Upton's Charge at Spotsylvania

On May tenth, eighteen sixty-four, at Spotsylvania Court House, a young Union colonel named Emory Upton led twelve regiments in a concentrated assault against Confederate earthworks that military historians would later call a turning point in tactical thinking.

Upton's idea was unconventional: rather than advance in traditional lines that would be decimated by rifle fire, he formed his men in a tight column, instructed them not to stop and fire, and ordered them to sprint directly into the Confederate works and fight hand to hand. The assault punched through the Confederate works held by a single Georgia brigade and briefly broke the line. But supporting forces failed to exploit the gap, and Upton was forced to withdraw. Upton's force lost roughly one thousand men.

Grant was impressed enough that he ordered, two days later, a massive version of the same tactic against the Mule Shoe salient, resulting in one of the war's longest and most savage close-quarters fights. Upton's charge at Spotsylvania did not secure a victory, but it demonstrated that concentrated infantry assault could crack entrenched positions and directly shaped the tactics of the war's final year.