The Cold Harbor Battle

By Addison DelSantoMrs. Eicher’s Fifth Grade Class

March 25, 2014

The North (US) and South (Confederate Soldiers, CS) were the only ones involved in the Cold Harbor Battle. The purpose of the battle was for Grant’s troops to attempt to destroy the

army of Northern Virginia through force in numbers in a huge attack.

Forces Engaged: 170,000 total (US 108,000; CS 62,000)

Estimated Casualties: 15,500 total (US 13,000; CS 2,500)

The Battle of Cold Harbor lasted nearly two weeks from May 31, 1864 to June 12, 1864. Just ten miles north of Richmond, Virginia, Cold Harbor became the focal point of all the Civil War action in the summer of 1864.

General Robert E. LeeLeader of the Confederates at the Cold Harbor Battle

The Battle of Cold Harbor was Robert E. Lee’s last large-scale field victory.

Despite winning the Battle of Cold Harbor, General Lee had to surrender to General Grant in the spring of 1865. Lee stated, "I suppose there is nothing for me to do but go and see General Grant," he told an aide. "And I would rather die a thousand deaths."

On June 12, 1864, after losing 7,000 soldiers, General Ulysses S. Grant pulled his troops out of Cold Harbor. Grant later expressed his regret at the number of casualties at Cold Harbor, stating, "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made [...] no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained."

General Ulysses S. GrantLeader of the Union at the Cold Harbor Battle

General Grant’s plan was to attack General Lee’s army, cut his supply lines from the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond, and separate him from the Confederate capital (Richmond, VA).

The Battle of Cold Harbor was a strategic turning point in the Civil War. Even though the Confederates won the Battle, it was General Grant and the Union that won the war.

By the end of the summer of 1864, despite losing the Cold Harbor Battle, Ulysses S. Grant had gained the upper hand. By early 1865 it was clear that the North would win. This was confirmed when, on April 2, 1865, General Lee was forced to abandon Richmond. A week later, a unwilling and unhappy Lee surrendered to Grant at a private home in Appomattox, Virginia.

The Civil War Trust has preserved 41 acres of the Cold Harbor battlefield and is working to preserve another 6 acres.

In December 2013, the Civil War Trust announced a campaign to save six acres at the Cold Harbor battlefield. The land is a memorial to all of the soldiers, both Union and Confederate that lost their lives in the Cold Harbor Battle (estimated to be over 15,500 men).

In 2005, a commemorative Flag of Truce marker was placed in Mechanicsville, VA.

On June 5, General Grant started written communication with General Lee to negotiate a truce to retrieve the wounded and dying from between the lines. Lee responded he had no casualties to retrieve. Finally, after Grant sent a message that only mentioned his own wounded, Lee agreed. On June 7, a two-hour flag of truce was raised, but by then few of the wounded were found alive. Some had crawled back to their lines under fire, some had been retrieved by comrades during hours of darkness, but thousands died crying out for water under the summer sun over the course of those five days.

Many Federal troops knew they might die so they took the time to write their name on their uniform so the burial parties could identify them. After four days in the hot July sun, the dead bodies were smelly and bloated. The people conducting the burials were given alcohol so they could get through the task.

Other than canons, all combat was hand-to-hand. Soldiers would use bayonets, guns, knives and anything else they could find to defend themselves.

Wounded Federal soldiers were left on the battlefield for four days after the June 3 assault. It was not until June 7 that the Union soldiers returned to Cold Harbor to rescue their injured comrades. Most of them had already died. One Federal remembered that “I saw no live man lying on this ground. The wounded must have suffered horribly before death relieved them, lying there exposed to the blazing southern sun o' days, and being eaten alive by beetles o' nights.”

Bibliography

"Battle of Cold Harbor." Battle of Cold Harbor. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

"Battle of Cold Harbor." History Net: Where History Comes Alive. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

"Battle of Cold Harbor." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.

"Cold Harbor." Cold Harbor. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

United States. National Park Service. "Cold Harbor." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 04 Mar. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.