June 3, 1864

At 4:30 in the morning, 3 Union Corps advanced on the Confederates at a tiny crossroads in Old Cold Harbor. Based on how the Confederates had entrenched themselves the day before, the Union was going to have to fight harder than they had ever fought before. Unfortunately, heavy artillery fire from the Confederates caused more casualties than they expected.

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock's II Corps was the only corps to make any sort of advance. They were able to break through Major General John C. Breckinridge's line. After fighting in hand-to-hand combat, the Union forces were able to take the earthworks. But nearby Confederate artillery attacked the Federals and the earthworks were turned into a death trap. Breckinridge's reserves counterattacked the Union forces (being led by Brigadier General Francis Barlow) and they were driven off. Gibbon's Division became disoriented when they got into some swampy ground and could not advance.

Major General Horatio Wright's VI Corps didn't try to advance once the Confederate artillery started firing on them.

Major General William F. "Baldy" Smith's XVIII Corps was channeled into 2 ravines and when they emerged, the Confederate artillery basically mowed them down.

Major General Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps didn't want to advance at all.

Major General Ambrose Burnside's IX Corps overran skirmishers on the Confederate front and thinking that they had just hit the first earthworks, they stopped to regroup and decided to continue the assault later in the morning. What they didn't realize was that the men they had just forced back were not at the earthworks but were just skirmishers out looking for the enemy.

At 7 am Meade ordered all 3 Corps to assault at once and not pay any attention to what was happening on their flanks. Hancock advised against this assault. Smith refused to advance again. Wright increased his rifle fire but didn't move.

By 12:30 pm, Grant admitted that his army was done. There would be no more fighting.

Union casualties were somewhere between 3,000 and 7,000 (depending on the source) and the Confederate casualties were 1,500 at the most.

This was quite a lopsided defeat for the Union army....an army that seemed to have been on an upswing since General Grant took over the armies. This entire battle could have been handled better, with better leadership. Unfortunately, it seemed that the leadership fell apart on all levels. The only person who seemed to have done any good on the Union side was Hancock....but even then, he was still defeated soundly.

The next post will be about the aftermath of this battle. There were quite a few incidences that occurred following this battle.