June 2, 1864

To continue with my mini-study of the Battle of Cold Harbor, I'm moving onto the third day of fighting. This is the part of the battle that just completely blows my mind and makes me believe that both Generals Meade and Grant were nuts (or incompetent) and General Lee was a genius. Here's what happened that day:

General Grant and Major General Meade decide that they are going to attack General Lee's right flank....with the previous days fighting on the right, they figured that this would be the weakest part of the link. OK...this could be. So, they call General Winfield Scott Hancock's II Corps to leave Totopotomoy Creek and head over to Old Cold Harbor. Then they tell Major General Gouverneur K. Warren and Major General Ambrose Burnside to attack Lee's left flank in the morning "at all hazards". The plan sounds good so far. The implementation doesn't go so good, though.

Hancock's men ended up marching all night and were completely worn out by the time they got into position. So Grant postponed the attack until 5:30 pm to allow the men to rest. Then the attack got postponed AGAIN until 4:30 am on June 3.

Neither Gens. Grant or Meade gave any specific orders on how to attack Lee....it was left up to the Corps commanders on how to implement the attack....and there was little if any communication between the Corps commanders.

Also, NO senior commander had reconnoitered the enemy's position. So they had no idea where the enemy really was.

In the meantime, while the Union army was trying to do SOMETHING, General Lee decides that now is the time to prepare for attack and he put his men to work making entrenchments.

Maj General John C. Breckinridge was able to drive a small force of Union troops off Turkey Hill which dominated the southern end of the battlefield. It seems that this was the only fighting that took place on this day.

Back to Lee....his men were so busy making breastworks, etc, that they ended up with a 7 mile line. The left flank of his line was on Totopotomoy Creek and the right flank was on the Chickahominy River....which made a flanking attack impossible.

They had barricades made of earth and logs. The artillery was set up in such a way that every avenue of approach would be covered with converging fire. And the breastworks were zigzag lines within lines. A reporter who was walking around the battlefield after the battle described it this way: "Intricate, zig-zagged lines within lines, lines protecting flanks of lines, lines built to enfilade an opposing line, ... [It was] a maze and labyrinth of works within works."

Battle never actually took place this day....it was mostly preparations....but General Lee had the upper hand in getting ready and now its looking like the South is prepared to win this battle. But what will happen? Stay tuned for more on this exciting saga!