Say What Special: Part II Cold Harbor Repulse of Barlow's Breakthrough June 3, 1864

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This is part two of a Cold Harbor series. Part one, located here , describes Barlow's breakthrough on June 3, 1864, as well as the defense mounted by the 2nd Maryland Infantry of Bradley T Johnson's 'Maryland Line.' This thread will examine the role of Finegan's Florida brigade in helping to seal the breach in the Confederate line. When Barlow's breakthrough occurred, the Floridians were resting in reserve behind Breckenridge's line. Quickly formed in line of battle, the Florida brigade charged the advancing Federals to the left of the Marylanders. Capt. Council Allen Bryan C/5th Florida provides the commentary here:

The enemy advanced in five lines of battle against Breckenridge - whose whole line fled panic stricken [back] over our breastworks and far to the rear - hatless, leaving their guns and everything that impeded their flight. As soon as they had passed out of our way, our boys rose with a yell - poured two volleys into the advancing droves of Yankees then jumped the breastworks and charged them. Five to one but each one a hero.​
They advanced to within fifty yards of each other. The Yankees halt, waver and run. One more volley and Breckenridge's breastworks so ingloriously lost are ours. The breastworks recaptured the battle is won. The Yankee dead and wounded cover the field - while strange to say twenty will cover the loss of the whole Florida force. The new troops fought like 'tigers' and we feel proud of them.​
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According to B. Welch Owens of Andrew's Battalion, Maryland Artillery, as described in part 1 of this series, the 2nd Maryland arrived ahead of the Floridians; engaged Barlow's Federals in hand-to-hand combat taking heavy casualties, including by the bayonet; and drove the Union troops from the breastworks. Council Bryan's account above sure makes it sound like the Floridians deserve their fair share of the credit. On one point, both accounts agree: Union losses in the assault and the repulse were heavy. Owens eloquently describes the aftermath:
The elation and exultation incident to victory speedily subsided, giving way to sympathy for the dead and dying, and the suffering before and around us in painful, hideous array. Sickening scene - sickening then - sickening in retrospective contemplation even at this remote period of time. Many soldiers are considered hardened, but it is not the rule by any means. Inured to privations, hardships and dangers, familiar with the scenes of carnage, the soldier may appear stoical, but the fact is that after the battle, if he bleed not from wounds himself, his brave heart bleeds in sympathy for the misery around him and the conqueror is conquered.

Sources:
Captain Council Bryan to "My Dear Wife" June 3, 1864. Council Bryan Papers, Florida State Archives (Tallahassee, FL) M87-035, folder 7.
Council Allen Bryan Find A Grave Memorial
B. Welch Owens. "The Maryland Boys." Richmond Dispatch., March 09, 1902, page 9.
Zach T Waters."'Tell Them I Died like a Confederate Soldier': Finegan's Florida Brigade at Cold Harbor." The Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Oct., 1990), pp. 156-177.
"Wounded Civil War Soldiers" Allen C. Redwood. 1868.
 
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I often ask God to forgive me for my interest in Franklin and in the Overland Campaign. I have really only read about The Wilderness,some about Spotsylvania and even less about North Anna and Cold Harbor. I have visited Cold Harbor and Cold Harbor National Cemetery. The savagery of the fighting at the entrenchments and descriptions of the wounded and dead soldiers all over the battlefield afterwards is really hard to comprehend.
 
View attachment 361008
This is part two of a Cold Harbor series. Part one, located here , describes Barlow's breakthrough on June 3, 1864, as well as the defense mounted by the 2nd Maryland Infantry of Bradley T Johnson's 'Maryland Line.' This thread will examine the role of Finegan's Florida brigade in helping to seal the breach in the Confederate line. When Barlow's breakthrough occurred, the Floridians were resting in reserve behind Breckenridge's line. Quickly formed in line of battle, the Florida brigade charged the advancing Federals to the left of the Marylanders. Capt. Council Allen Bryan C/5th Florida provides the commentary here:

The enemy advanced in five lines of battle against Breckenridge - whose whole line fled panic stricken [back] over our breastworks and far to the rear - hatless, leaving their guns and everything that impeded their flight. As soon as they had passed out of our way, our boys rose with a yell - poured two volleys into the advancing droves of Yankees then jumped the breastworks and charged them. Five to one but each one a hero.​
They advanced to within fifty yards of each other. The Yankees halt, waver and run. One more volley and Breckenridge's breastworks so ingloriously lost are ours. The breastworks recaptured the battle is won. The Yankee dead and wounded cover the field - while strange to say twenty will cover the loss of the whole Florida force. The new troops fought like 'tigers' and we feel proud of them.​
View attachment 361044
According to B. Welch Owens of Andrew's Battalion, Maryland Artillery, as described in part 1 of this series, the 2nd Maryland arrived ahead of the Floridians; engaged Barlow's Federals in hand-to-hand combat taking heavy casualties, including by the bayonet; and drove the Union troops from the breastworks. Council Bryan's account above sure makes it sound like the Floridians deserve their fair share of the credit. On one point, both accounts agree: Union losses in the assault and the repulse were heavy. Owens eloquently describes the aftermath:
The elation and exultation incident to victory speedily subsided, giving way to sympathy for the dead and dying, and the suffering before and around us in painful, hideous array. Sickening scene - sickening then - sickening in retrospective contemplation even at this remote period of time. Many soldiers are considered hardened, but it is not the rule by any means. Inured to privations, hardships and dangers, familiar with the scenes of carnage, the soldier may appear stoical, but the fact is that after the battle, if he bleed not from wounds himself, his brave heart bleeds in sympathy for the misery around him and the conqueror is conquered.

Sources:
Captain Council Bryan to "My Dear Wife" June 3, 1864. Council Bryan Papers, Florida State Archives (Tallahassee, FL) M87-035, folder 7.
Council Allen Bryan Find A Grave Memorial
B. Welch Owens. "The Maryland Boys." Richmond Dispatch., March 09, 1902, page 9.
Zach T Waters."'Tell Them I Died like a Confederate Soldier': Finegan's Florida Brigade at Cold Harbor." The Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Oct., 1990), pp. 156-177.
"Wounded Civil War Soldiers" Allen C. Redwood. 1868.

The guns briefly captured by the Federals were from Caskie's battery. Rain the night before had flooded the low swampy ground below Boatswain's Creek, so the infantry was pulled back, leaving the position vulnerable. Members of the 1st Maryland Artillery helped soldiers of the 2nd Maryland Battalion to turn the guns back on the Federals, while the 4th Maryland Artillery to their right fired canister into the position. The Floridians then closed the breach for good.

Sources
James William Ford Hatton Memoir, LOC, 580-581.
Furgurson, Earnest B., Not War But Murder: Cold Harbor, 1864, 144-148.
OR, 36, pt. 1, 1049.
Compiled Service Records, Confederate Soldiers from Maryland, NA.
Richter, Rick, Three Cheers for the Chesapeake, 94-95.
 
The guns briefly captured by the Federals were from Caskie's battery. Rain the night before had flooded the low swampy ground below Boatswain's Creek, so the infantry was pulled back, leaving the position vulnerable. Members of the 1st Maryland Artillery helped soldiers of the 2nd Maryland Battalion to turn the guns back on the Federals, while the 4th Maryland Artillery to their right fired canister into the position. The Floridians then closed the breach for good.

Sources
James William Ford Hatton Memoir, LOC, 580-581.
Furgurson, Earnest B., Not War But Murder: Cold Harbor, 1864, 144-148.
OR, 36, pt. 1, 1049.
Compiled Service Records, Confederate Soldiers from Maryland, NA.
Richter, Rick, Three Cheers for the Chesapeake, 94-95.
Thanks Rick! Can you tell us about the 4th Maryland Artillery's role? I'd be interested to hear more.
 
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Thanks Rick! Can you tell us about the 4th Maryland's role? I'd be interested to hear more.

Hi, Laura, happy to, although there's very little info on their participation at Cold Harbor. The Maryland Line was disbanded as a combined unit at the end of May/64. By June 1, both the 1st and 4th Maryland Artillery batteries had just been assigned to McIntosh's battalion of Hill's 3rd Corps. At Cold Harbor, McIntosh's battalion was placed in position along Turkey Hill near the ANV's right flank. Since both batteries had just joined the battalion and were used to operating together, it is almost certain that they were in position adjacent to each other; since the 1st Maryland Artillery was on the battalion's left at the site of the breakthrough, the 4th Maryland would have been to their immediate right. The battery fired canister at the Federals making the breakthrough, and were close enough to the fight that all of the unit's casualties in the battle were caused by gunshot wounds.

Today you can see where the breakthrough occurred, although the trenches are long gone and it's a hard location to get to, out of the NPS property. Hope that's helpful, let me know if I can provide anything further.
 
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