Cold Harbor, Battle of

The Battle of Cold Harbor is fought from May 31 to June 12, 1864 (with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3).

It is one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign during the American Civil War, and is remembered as one of American history's bloodiest, most lopsided battles.

Thousands of Union soldiers are killed or wounded in a hopeless frontal assault against the fortified positions of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army.On May 31, as Grant's army once again swings around the right flank of Lee's army, Union cavalry seize the crossroads of Old Cold Harbor, about 10 miles northeast of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, holding it against Confederate attacks until the Union infantry arrives.

Both Grant and Lee, whose armies had suffered enormous casualties in the Overland Campaign, receive reinforcements.

On the evening of June 1, the Union VI Corps and XVIII Corps arrive and assault the Confederate works to the west of the crossroads with some success.On June 2, the remainder of both armies arrive and the Confederates build an elaborate series of fortifications seven miles long.

At dawn on June 3, three Union corps attack the Confederate works on the southern end of the line and are easily repulsed with heavy casualties.

Attempts to assault on the northern end of the line and to resume the assaults on the southern are unsuccessful.Grant says of the battle in his memoirs, "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."

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

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