Cold Harbor Battlefield

Cold Harbor Battlefield. Richmond Battlefield. Here Grant and Lee, with combined armies numbering some 180,000 men, fought for two weeks in May and June of 1864. They came here directly after the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and North Anna River. Grant stretched his line to seven miles here and attacked, but his assaults, especially on June 1 and 3, failed. Undaunted, he marched his army south to Petersburg and began the long process of cutting Richmond’s supply lines., Although these fields and woodlots around Cold Harbor witnessed the determined assaults and bitter close combat customary to 1864 battles, they also saw the evolution from open field fighting to trench warfare. Here the peculiar boom of mortars and the menacing crack of a sharpshooter’s rifle came to dominate the front., Cold Harbor Battlefield Tour , The 1.2 mile tour road offers good views of both Confederate and Union fortifications. A more thorough understanding can be obtained by walking the self-guided 1.0-mile trail that begins behind the Visitor Center. Cold Harbor National Cemetery is just east of here. The historic Garthright House is across from the cemetery, and a county park beside the house offers more examples of well preserved entrenchments from the battle., Right Marker: You are standing on ground that saw action in two separate campaigns. The battle of Gaines' Mill occured on June 27, 1862, and was the largest of the Seven Days battles. Most of that battlefield is across the road from here. Two years later the armies fought here at Cold Harbor for nearly two weeks. Confederate General D.H. Hill, reflecting on this place, wrote: "It was thought to be a great thing to charge a battery of artillery or an earthwork lined with infantry .... we were very lavish of blood in those days."