescent shaped, perhaps more correctly, it was nearly in the form of a horse-shoe, and extended around the court house, or village, on the north and north-western side, so as to cover all the approaches from the surrounding area. Slight entrenchments had been thrown up along the entire front, extending from near the Shady Grove Church Road on the west, around to the Massaponax Road on the northeast side of the village. At one point near the centre was an eminence a few hundred yards in advance of the general direction of their line, and in order to prevent the enemy from getting possession of it for his artillery, a sharp angle or salient, was projected so as to include the hill within their entrenchments. Past the foot of the hill on the north side was a ravine. General Rodes worried that the extensive woods close to the lines was a dangerous threat and left instructions that the skirmishers should maintain outposts in the woods. After their engagement, the 5th Alabama was moved about a mile to their right where they bivouacked for the night.
The next day, the men of Battles’ Brigade were placed about two hundred and fifty yards in the rear of the main line of works, in front of the Harrison farm, and held in reserve. They were ordered to throw up works, and they threw up what the farmers call a three foot ditch. After they finished several packs of cards were brought out, and all began to play. Orders were positive that no man should take off his accoutrements night or day, nor was his gun to be beyond his reach. Things remained quiet all the day of May 9th, with sporadic firing on the front lines at different points. The Commissary wagons were brought forward from their position fifteen miles away and rations were issued.