Spotsylvania Stump
date: label: associated date
content: 1864-05
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description
label: Description
content: Wooden tree stump.
label: Description
content: Specific History
label: Description
content: Until May 12, 1864, this shattered stump was a large oak tree in a rolling meadow just outside Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. That morning, 1,200 entrenched Confederates, the front line of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, awaited the assault of 5,000 Union troops from the Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Twenty hours later, the once-peaceful meadow had acquired a new name, the Bloody Angle. The same fury of rifle bullets that cut down 2,000 combatants tore away all but twenty-two inches of the tree's trunk. Several of the conical minie balls (bullets) are still deeply embedded in the wood. Unusual objects of war, such as this tree stump, come to symbolize the horror and heroism of a great battle. Originally presented to the U.S. Army's Ordnance Museum by Brevet Major General Nelson A. Miles, the stump was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1888.
place: label: occurred
content: United States: Virginia, Spotsylvania
topic: label: related event
content: Civil War
label: related event
content: Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, 1864
label: related event
content: Civil War and Reconstruction
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: National Treasures exhibit
label: See more items in
content: ThinkFinity
label: Exhibition
content: Price of Freedom
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: War Department
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AF.4435
label: catalog number
content: 4435
label: accession number
content: 20209
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tree trunk
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 60 in x 18 in x 18 in; 152.4 cm x 45.72 cm x 45.72 cm