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The Battle of Cold Harbor, the third and final battle of United States Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his 1864 campaign in central Virginia during the American Civil War, today lives in infamy as one of history's most lopsided battles. Grant, the losing general, described it as the "one attack I always regretted ordering."
The Battle of Cold Harbor began on May 31, 1864, when Union (U.S. Army) cavalry under Maj. Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan occupied the crucial crossroads of Old Cold Harbor, 10 miles (16 km) from the Confederate capital of Richmond. By outflanking Lee's army three separate times, including twice after battles that were actually Confederate tactical victories, they stood at the gates of Richmond. Grant hoped that one more attack might finally break the outnumbered Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Over the next two days, the armies of Robert E. Lee and Grant, having disengaged from a standoff at the North Anna River 10 miles (16 km) to the north, took up new positions around Cold Harbor, where the Battle of Cold Harbor would take place. Grant, having received heavy reinforcement, brought 105,000 men (the bulk of the Army of the Potomac) onto the field. Lee had also managed to replace many of his 20,000 casualties to that point in the campaign, and his army numbered 59,000. But the disparity in numbers was no longer what it had been—Grant's reinforcements were often raw recruits, while most of Lee's had been veterans moved from inactive fronts, and they were strongly entrenched in fortifications.
Grant, unaware of the strength of the Confederate earthworks that confronted his army, ordered his II and XVIII Corps, totaling 31,000 men, to attack the Confederate right flank on the morning of June 3. The defenders, consisting mostly of men from the Confederate First and Third Corps, who fought from behind earthworks, slaughtered them as soon as they moved forward during the Battle of Cold Harbor. Grant, not realizing what was happening, threw in the VI Corps, arguably his best fighting unit at that point in the campaign. They were slaughtered as well. The Confederate musket and artillery fire along the XVIII Corps front was so severe that its men were actually pinned to the ground for protection, unable even to retire to their own lines. Grant lost 7,000 men in about 30 minutes, and the only reason he didn't lose more was that his corps commanders ignored his orders to advance again.
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You can also discover some other interesting topics like Frederick Douglass or if you like Civil war battles check out the battle of antietam all from your history source, dash-history.
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