Battlefield Atlas
American Civil War · 1864 First 3 stages free

Cold Harbor, 31 May-12 June 1864

From 31 May to 12 June 1864, at the end of the Overland Campaign, Grant and Meade's Army of the Potomac (about 108,000 men) faced Lee's Army of Northern Virginia (about 62,000) around the Old Cold Harbor crossroads, ten miles northeast of Richmond, on ground fought over at Gaines' Mill in 1862. Sheridan's cavalry seized the crossroads on 31 May and held it the next morning; that evening the VI and XVIII Corps nearly broke the hastily built Confederate line. Given a day's grace by Hancock's delayed march, Lee entrenched about seven miles of works from near Totopotomoy Creek to the Chickahominy. The Union dawn assault of 3 June failed within an hour at a cost of some 6,000 to 7,000 men against roughly 1,500 Confederates. The armies then faced each other in the trenches for nine days, a belated truce on 7 June came too late for most of the wounded between the lines, and on the night of 12 June Grant withdrew toward the James and Petersburg. Both armies were American; the Confederacy fought to preserve slavery, and the Union army that marched south toward Petersburg included regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops.

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Attack of Smith's Corps at Cold Harbor (Waud)
Attack of Smith's Corps at Cold Harbor (Waud) — Alfred R. Waud, 1864 (Library of Congress) — public domain

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 31 May 1864, afternoon

    Sheridan takes the crossroads

    After the standoff on Totopotomoy Creek, Grant again slides his army to the left (southeast), and both armies race for Old Cold Harbor, a crossroads tavern about ten miles northeast of Richmond where five roads meet. About 4 PM Brig. Gen. Alfred Torbert's cavalry division of Sheridan's corps, with part of Gregg's division, Wesley Merritt's brigade coming in along the road from the east, drives off Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry and part of Thomas Clingman's North Carolina infantry brigade and takes the crossroads. Fearing Anderson's approach, Sheridan pulls back that evening, but on Grant's order to hold the crossroads at all costs Torbert returns about 1 AM; the Confederates had not noticed he was gone.

  2. 1 June 1864, morning (about 8 AM)

    Keitt's attack

    Lee orders Richard Anderson's First Corps, with Hoke's division under it, to retake the crossroads. The attack falls to Kershaw's old South Carolina brigade, led by Col. Laurence Keitt, a signer of South Carolina's secession ordinance, at the head of the 20th South Carolina, which had joined the army only the day before; Hoke's men do not join in. Merritt's dismounted troopers, firing seven-shot Spencer carbines from behind breastworks, shatter it. Capt. Theophilus F. Rodenbough of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry wrote that 'the whole thing was over in less than five minutes.' Keitt is mortally wounded and Anderson abandons the attempt. The Confederates entrench about half a mile west of the crossroads, the Chickahominy at their backs, as the VI Corps arrives from about 9 AM.

  3. 1 June 1864, about 6-6:30 PM

    The VI and XVIII Corps attack

    Horatio Wright's VI Corps and William F. 'Baldy' Smith's XVIII Corps, just in from Bermuda Hundred, roughly 30,000 men by the count on a park wayside, relieve the cavalry and attack the new Confederate line; only two of Smith's divisions go in, Martindale's guarding the right. Near the Cold Harbor road, the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery, fighting as infantry with Upton's brigade in its first battle, is cut down in front of Clingman's brigade. But a swampy ravine between Clingman and Wofford's Georgians has been left unmanned: Truex's brigade of Ricketts's division, with B. Smith's, pushes through it, Wofford's line gives way, and hundreds of Confederates are taken. Hunton's brigade and Kershaw's and Colquitt's reserves seal the break after dark. Wright and Smith lose about 2,200 men. That night the Confederates dig a new line a short distance west; the near-breakthrough persuades Grant that one more blow might break Lee.

  4. 2 June 1864

    Seven miles of earthworks

    Grant plans a dawn attack for 2 June, but Hancock's II Corps, after an exhausting night march to the Union left, arrives too worn to go in; Grant puts the assault off to 5 PM, then to 4:30 AM on the 3rd. Lee uses the day. Breckinridge's division retakes Turkey Hill above the Chickahominy, and Wilcox's and Mahone's divisions of A. P. Hill's corps extend the right almost to the river; on the left, Early's Second Corps strikes the Union flank near Bethesda Church. By evening, heavy rain falling, the Confederate line runs about seven miles from near Totopotomoy Creek to the Chickahominy, overlapping works sited so that every approach is swept by cross fire. That night Grant's aide Lt. Col. Horace Porter sees men pinning their names and addresses to their coats so their bodies can be identified.

  5. 3 June 1864, 4:30 AM

    The dawn assault

    At 4:30 AM, through thick ground fog, the II, VI and XVIII Corps advance, with the V and IX Corps in support to the north. Neither Grant nor Meade has examined the ground, and no corps has a defined objective. On the left, Barlow's division breaks into Edgar's Salient on Breckinridge's line, held by Edgar's 26th Virginia Battalion, taking several hundred prisoners and some guns; Terrence Begley of the 7th New York Heavy Artillery shoots down a Confederate color bearer and seizes the colors. Gibbon's division is split by a swamp in front of Colquitt's works. Smith's men, funneled into two ravines, are swept by fire from Law's, G. T. Anderson's and Gregg's brigades of Field's division and from Kershaw's; Martindale's division loses 1,043 of about 3,400. Finegan's Floridians and the 2nd Maryland Battalion counterattack and drive Barlow out.

  6. 3 June 1864, about 5 AM to 12:30 PM

    Failure in minutes

    Most of the assault is over in well under an hour. Hancock's two attacking divisions lose about 3,000 men; the 8th New York Heavy Artillery alone loses nearly 500. Unable to advance or go back, the attackers lie down where they are and dig with bayonets, cups and plates, in places less than 75 yards from the Confederate works. Anderson reportedly counts fourteen separate attacks on his front by 8 AM. At 12:30 PM Grant suspends the assault on his corps commanders' advice. Union losses on 3 June are usually put at about 6,000 to 7,000, Confederate losses at about 1,500 or fewer. Grant later wrote that he always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made.

  7. 4-7 June 1864

    The trenches, and a truce too late

    The armies settle into trench warfare: zigzag covered ways, bombproofs, Coehorn mortars and sharpshooters, with the lines 30 to 300 yards apart. On 4 June Lee sends Heth south to rejoin Hill and draws Early back; Grant refuses his right, shifting Burnside to reserve behind Matadequin Creek and Warren left to join Smith. Wounded Union soldiers lie between the lines in the June heat. On 5 June Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman of Meade's staff meets Maj. Thomas Wooten under a flag of truce to open letters on recovering them, but Grant and Lee disagree over terms for two more days. A two-hour truce is finally kept on the evening of 7 June, more than 100 hours after the attack; along one part of the line, burial parties find 244 Union dead and only three men alive. Soldiers from both sides talk and trade newspapers until the signal sounds.

  8. 12-13 June 1864

    Grant slips away toward the James

    After nine more days in the trenches, Grant gives up on Richmond's northern approaches; Breckinridge has already gone west toward Lynchburg. Behind a shorter defensive line built to cover the move, the army pulls out on the night of 12 June, bands playing to mask the noise. Warren's V and Hancock's II Corps cross the Chickahominy at Long Bridge, Wright's VI and Burnside's IX at Jones' Bridge downstream, and Smith's XVIII marches east to White House Landing to go back to Butler by water. From 14 June boats ferry the II Corps from Wilcox's Landing to Windmill Point, and from the 15th most of the army crosses the James on a pontoon bridge about 2,100 feet long from Weyanoke Point. The move leaves Lee unsure of Grant's destination for two days or so and carries the war to Petersburg. Routes shown are schematic. The battle cost the Union about 13,000 men and the Confederates about 2,500 to 4,600 by different counts; it was Lee's last major victory in the field.

Forces

Grant and Meade brought about 108,000 men against Lee's about 62,000, by the NPS and American Battlefield Trust estimates. Few unit strengths are given in the sources consulted.

Confederate (Army of Northern Virginia)

EngagedBoth the NPS battle summary and the American Battlefield Trust give about 62,000. NPS American Battlefield Protection Program, VA062; American Battlefield Trust, Cold Harborabout 62,000

Union (Army of the Potomac)

EngagedBoth the NPS battle summary and the American Battlefield Trust give about 108,000, including Smith's XVIII Corps. NPS American Battlefield Protection Program, VA062; American Battlefield Trust, Cold Harborabout 108,000
VI and XVIII Corps, 1 June attackPer the NPS wayside 'The Armies Gather at Cold Harbor'. The Armies Gather at Cold Harbor (HMdb 90839)roughly 30,000

Casualties

Union losses for the whole battle were about 12,700 to 13,000, roughly half of them in the 3 June assault; Confederate losses were far lower, about 2,500 to 4,600 by different counts. The Union figures agree closely; the Confederate figures are less certain. Certainty: fair.

Confederate (Army of Northern Virginia)

Casualties, whole battle (31 May-12 June)The NPS battle summary estimates about 2,500; the American Battlefield Trust gives 4,595 (its breakdown of killed, wounded and missing is not reproduced here because its killed figure looks inconsistent). NPS American Battlefield Protection Program, VA062; American Battlefield Trust, Cold Harborabout 2,500-4,600 (2,500–4,595)
Casualties, 3 June assaultGordon Rhea's NPS history says Lee's losses approached 1,500; Freeman quotes Confederate losses as not exceeding 1,200 to 1,500 along six miles of front; the American Battlefield Trust says about 1,500. Rhea, NPS Civil War Series: June 3; Freeman, R. E. Lee, vol. 3, ch. 22; American Battlefield Trust, 10 Facts: Cold Harborabout 1,500 (1,200–1,500)

Union (Army of the Potomac)

Casualties, whole battle (31 May-12 June)The American Battlefield Trust gives 12,737 (1,844 killed, 9,077 wounded, 1,816 missing or captured); the NPS battle summary estimates about 13,000. American Battlefield Trust, Cold Harbor; NPS American Battlefield Protection Program, VA062about 12,700-13,000 (12,737–13,000)
Casualties, 3 June assaultRhea's NPS history says over 6,000 and the American Battlefield Trust about 6,000; the Battlefield Markers Association marker and the Trust's map give about 7,000. Rhea, NPS Civil War Series: June 3; American Battlefield Trust, 10 Facts: Cold Harbor; Confederate Main Line marker (HMdb 14234)about 6,000-7,000 (6,000–7,000)
Casualties, 1 June evening attack (VI and XVIII Corps)Rhea's NPS history: Wright and Smith lost about 2,200 men. Rhea, NPS Civil War Series: June 1, eveningabout 2,200
Martindale's division, 3 JuneOf about 3,400 men, per the NPS wayside at Beulah Church Road. June 3, 1864 - 18th Corps: A Disastrous Attack (HMdb 90841)1,043
Hancock's two attacking divisions, 3 JuneIn about an hour, per Robert E. L. Krick; the 8th New York Heavy Artillery alone lost nearly 500. Krick, Hancock's Assault (American Battlefield Trust)about 3,000

Then and now: how the ground has changed

The core of the 3 June battlefield survives in the Cold Harbor unit of Richmond National Battlefield Park and a Hanover County park, with eroded earthworks under trees that were open fields in 1864; much of the rest of the seven-mile line lies under farms, roads and suburban Mechanicsville.

Weapons

Confederate (Army of Northern Virginia)

Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle-musket

Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle-musket

Rifled percussion musket · 1853–1867

At Cold Harbor: Common Confederate rifle-musket in Lee's entrenched infantry.

Britain's standard infantry rifle of the 1850s and, after the Springfield, the most common long arm of the Civil War. Both sides imported it by the hundreds of thousands; it fired the same family of hollow-based Minié bullets as the Springfield.

Caliber
.577
Effective range
about 300–500 yd (sighted to 900+)
Rate of fire
2–3 rounds a minute
Photo: Smithsonian Institution (NMAH) · Public domain
M1857 12-pounder "Napoleon"

M1857 12-pounder "Napoleon"

Smoothbore field gun (bronze) · 1857-1865 (U.S. service into the 1870s)

At Cold Harbor: Confederate guns sited along the works swept the approaches with cross fire on 3 June.

A U.S. copy of a French gun-howitzer named for Emperor Napoleon III, the Napoleon fired a 12-pound ball but was light enough for field batteries. Rifled guns outranged it, but at the short ranges of most Civil War fighting its heavy canister made it the most trusted gun on both sides. It became the most common field piece of the war.

Caliber
4.62 in
Range
About 1,600-1,700 yd (solid shot at 5°)
Shot
Solid shot, shell, case shot, canister
Crew
9
Photo: Hal Jespersen · Public domain
Coehorn mortar (24-pounder)

Coehorn mortar (24-pounder)

Light bronze siege mortar · 1838–1865

At Cold Harbor: Both armies lobbed Coehorn mortar shells into the opposing trenches during the stalemate of 4-12 June.

A small, portable mortar that threw shells in a high arc into trenches out of reach of direct fire. The Army's Overland Campaign staff ride handbook notes their use in the trench lines at Cold Harbor.

Bore
24-pounder (about 5.8 in)
Photo: Alfred R. Waud, 1864 · Public domain

Union (Army of the Potomac)

Springfield Model 1861 rifle-musket

Springfield Model 1861 rifle-musket

Rifled percussion musket · 1861–1865

At Cold Harbor: Standard Union rifle-musket; the heavy artillery regiments that led several attacks carried rifles as infantry.

The Union's standard infantry weapon, made in the hundreds of thousands at Springfield Armory and by contractors. Its Minié bullet expanded into the rifling, giving rifle accuracy at musket loading speed, one reason Civil War assaults on prepared works were so costly.

Caliber
.58
Effective range
about 200–400 yd (sighted to 500)
Rate of fire
2–3 rounds a minute
Photo: Smithsonian Institution (NMAH) · Public domain
Spencer carbine

Spencer carbine

Lever-action repeating carbine · 1860–1869

At Cold Harbor: Merritt's dismounted troopers broke Keitt's attack on 1 June with seven-shot Spencer carbines.

The first widely issued military repeater, loved by Union cavalry late in the Civil War. Thousands passed into civilian and Native hands on the Plains after the war.

Caliber
.56-56 rimfire
Capacity
7 rounds in a tube through the stock
Rate of fire
about 14–20 aimed rounds a minute
Photo: Hmaag · Public domain
M1857 12-pounder "Napoleon"

M1857 12-pounder "Napoleon"

Smoothbore field gun (bronze) · 1857-1865 (U.S. service into the 1870s)

At Cold Harbor: Union field batteries behind the VI and XVIII Corps lines.

A U.S. copy of a French gun-howitzer named for Emperor Napoleon III, the Napoleon fired a 12-pound ball but was light enough for field batteries. Rifled guns outranged it, but at the short ranges of most Civil War fighting its heavy canister made it the most trusted gun on both sides. It became the most common field piece of the war.

Caliber
4.62 in
Range
About 1,600-1,700 yd (solid shot at 5°)
Shot
Solid shot, shell, case shot, canister
Crew
9
Photo: Hal Jespersen · Public domain
3-inch Ordnance Rifle

3-inch Ordnance Rifle

Rifled field gun (wrought iron) · 1861-1865 (later as saluting guns)

At Cold Harbor: Union rifled field guns.

Built by wrapping wrought-iron strips into a single tough tube, the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle was light, accurate and almost never burst. Phoenix Iron Works made about 1,100 during the war; the Confederacy made only a few dozen copies and relied heavily on captured guns. Gunners prized it for long-range accuracy, though its small shell was weak as canister.

Caliber
3.0 in
Shot
About 9.5 lb shell or bolt
Range
About 1,830 yd at 5° (4,000+ yd max)
Photo: Tim Evanson · CC BY-SA 2.0
Coehorn mortar (24-pounder)

Coehorn mortar (24-pounder)

Light bronze siege mortar · 1838–1865

At Cold Harbor: Union Coehorn mortars in the trenches, sketched at Cold Harbor by Alfred Waud.

A small, portable mortar that threw shells in a high arc into trenches out of reach of direct fire. The Army's Overland Campaign staff ride handbook notes their use in the trench lines at Cold Harbor.

Bore
24-pounder (about 5.8 in)
Photo: Alfred R. Waud, 1864 · Public domain

Paintings and photographs

Attack of Smith's Corps at Cold Harbor (Waud)
Attack of Smith's Corps at Cold Harbor (Waud) Alfred R. Waud's field sketch of the XVIII Corps assault at Cold Harbor. Alfred R. Waud, 1864 (Library of Congress) — public domain · source
7th New York Heavy Artillery in Barlow's charge
7th New York Heavy Artillery in Barlow's charge Alfred Waud's sketch of the 7th New York Heavy Artillery, fighting as infantry, in Barlow's charge on 3 June. Alfred R. Waud, 1864 (Library of Congress) — public domain · source
Coehorn mortars at Cold Harbor
Coehorn mortars at Cold Harbor Alfred Waud's sketch of a Coehorn mortar in action in the Cold Harbor trenches, June 1864. Alfred R. Waud, 1864 (Library of Congress) — public domain · source
Battle of Cold Harbor (Kurz & Allison)
Battle of Cold Harbor (Kurz & Allison) Kurz & Allison's 1888 chromolithograph of the 3 June assault (romanticized). Kurz & Allison, 1888 — public domain · source
Collecting the dead, April 1865
Collecting the dead, April 1865 John Reekie's April 1865 photograph of African American laborers gathering the remains of soldiers killed at Cold Harbor for reburial. John Reekie, 1865 (Library of Congress) — public domain · source

★ Medal of Honor 8 recipients

Links go to the official records: the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and, where they exist, the service's own pages.

Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: May 31 – June 12.

Accuracy score: 74/100 (good)

How the accuracy score works

Sources and method

Cold Harbor, 31 May-12 June 1864. Positions are placed from the National Park Service waysides and Battlefield Markers Association (Freeman) markers of the Cold Harbor unit of Richmond National Battlefield Park and nearby Virginia Department of Historic Resources markers, with coordinates from the Historical Marker Database (Confederate main line, markers 25-31, 'We Have Broken Through', 'A Bloody Baptism of Fire', 'Keitt's Attack', '18th Corps: A Disastrous Attack', 'A Deadly Delay', 'Flag of Truce', Old Cold Harbor, Bethesda Church and others). The course of the fighting follows Gordon C. Rhea's National Park Service Civil War Series, The Battle of Cold Harbor (sections on 31 May to 14 June), the NPS Cold Harbor battlefield tour, Douglas Southall Freeman, R. E. Lee, vol. 3, ch. 22 (the Confederate order from left to right), and the American Battlefield Trust: battle page (strengths and losses), 10 Facts, Robert E. L. Krick's Control of Cold Harbor Crossroads, Hancock's Assault and Eighteenth Corps Assault, Daniel T. Davis, 'The Men Fell in Heaps', the June 1st, Cold Harbor Evening article and the Morning Attack map; and the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program summary (VA062). The U.S. Army's Staff Ride Handbook for the Overland Campaign (King, Robertson and Clay, Combat Studies Institute Press, 2009) was used for the phases of the battle as its Cold Harbor stands and maps divide them; its detailed Cold Harbor pages could not be read online. Earthwork traces between markers, the Confederate line north of Old Church Road and south of the Flag of Truce marker, Edgar's Salient, the post-3 June positions of the IX Corps and Early, and the 12 June routes are interpretive. Sources differ on the order of Field's and Pickett's divisions (Freeman and marker 28 put Field on the left; the NPS Civil War Series puts Pickett opposite Warren) and on losses: Union about 12,700-13,000 for the battle; Confederate about 2,500 (NPS/ABPP) to 4,595 (ABT). Medal of Honor citations from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and the U.S. Army. Images from Wikimedia Commons (Library of Congress originals).

Where the positions come from

Further reading