BLOODY ANGLE SPOTTSYLVANIA BULLET-STRUCK TREE SECTION

BLOODY ANGLE SPOTTSYLVANIA BULLET-STRUCK TREE SECTION

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$450.00

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Item Code: 2026-9374

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“Bloody Angle” at Spottsylvania earned its nickname from some twenty hours of horrendous, costly close-quarter fighting in rain and mud in Hancock’s May 12, 1864, assault on the “Mule Shoe Salient,” a point at which Confederate earthworks protruded toward Union lines, and Hancock came very close to breaking through before Confederates finally managed to construct a new line along its base. For many veterans and curiosity-seekers after the war, the intensity of the fire they endured there was symbolized by the 22-inch in diameter oak tree effectively cut down by bullets, its stump gathered up from the battlefield and on display at the Smithsonian. Other, smaller, but still thought-provoking examples were gathered by veterans and later visitors to the field. This is a cut section of a tree, measuring 5-inches tall and 2-1/2-inches in diameter, with some of the wood chipped away, exposing an embedded Minie ball, and bearing an old, script pencil identification, “bloody angle.”

This shows a half-dozen growth rings on the top, which was cleanly sawn across. One side has a V-shaped channel of rough wood extending down about two-thirds of its height, with the bullet clearly visible at the lower end. There are a few vertical cracks along the base, but the piece is intact, solid, and very displayable.

Relics like these represent a frozen moment in time, for veterans very tangible reminders of severe fighting, and sometimes for the more romantic a commentary on man’s destructive relationship with nature, or at least a contrast to it. One might think of Matthew Brady’s evocative photographs of bullet-struck trees here at Gettysburg. This is a very good example that could be the centerpiece of a great display.   [sr][ph:L]

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