Booknotes: A Tempest of Iron and Lead

New Arrival:

• A Tempest of Iron and Lead: Spotsylvania Court House, May 8-21, 1864 by Chris Mackowski (Savas Beatie, 2024).

This is the third major Spotsylvania battle study, with William Matter's If it Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania published in 1988 and Gordon Rhea's The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 7-12, 1864 in 1997. Nearly three decades (wow, it's hard to believe it's been that long already!) have passed since Rhea's work was released, so the topic is arguably due for a fresh look.

For most readers, what first comes to mind when the subject of Spotsylvania is raised is the horrific fighting at "The Bloody Angle," most recently the subject of Jeffry Wert's excellent book The Heart of Hell: The Soldiers' Struggle for Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle (2022). But there is much much more to the battle.

From the description: "The fighting launched a score of new place-names and events that would sear themselves into the American consciousness, such as Spindle Field, Upton’s assault, the Mule Shoe, the Bloody Angle, and the Harris Farm. The casualties exacted at Spotsylvania exceeded those of the Wilderness by thousands. The fighting severely tested the offensive capabilities of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Southern army, just as the defensive posture his men embraced would, in turn, test the limits of Federal endurance."

That the great battle was fought so soon after the horrors of the Wilderness shook up the established pattern of campaigns in the East. More: "Even the march itself was unprecedented. For three years the armies had fought battles and disengaged after each one. That pattern changed on the night of May 7. Instead of leaving the Wilderness to regroup, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant led the Federal army southward, skirmishing with Confederates all the way. “There will be no turning back,” he had declared. He lived up to his word. By dawn on May 8, the armies had tussled their way ten miles down the road and opened another large-scale fight that would last until May 21."

A former Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park historian, Mackowski's new treatment of the battle is derived from his "meticulous knowledge of the landscape and familiarity with primary source materials, earned over nearly two decades." The text is supported by 21 maps. A lot of recent map sets, even those attached to otherwise top-notch works, have skimped on tree lines and other terrain features critical to understanding the battle, but that is not the case with these excellent-looking renderings created by cartographer Edward Alexander.