Transcript Addison D.

The Cold Harbor Battle
By Addison DelSanto
Mrs. 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. Lee
Leader 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."
General Ulysses S. Grant
Leader of the Union at the Cold Harbor Battle
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 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.