Photograph of a tree severed by bullets, c. 1900s.
At the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, on 12 May 1864, an oak bore witness to the hellish melee and relentless rifle fire at the "Bloody Angle," a heavily contested stretch of Confederate earthworks. The shattered and wounded remnant of that tree still holds within it several bullets from that day, a testament to the realities of combat in the American Civil War.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, D.C.
Related Images
Hancock's Corps Assaulting the Bloody Angle
Map of Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War
Battle of Spotsylvania
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
Map of the American Civil War, 1861-1865
Injured American Civil War Soldier
Cite This Work
APA Style
Laboratory, U. S. N. M. P. (2025, December 01). Bullet-Shattered Stump From the Battle of Spotsylvania. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21395/bullet-shattered-stump-from-the-battle-of-spotsylv/
Chicago Style
Laboratory, United States National Museum Photographic. "Bullet-Shattered Stump From the Battle of Spotsylvania." World History Encyclopedia, December 01, 2025. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21395/bullet-shattered-stump-from-the-battle-of-spotsylv/.
MLA Style
Laboratory, United States National Museum Photographic. "Bullet-Shattered Stump From the Battle of Spotsylvania." World History Encyclopedia, 01 Dec 2025, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21395/bullet-shattered-stump-from-the-battle-of-spotsylv/.
