Cold Harbor and a Field Full of Union Blood

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June 6, 1864

During May and June of 1864, Grant’s Army of the Potomac and Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fought a series of battles in Virginia, which included The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. General Ulysses S. Grant was on the attack and his goal was to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia. Cold Harbor was fought on June 1-3, 1864.

Note: the term “cold harbor” meant a place to stay overnight, but where no cooked or hot meals are served. This is how the town of Cold Harbor got its name.

Overall, during this campaign of May and June in 1864, Grant’s Army of the Potomac was always moving to its left, hoping to flank the Army of Northern Virginia on its right. In early June, with the give and take of battle, the two armies were in a race to see which one would get to the crossroads town of Cold Harbor first. Lee won the race to Cold Harbor, but Grant was right behind.

Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

General Robert E. Lee was (as usual) outnumbered. At Cold Harbor Lee had 59,000 troops facing 109,000 Yankees. The previous four weeks of fighting had taken a considerable toll on both armies. The Union suffered casualties of 44,000, while the Confederates had casualties of 25,000. General Grant’s idea was to wear Lee’s army down by constant fighting, and cause Lee to lose by attrition. Grant knew by steadily forcing Lee to fight, and to continue to fight, eventually the superior numbers of men and firepower of the North would win the war against the Confederacy. If the Army of Northern Virginia could be ground down to a nub, the Confederacy would be defeated. Grant’s plan was working.

On June 3, at Cold Harbor, the Army of the Potomac faced a well-entrenched Army of Northern Virginia that held a good, strong, and defensive position. A newspaper reporter described the Confederate trenches as “intricate, zig-zagged lines within lines, lines protecting flanks of lines, lines built to enfilade opposing lines…works within works and works without works.” Their ranks contained seasoned soldiers who knew how to fight. Though outnumbered, the trenches gave the Confederates the advantage. At dawn, General Grant sent three Federal corps in a straight-on charge against the defensively entrenched Confederates.

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

This charge resulted in one of the bloodiest slaughters of the Civil War. Within only seven to eight minutes, seven thousand Union men fell at Cold Harbor. The dead and wounded covered a battlefield of five acres. A Confederate general commented; “I had seen the dreadful carnage in front of Marye’s Hill at Fredericksburg, but I had seen nothing to exceed this. It was not war; it was murder.” The amount of fire the Confederates poured into the Union soldiers was enormous. An Alabama colonel who witnessed the slaughter described a common end to the lives of many Union soldiers in this way; “dust fog out of a man’s clothing in two or three places at once where as many balls would strike him at the same moment.” A few men from a Zouave unit managed to come close to the Confederate lines, but soon shot down. A Zouave regiment colonel was struck by so many bullets that afterwards his remains could only be identified by brass buttons, which remained on what little was left of his officer’s uniform.

Grant knew by the afternoon he had lost, and no further attacks occurred. Cold Harbor was a Confederate victory. On the evening of June 3, Grant said; “I regret this assault more than any one I have ever ordered.” Grant knew his decision of a frontal charge at Cold Harbor was a mistake.

Petersburg was next for the two opposing armies.

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Who’s Buried in Grant’s Tomb?

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Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27, 1822 at Point Pleasant, Ohio. Point Pleasant is a community on the Ohio River east of Cincinnati. Grant’s father Jesse, was a tanner.

Hiram Ulysses Grant – Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

When a young Ulysses Grant arrived at West Point, he found his appointment was in the name of “Ulysses S. Grant,” but Grant’s parents named him “Hiram Ulysses Grant.” Grant never bothered to change the clerical error to his proper name.

Perhaps Grant did not wish to have his real name initials of “HUG” adapted as a nickname for him by his fellow West Pointers. Besides, “U. S. Grant” worked better. Later, Grant was called “Unconditional Surrender Grant” after Confederate Simon Boliver Buckner surrendered Fort Donelson to him.

Ely Samuel Parker was a Seneca Indian, a Union officer, and the son of a famous Seneca chief. He studied law, but was refused admission to the bar because he was not a citizen. Later, Parker graduated from Rensselaer as an engineer. Ely Parker was working in Galena, Illinois in 1857, and he became the friend of a store clerk whose name was Sam Grant. Sam Grant was Ulysses S. Grant, and during the Civil War Ely Parker became General Grant’s military secretary. Ely Parker had exceptional penmanship, he transcribed the official copies of the surrender documents when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

Doggone it! By lightning!

Grant never swore. His explanation for this:

“Well, somehow or another, I never learned to swear, when a boy I seemed to have an aversion to it, and when I became a man I saw the folly of it. I have always noticed, too, that swearing helps to rouse a man’s anger; and when a man flies into a passion his adversary who keeps cool always gets the better of him. In fact, I could never see the use of swearing. I think it is the case with many people who swear excessively that it is mere habit, and that they do not mean to be profane; but, to say the least, it is a great waste of time.”

In an army full of magnificent swearers, Grant’s strongest exclamations were: “doggone it” or “by lightning.”

Army Service In California

Ulysses S. Grant served with generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott during the Mexican War. After the Mexican War, Ulysses S. Grant was stationed without his wife and children in California. This was very difficult time for him because Grant’s family was the center of his life. Without his wife and children near him, Ulysses S.Grant was an unhappy and sad man. Grant was lonely and bored in California and took to excessive drinking. It should be known that although Grant did drink excessively at times, never did his drinking interfere with his duties in the Civil War. The debate over whether or not Grant was an alcoholic continues to this day. We can be sure that Ulysses S. Grant loved smoking cigars. Eventually, Grant resigned his commission in 1854. The United States Secretary of War accepted Grant’s resignation, and in one of the strange quirks of Civil War history that Secretary of War was Jefferson Davis, the future president of the Confederate States of America.

President Ulysses S. Grant

After the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant became an author, Secretary of War under President Johnson, and was elected President of the United States in 1868, he served two terms.

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant finished his two-volume autobiography, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, only days before he died of throat cancer in 1885. Mark Twain’s firm published Grant’s memoirs and 300,000 copies were sold, earning $450,000 for Grant’s widow, Julia. Grant’s autobiography is considered as one of the best autobiographies written in the English language.

So, Who’s Buried In Grant’s Tomb?

Ulysses Grant's Tomb

Ulysses Grant’s Tomb

The General Grant Memorial is located at 122nd Street and Riverside Drive in New York city. This is where both Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant, are buried. Grant’s tomb was dedicated on April 27, 1897 (Grant’s birthday), with over one million people attending the parade and dedication ceremony.

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