Cold Harbor, Battle of, was one of the most lopsided Union defeats of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The battle, named after the crossroads on the battlefield, took place in eastern Virginia from June 1 to June 3, 1864. Union General Ulysses S. Grant led 110,000 soldiers against Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s 60,000 troops. In the battle, Union forces suffered about five times as many casualties as the Confederates.
From May 5 to May 19, Grant’s and Lee‘s forces fought at the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House, both in Virginia. In these two battles, the Union suffered nearly 36,000 casualties, and the Confederates about 18,000. At the end of each battle, Grant withdrew from combat and marched his troops south toward the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. After moving from Spotsylvania Court House, both sides strengthened their lines with reinforcements. Troops from the Richmond defenses reinforced Lee, and troops that had been halted in an attack just south of Richmond reinforced Grant.
On May 23, the two sides met at the North Anna River in Virginia. For three days, Grant looked for an opportunity to attack, but he realized that Lee’s defenses were too strong. As a result, he withdrew his troops and headed south. On May 29, cavalry for both sides fought at Haw’s Shop. The next day, the armies fought a skirmish at Totopotomoy Creek. On May 31, both sides reached Old Cold Harbor. After a minor skirmish, both sides built defenses.
On June 1, Grant launched a frontal assault on Lee’s lines, hoping to hit the Confederates before they had a chance to strengthen their defenses. Grant’s attack was successful at first, but it was eventually stopped by a Confederate counterattack. Grant planned another assault for the next day, but he postponed it to June 3 to allow reinforcements time to prepare. The postponement gave Lee time to fortify his defenses, but Grant still had confidence in his plan. His troops did not share his confidence, however. Many of them pinned their names and addresses to the back of their coats so that their bodies could be identified after the assault.
On June 3, about 50,000 Union troops attacked 30,000 entrenched Confederates along a 3-mile (5-kilometer) front. In less than an hour, several thousand Union troops were killed, many of them in the first minutes of the charge. Grant later said, “I regret this assault more than any one I have ever ordered.”
After the attack, thousands of Union soldiers lay wounded between the two lines. Two days later, Grant asked Lee for a stoppage in the battle, so that the injured soldiers could be retrieved. Grant and Lee spent two additional days negotiating before Grant’s men could finally bring the wounded back to the Union lines. By then, most of the wounded had died. From June 4 to June 12, both armies strengthened their lines and engaged in minor attacks. On June 12, the Union army withdrew and, again, headed south.
During the course of the Battle of Cold Harbor, the Union suffered about 12,000 casualties and the Confederates about 2,500. The large number of Union casualties made Grant the target of heavy criticism, as newspapers began to call him “butcher Grant.” After Cold Harbor, Grant changed his strategy. Instead of continuing to press toward Richmond, he now aimed to capture Petersburg, an important railroad link about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Richmond. Later in June, Grant and Lee would meet at Petersburg for a siege that lasted until April 1865.
