May 1864 So far, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of General Robert E. Lee, had been able to successfully parry the flanking actions taken by the Union Army of the Potomac commanded nominally by General George Meade, but who took his orders from Major General Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant had started his "Overland Campaign" on May 4th with the Battle of the Wilderness. This battle was followed in short order by the Battle of Spotsylvania. After each battle, Grant moved his army around Lee's right flank.
Lee anticipated Grant's last flanking movement from Spotsylvania, and set what he hoped would be a trap. But Grant sniffed out this trap and after a series of small engagements known as the Battle of North Anna, he continued his advance on Richmond, Virginia.
Three other small engagements followed at Haw's Shop, Totopotomoy Creek (Bethesda Church), and Old Church. From the Old Church engagement, Lee determined that Federal cavalry had intentions to advance on the crossroads at Old Cold Harbor. This crossroads led to a network of roads that connected to Lee's rear areas and had easy access to Richmond itself.
Lee also learned that the 16,000 man XVIII corps under Maj General William F. "Baldy" Smith was on its way to reinforce Grant. This corps was part of General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James. If Smith moved quickly enough to Cold Harbor, that would extend Grant's left too far south and be too much for Lee to handle.
But Lee could also count on some reinforcements. Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered a division of 7,000 men under Maj. General Robert F. Hoke to detach from General P.G.T. Beauregard's army (who was facing Butler) to join Lee. Lee was also miraculously able to replace many of the 20,000 losses he had sustained recently with veteran troops.
Lee now had 62,000 men to Grant's 108,000, but this huge disparity in numbers was deceptive.
Grant had also sustained losses in this campaign. But these losses were replaced by either raw recruits, or by heavy artillery units recently converted to infantry that were guarding Washington..
So the odds were better than they looked for Lee.
On May 31, as Lee had determined, Grant now ordered Maj. General Phillip Sheridan's cavalry to the Old Cold Harbor crossroads. Sheridan was to take this crossroads "at all hazards". He was to receive infantry support from the Union VI Corps.
By the early morning of June 1, Lee had concentrated his infantry and was determined to push the Federals away from Old Cold Harbor. But the attack was not coordinated properly by Lee's subordinates. Also, Sheridan's cavalry were equipped with seven-shot repeating rifles. The Confederates, with not enough force behind their attack were simply out-gunned and had to fall back.
The area know as Cold Harbor (now modern day Mechanicsville) was actually two "Cold Harbors". Old Cold harbor was now firmly in Union hands. About one mile to the southeast was New Cold Harbor. This area was now occupied by Lee in force.
Grant had wanted to follow up at once the Confederate attack that was repulsed by Sheridan's men but could not summon up enough force to accomplish this that morning. He decided to wait.
Lee, who began to entrench his army the day before, now used the time to improve his defenses.
At 6:30pm, Grant was finally able to begin a general attack.
But now, a series of blunders by Union commanders began that was to prove fatal to the chances of a Union victory. There was no advance reconnaissance of the Confederate position and the approaches to it.
On one part of the Confederate line, a solid wall of fire greeted the attackers causing them to fall back. On another sector, the Union attackers found a gap in the Confederate line. But this gap was through a swampy, brush-filled ravine. As the attackers funneled through, they became surrounded on three sides and were forced to withdraw.
The attack petered out at dark, the Federals having lost more than 2,000 men. Several of the generals, including Meade, were furious at Grant for having ordered an attack without proper reconnaissance.
The problem was that Meade was the commander of the Army of the Potomac. Although under orders from Grant who was the overall commander, it was Meade's responsibility to order the reconnaissance.
Although the June 1st attacks were unsuccessful, Meade was sure that an attack on Lee's right flank would succeed if he had adequate forces. Meade and Grant conferred and it was decided that General Hancock would lead a three corps attack on Lee's right, while Generals Burnside and Warren would attack Lee's left to prevent Lee from reinforcing his right.
But Hancock's II corps was up at Totototomoy Creek. It would have to march all night to get into position for an attack on June 2nd.
Once Hancock arrived on the field, it was determined that his men were too worn out to attack immediately. It was postponed until 5:00pm.
Then it was postponed again until 4:30am on June 3rd, but Grant and Meade gave no specific orders for the assault, leaving it to the corps commanders to coordinate among themselves. And again, no reconnaissance was ordered.
"Baldy" Smith, one of the participating corps commanders was aghast at what he considered to be an "absence of any military plan". He felt that the whole attack was "simply an order to slaughter my best troops".
Lee again took advantage of the delay to further fortify his positions. In fact, Lee's engineers had constructed a masterpiece. Barricades were constructed with earth and logs, and artillery was placed as to provide converging fire on any attacking troops. Stakes were driven into the ground to provide the artillery commanders with accurate ranges. Lines were constructed to enfilade other lines in case one was overrun. It was an intricate maze of fortifications never before seen thus far in the war.
The Union attackers would have no idea as to what they were up against.
But they had some inklings. Many Union soldiers spent the night of June 2nd writing their names on pieces of paper and pinning them to the inside of their uniforms so that burial parties could later identify them.
At 4:30am on June 3rd, the three Union corps began its advance through thick fog. A massive fire from the Confederates quickly caused heavy casualties, and the survivors found themselves pinned down where they were. It was reminiscent of the battle of Fredericksburg, when Marye's Heights was assaulted 19 times causing massive casualties for no positive result.
On the right hand side of this three-corps attack, men were funneled into ravines. They emerged right in front of the Confederate position where artillery, and rifle fire simply mowed them down.
There were some temporary local successes, some Confederate trenches being overrun. But the attackers were either beaten back, or slaughtered where they were.
The battle was sharp, quick, and decisive. It was estimated that within twenty minutes from the beginning of the assault, as many as 7,000 Union soldiers were either killed or wounded.
More woe was to fall on the survivors who were still pinned down by Confederate fire. With shovels and cups they dug small indentations in the earth to shield themselves from enemy fire. They used dead and wounded comrades to further protect themselves.
The two sides now settled into trench warfare for the next nine days. Casualties from sniper and artillery fire took many more lives.
Grant and Lee traded notes between June 5-7 regarding clearing the wounded from between the lines, but no agreement could be reached. Finally Grant requested a two hour cease-fire.
But it was too late for the wounded, who were now simply bloated corpses.
Grant finally realized that once again he was in a stalemate with Lee and that further attacks would be futile. On June 12th, Grant disengaged and again shifted his army to the southeast across the James River towards Petersburg, a crucial rail junction south of Richmond.
The Union losses in this battle were almost 13,000 -- half of them occurring in only twenty minutes. The Confederates lost around 4,500, only 83 of which were killed.
It was a stunning victory for Lee, but it was to be his last.
