Number of casualties at the Battle of Spotsylvania 1864

Directly following the Battle of the Wilderness, the Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant marched his Union forces south in an attempt to prevent General Robert E. Lee from retreating further. Some Confederate troops arrived at the tactical crossroad that was the Spotsylvania Court House before the Union forces, and began preparing defenses. The fighting itself began on May 8, 1864, and continued until May 21, with an estimated 30 thousand casualties over the two week period. Both sides claimed victory in the battle, as the Confederate army did not give up its position, however the Union inflicted irreplaceable casualties on the Confederate's numbers. This was the second major battle of Grant's Overland Campaign against Lee's forces, which lasted from May 4 to June 24, 1864, and resulted in an overall strategic Union victory, but at a very heavy cost for both sides.