COLD HARBOR, BATTLE or. One of the most sanguinary battles of the Civil War in America. fought June 1 and 3, 1861, at. Cold Harbor. Va.. about 10 miles northeast of Rich mond, between the Federal Army of the Potomac, numbering about 102,000, under General Grant, and the Confederate Army of _Northern Virginia, numbering about 65,000, under General Lee.
After fighting the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania (qq.v.), Grant proceeded toward Richmond, crossed the Panninkey on Alay. 28, and on June 1 found himself again face to face with General Lee. On the afternoon of May 31, the Federal general, Sheridan, with his cavalry, carried a position known as Old Cold Harbor, and held it in spite of the stubborn attacks of the Confederate general. Fitzhugh Lee, until night. On the following day he was relieved by General Wright with the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac and Gen. W. F. Smith with the Eighteenth Corps of the Army of the James. who at 6 P.M. attacked Lee with great vigor in face of a terrible fire, and. with a loss of about 2000, succeeded in capturing a large part of the first line, the Confederates making a counter-assault, but with little effect, on the position of the Federal Fifth Army Corps under General Warren. Confederate attacks during the night failed to alter the relative positions of the two armies, and the following day was spent in readjusting the Federal lines. Warren being moved to the left to connect with Smith, Hancock being stationed on Wright's left, and Burnside taking up a position in reserve at Bethesda Church. At about 4.30 A.M. 011 the 3d, an assault was made 'all along the line.' the Federals fiercely attacking the impregnable en trenchments of the Confederates, hut being driven hack with terrific loss in less than thirty minutes. "Most of the ceased within an fighting hour, the Federals having made comparatively little impression on the defenses, hut having advanced their lines somewhat closer to the Con federate works. In their brief charge the
Federals lost iii killed, wounded. and fully 7000 men, more probably falling in the first ten minutes than in any other similar period throughout the war. General Hancock's corps suffered most severely. The two armies remained in their positions until the 12th, when Grant began his march for the James River. (See PETERSBURG.) The total loss sustained by the Federals during these twelve days. but chief ly on the first and third, was fully 12,700; while that of the Confederates. though never accurately ascertained. probably did not exceed 2.500. For several clays after the attack of June 3, great numbers of dead and wounded lay wholly un attended to between the two lines. Grant and Lee being unable to agree upon any plan for furnishing the needed relief. The battle con siderably discouraged the Army of the Potomac, whose loss had not been atoned for by any cor responding gain; and military critics are al most unanimous in the verdict that the assault was the great mistake of Grant's career. Gen eral Grant himself afterwards said of it: "Cold Harbor is, I think. the only battle I ever fought that I would not fight over under the circum stances" (Young, .1round the 'World with Grant, ii.. 304. New York, 1879), and "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever (Memoirs. last ed.. ii., 171). The battle of Gaines's Mill (q.v.) was fought in 1862 nearly on the site of that of Cold Harbor. Consult: Personal Memoirs of F. S. Grant (last ed.. New York, 1S95) : Humphreys, The Virginia Campaign of 1S6'; and 1865 (New York, ISS3) and .Johnson and Buel (editors). The Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. (New York. 1887).