The Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia 1864

Buckeye Bill

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The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3rd, 1864. It was one of the final battles of Federal Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign during the American Civil War. This conflict is remembered as one of American history's bloodiest, most lopsided battles. Thousands of Federal soldiers were killed or wounded in a hopeless frontal assault against the fortified positions of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army.

* The Civil War Trust Map (June 3rd, 1864).

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* The Battle of Cold Harbor Virginia Marker at the Visitor Center.

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* Cannon at the Visitor Center and Walking Trail.

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* The Confederate Position.

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* The Federal Position.

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* The Killing Fields Marker.

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* The Killing Fields (Outside the Official NPS Driving Tour).

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* The 2nd Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery Monument with Marker.

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* The Garthright House (Hospital during the Battles of Gaines' Mill and Cold Harbor).

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* The Cold Harbor National Cemetery.

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* Photos Courtesy of William Bechmann (2016).
 
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For the incredible slaughter that occurred there, its a shame only a very small piece of the battlefield is preserved.

Great photos. Did you walk the trail? I thought it was a nice walk. But I did not do the driving tour...kinda wished i would have.
 
For the incredible slaughter that occurred there, its a shame only a very small piece of the battlefield is preserved.

Great photos. Did you walk the trail? I thought it was a nice walk. But I did not do the driving tour...kinda wished i would have.

Thanks for the kind words!

We walked the short and long trails.

My favorite spot was the Killing Fields with lake.

A peaceful venue with a brutal history from the summer of 1864.

Bill
 
Gordon Rhea did a very in-depth study of the battle as part of his four volume series on Grant's overland campaign. He has come up with casualty figures that are far lower than those popularly accepted.

I believe @cash started a thread three or four months ago regarding the casualty totals at the Battle of Cold Harbor.
 
Thanks for the kind words!

We walked the short and long trails.

My favorite spot was the Killing Fields with lake.

A peaceful venue with a brutal history from the summer of 1864.

Bill
Great pics. Didn't get a chance to walk any trails when I was there in January which just made me want to go back. Of the 4 battlefields which I visited on that trip,Cold Harbor was my favorite. It was a Monday morning and I only saw 3 other people while there and 2 of them were local residents on a brisk January morning walk.
 
Great pics. Didn't get a chance to walk any trails when I was there in January which just made me want to go back. Of the 4 battlefields which I visited on that trip,Cold Harbor was my favorite. It was a Monday morning and I only saw 3 other people while there and 2 of them were local residents on a brisk January morning walk.

Thank you!

My son and I walked the trails at Totopotomoy Creek, Gaines' Mill, Cold Harbor and Malvern Hill on May 12th, 2016. I enjoyed all of the walking trails but I was very impressed with the Malvern Hill Battlefield. I will post my photos of Malvern Hill on the anniversary (July 1st, 1862).

Bill
 
Thank you!

My son and I walked the trails at Totopotomoy Creek, Gaines' Mill, Cold Harbor and Malvern Hill on May 12th, 2016. I enjoyed all of the walking trails but I was very impressed with the Malvern Hill Battlefield. I will post my photos of Malvern Hill on the anniversary (July 1st, 1862).

Bill
I did walk the trails at Gaines' Mill. You have to walk trails to see the battlefield. No driving tour. :D Malvern Hill is on the bucket list for my next trip to Richmond. Eager to see your pics.
 
I happen to be a big fan of Gen. Grant but even he in his memoirs said it was his worst mistake. And I have no reason to disbelieve him it was.
 
June 1st...

Lee desired to retake Old Cold Harbor and sent Major General Joseph Kershaw's troops to join Hoke in a morning assault. The effort was short and uncoordinated. Hoke failed to press the attack and Sheridan's troopers, armed with Spencer repeating carbines, easily repulsed the assault.

Grant, encouraged by this success, ordered up reinforcements and planned his own attack for later the same day. If the Union frontal assault broke through the Confederate defenses, it would place the Union army between Lee and Richmond. After a hot and dusty night march, Major General Horatio Wright's VI Corps arrived and relieved Sheridan's cavalry, but Grant had to delay the attack Major General William Smith's XVIII Corps, Army of the James, marching in the wrong direction under out-of-date orders, had to retrace its route and arrived late in the afternoon.

The Union attack finally began at 5 p.m. Finding a fifty yard gap between Hoke's and Kershaw's divisions, Wright's veterans poured through, capturing part of the Confederate lines. A southern counterattack however, sealed off the break and ended the day's fighting. Confederate infantry strengthened their lines that night and waited for the battle to begin next morning.

On June 1, 1864, "A tall and uncommonly fine looking officer in the front rank of the enemy's column, looking me directly in the face, took off his cap and cheered his men with words I could not catch." General Clingman referring to Colonel Elisha S. Kellogg of the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery during the Battle of Cold Harbor. Kellogg had been about ten paces directly in front of Clingman. And within moments of exclaiming those words, Kellogg received two bullets to the head and immediately fell dead.

On this day my three Gr Gr uncles under Clingman's command in the 8th N C Regiment Company B were flanked and over run by union forces wounding one and capturing two... the wound one died a year later from his wounds... the two capture one's survived the war...

 
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