With this battle terminated the Wilderness campaign, and was one over
which Grant expressed regret, and said that Cold Harbor was the only
battle that he ever fought that he would not fight over again, and he
always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was made.
The Federal commander had failed in his plan to pass around Lee to
Richmond, and now saw that he must cross the James River and make
Petersburg his objective point.
Early on the morning of May 26, 1864, Grant set his army in motion
toward Cold Harbor. The next day Lee moved his army by a shorter route
over the telegraph road to the Virginia Central railroad. The two
armies were stretched across this low country parallel to each other
and at times they came in contact.
On the 31st day of May, General Sheridan reached Cold Harbor. He had
orders from Meade that he should hold this place at all hazards until
the main army should arrive. Both armies had received reënforcements.
The Confederates were reënforced by Breckinridge from western Virginia,
and by Pickett from North Carolina. The Federals were reënforced from
the army of General Butler from down the James River. Thus Grant's
army was brought up to more than 100,000 men, and Lee's to about 75,000.
On May 31st Sheridan fought a severe battle with Fitzhugh Lee at
Cold Harbor, but it was undecisive. On the next morning the Federal
army arrived on the field and immediately took position. They were
confronted by Longstreet's corps and that of A. P. Hill, and the
divisions of Hoke and Breckinridge. Late in the evening the Federals
made a fierce attack on the Confederate position and the Confederate
lines were broken in many places, but before night they had succeeded
in regaining some of their position.
It was well known to both armies that this battle would decide
Grant's last chance to get between Lee and Richmond, and preparations
were made the next day for a decisive battle on the morrow. The
Federals were reënforced during the night of June 2d by Hancock's
and Burnside's corps. The Confederates, being on the defensive, had
orders from General Lee to rest on their arms and be ready to receive
a fierce assault which he was anticipating from the Federals. It goes
without saying that the Confederate soldiers under such orders on
this particular night, and on account of the apparent danger of their
position, did not close their eyes in sleep. The Federals were faced by
Ewell's, A. P. Hill's and Longstreet's corps, the latter being under
the command of Anderson, as Longstreet was severely wounded in the
Battle of the Wilderness.
Both armies lay very close to each other, and Lee's position was
exceptionally strong, as it must be approached through swampy ground,
and his batteries were set in position to give both a front and an
enfilading fire. Yet Grant determined to make a general attack on the
Confederate lines, and passed word to his corps commanders to make
ready to execute the same at about five o'clock on the morning of June
3d.
This order was carried out, and they had marshaled their soldiers
in large numbers into lines ten columns deep, and at the appointed
hour began with a determined step to move toward the Confederate
entrenchments. The silence of the early morning was broken by the
Confederate batteries and their musketry that raked the open country
over which the Federals were advancing, which made the same appear as
a fiery furnace. The columns of blue were swept by this fierce fire,
which mowed them down in great numbers. They succeeded in crossing
into the Confederate entrenchments in a few places and engaged in
hand-to-hand combat, but the Confederates had orders to hold their
position at all hazards, and the Federal leaders soon found it was
impossible to stand the raking fire from the Confederate batteries
and ordered a retreat, and in doing so they took with them a few
hundred prisoners. Thus the field was left in the possession of the
Confederates.
This battle is said to have lasted but twenty minutes, and during this
short time Grant lost 10,000 men. This is said to be the greatest loss
in the shortest time during the entire war.
With this battle ended the series of battles beginning with that of the
Wilderness, all having been fought within a month, and nothing like it
has yet been known to warfare.
Grant's entire loss in all these engagements in killed, wounded and
missing was about 55,000 men, and that of the Confederates much less.
If Lee's loss had been equal to that of Grant's, his army would have
been almost annihilated.
[Illustration: DEDICATING THE NATIONAL CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG]
The soldiers, either living or dead, who stood in the dense columns of
blue and marched across that shell swept field toward the Confederate
entrenchments, and those who stood in the Confederate ranks and
successfully repulsed that awful onslaught of the Federals on that
bright June morning at Cold Harbor, for these reasons are possessed of
a rich heritage which their posterity should be proud to receive.