Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles
The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor

Cold Harbor
Second Cold Harbor
Civil War in Virginia

American Civil War
May 31-June 12, 1864


On May 31, Union Major General Philip Sheridan's cavalry seized the vital crossroads of Old Cold Harbor.

Cold Harbor Grant and Lee
May 26-June 3, 1864

A chronicle of the bloody fighting in 1864 as Ulysses Grant headed south and Robert E. Lee tried to prevent him from success. From the Wilderness to Spotsylvania Court House to the North Anna River to Cold Harbor.

Early on June 1, relying heavily on their new repeating carbines and shallow entrenchments, Sheridan's troopers threw back an attack by Confederate infantry.

Confederate reinforcements arrived from Richmond and from the Totopotomoy Creek lines. Late on June 1, the Union VI and XVIII Corps reached Cold Harbor and assaulted the Confederate works with some success.

Major General Philip SheridanBy June 2, both armies were on the field, forming on a seven-mile front that extended from Bethesda Church to the Chickahominy River.

At dawn June 3, the II and XVIII Corps, followed later by the IX Corps, assaulted along the Bethesda Church-Cold Harbor line and were slaughtered at all points. Grant commented in his memoirs that this was the only attack he wished he had never ordered.

The armies confronted each other on these lines until the night of June 12, when Grant again advanced by his left flank, marching to James River.

On June 14, the II Corps was ferried across the river at Wilcox's Landing by transports.

On June 15, the rest of the army began crossing on a 2,200-foot long pontoon bridge at Weyanoke. Abandoning the well-defended approaches to Richmond, Grant sought to shift his army quickly south of the river to threaten Petersburg.

Result(s): Confederate victory

Location: Hanover County

Campaign: Grant's Overland Campaign (May-June 1864) next battle in campaign previous battle in campaign

Date(s): May 31-June 12, 1864

Principal Commanders: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and Major General George G. Meade [US]; General Robert E. Lee [CS]

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

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



Personal Memoirs of P.H. Sheridan, General United States Army
Philip H. Sheridan earned the enmity of many Virginians for laying waste to the Shenandoah Valley. His date and place of birth is uncertain, but he himself claimed to have been born in New York in 1831

Richmond Virginia Area Map of Civil War Battles

Click for full size map
Richmond Virginia Civil War Battle Map

Grant Takes Command: 1863 - 1865
The enigmatic commander in chief of the Union forces through the last year and a half of the Civil War. It is both a revelatory portrait of Ulysses S. Grant and the dramatic story of how the war was won.

72 Piece Civil War Army Men
Play Set 52mm Union and Confederate Figures, Bridge, Horses, Canon
  • 48 Union and Confederate Soldiers up to 2-1/8 inches tall
  • 4 Horses, 4 Sandbag Bunkers, 6 Fence Sections, 3 Cannon, 3 Limber Wagons (Ammo Carts)
  • Bridge, Small Barracks, 2 Cardboard buildings
  • Scale: About 1/35th
Virginia State Battle Map 1864
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Burnside Bridge Plastic Army Men
Playset 2.5 feet long with TEN 2inch
Great looking bridge play set with 5 Union and 5 Confederate Soldier Figures. Bridge comes unassembled with 22 pieces and snaps and slides together easily

American Civil War Book Titles

In the Footsteps of Grant and Lee: The Wilderness Through Cold Harbor
For forty days, the armies fought a grinding campaign from the Rapidan River to the James River that helped decide the course of the Civil War. Several of the war's bloodiest engagements occurred in this brief period: the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the North Anna River, Totopotomoy Creek, Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor

Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox
Lee's troops were more numerous and far less faithful to their cause than has been suggested. Lee himself made mistakes in this campaign, and defeat wrung from him an unusual display of faultfinding

One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia
The first detailed military history of Lee's retreat and the Union effort to catch and destroy the wounded Army of Northern Virginia Complimented with 18 original maps, dozens of photos, and a complete driving tour with GPS coordinates of the entire retreat

Bloody Roads South: The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, May-June 1864
This chronicles the great 1864 Overland Campaign, forty days that marked the end of the Civil War. In detail the battles in Virginia's Wilderness to the combat at Spotsylvania the trap laid by Lee at the North Anna River, to the killing ground of Cold Harbor

The Wilderness Campaign
Military Campaigns of the Civil War

In 1864, in the vast Virginia scrub forest known as the Wilderness, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee first met in battle. The Wilderness campaign of May 5-6 initiated an epic confrontation between these two Civil War commanders

Victory Without Triumph
The Wilderness, May 6th & 7th, 1864


The Spotsylvania Campaign
The Spotsylvania Campaign marked a crucial period in the confrontation between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in Virginia. Waged over a two-week period in mid-May 1864, it included some of the most savage fighting of the Civil War and left indelible marks on all involved

The Battle of the Wilderness May 5-6, 1864
Fought in a tangled forest fringing the south bank of the Rapidan River, the Battle of the Wilderness marked the initial engagement in the climactic months of the Civil War in Virginia, and the first encounter between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee


Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina
From 1816 to 1836 planters of the Palmetto State tumbled from a contented and prosperous life to a world rife with economic distress, guilt over slavery, and apprehension of slave rebellion. Compelling details ofhow this reversal of fortune led the political leaders down the path to states rights doctrines


Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia
The Southern view of slavery as essential to the Southern economy is reiterated. Slavery was the great Southern irony, viewed as a foundation of white liberty. From that perspective, the Confederate soldier's choice was simply victory or death

The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide
Virginia was host to nearly 1/3rd of all Civil War engagements. This guide covers them all like a mini-history of the war. This guide organizes battles chronologically. Each campaign has a detailed overview, followed by concise descriptions of the individual engagements

A Battlefield Atlas of the Civil War
Informative text enhanced 24 three-color maps and 30 black/white historical photographs. Compact, comprehensive, "user friendly", and providing a narrative history along with a complete cartographic display of the famed American Civil War battle of Gettysburg

Civil War History Documentary DVD Movie Titles


Gettysburg / Gods and Generals
The tide of the war changes during three fierce days of combat at Gettysburg [Disc 1] the gripping saga of the tactics command errors and sacrifices behind the bloodiest battle ever fought on U.S. soil. Gods and Generals [Disc 2] reveals the spirited allegiances and fierce combat of earlier Civil War struggles

Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields
Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union

Civil War Journal - The Conflict Begins
These four programs from the History Channel series Civil War Journal cover critical aspects of the early days of the war.

The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress.

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