The Words of War

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by Donagh Bracken


  Gibbons’ advance was simultaneous with Barlow’s, but in moving forward, he came upon one of the swamps of the Chickahominy, which had to be turned or overpassed, in the process of which it became very difficult to establish the connection between different parts of his line. This overcome, however, his troops pressed forward with the same vigor that marked the conduct of their companion division on the left. Parts of the brigades of Tyler and Owen gained the rebel works, but for reasons identical with those that forced back Barlow’s troops, they also were compelled to give up what they had won. Gibbons’ division, too, lost very heavily. Gen. Tyler, of the Eighth New York Heavy Artillery, was killed; immediately after, the Lieutenant-Colonel (Bates) fell dead. Another of his regimental commanders, Col. McMahon of the One Hundred and Sixty-Fourth New York, was struck while planting his color on the rebel works and was left a prisoner in the enemy’s hands – his troops not supporting him after he was wounded. Owen’s brigade lost two entire companies taken prisoners inside of the enemy’s intrenchments. In giving way, Gibbons’ division also was far from losing all the ground it had gained. It took up an advanced position, close to the enemy, and just over the crest, the rearward slope of which was held by the rebels. This position it has retained during the day, and McKean’s brigade has held all day a position within fifteen yards of the enemy’s works.

  The Key Point of the Battle and How It Was Lost

  Not until the splendid attack of Hancock’s Corps had been made, not till after its blood-bought victory had been wrested from our hands, was he or any man in this army aware of the supreme importance of the position this morning carried and lost. The key-point in the battle of Gaines’ Mills, two years ago, it is strange and mortifying that no one should have appreciated its value. This position is a bald hill, named Watts Hill, dominating the whole battleground and covering the angle of the Dispatch road. Along this ridge the rebel works formed a salient, and in front of it was a sunken road. Of this road Hancock got possession, and the brigades of Miles and Brooks actually struck and carried the work directly on the salient! Had we held this point, we would have had a position whence the entire rebel line might have been enfiladed; and I think it is not too much to say that the day would have been ours, and Lee pushed across the Chickahominy. Had we even known in advance its commanding importance, very different dispositions for attack would have been made: we would have massed on the left, and made the victory a certainty. These considerations certainly inspire bitter regrets; but who does not know that it is on precisely such contingencies that the fate of battles often hangs?

  The Left Centre and Centre – Wright and Smith

  Simultaneously with the attack of the Second Corps, the Sixth, under Wright, connecting on the left with Hancock, made a general advance at a quarter before five o’clock – each division assaulting on the entire line. Of this corps, the Second Division, (McNeill) held the right, the Third Division, (Ricketts) the centre, and the First Division (Russell) the left. Five batteries, under charge of the Chief of Artillery of the Second Corps, Col. Tompkins – namely: Adams’ First Rhode Island Battery, Cowan’s First New York (Independent), Hahn’s Third New York (Independent), McCurtin’s First Massachusetts, and Rhode’s First Rhode Island, were planted in good positions and did effective service in covering the advance. The assault of the Sixth Corps was made with the utmost vigor, and succeeded in carrying the first line of rebel rifle-pits along its entire front, and got up within two hundred and fifty yards of the main works. Smith’s Corps, connecting on the right with the Sixth, had advanced in conjunction with it; but the left division, that of Martindale, who led the attack in heavy, deep columns, got disarranged, and was repulsed. Gen. Smith made three different attacks to relieve Martindale, but his last supports did not get up in time to allow him to hold on. The effect of this repulse on the left of Smith had a disastrous effect on the position of Wright. It uncovered the right flank of the Sixth and exposed Ricketts’ Division, which was stoutly holding the advanced position, to a savage fire on the prolongation of its line. In this state of facts, to retain possession of a position somewhat in advance of his point of starting, was the utmost Gen. Wright could possibly do.

  Operations on the Right and Right-Centre

  Warren and Burnside

  Operations along the fronts of Warren and Burnside were of an importance quite subordinate to that of operations on the left. No results were achieved except the carrying of the line rifle-pits occupied by the rebel skirmishers. The Fifth and Ninth Corps nowhere struck the enemy’s main work. Burnside kept up a furious cannonade for some hours; but it was nothing – vox et preterea nihil. From the tenor of one of Burnside’s morning dispatches, it was at one time hoped that he would be able to turn the enemy’s left; but this hope also was doomed to disappointment

  Chickahominy in History

  Notwithstanding that the position of our own line would localize the action of to-day as the battle of Cold Harbor, I have called it the battle of the Chickahominy, for the double reason that this name marks the formation of the rebel line which we assailed; and further, because the supreme object of to-day’s action was to force the passage of that stream. In view of the failure to make good this purpose, the thought of the army and of the country will naturally be directed to the future moves on the great chess board. It is a fact of which you may or may not have thought, that Lieut. Gen. GRANT, in his advances on Richmond, has crossed every line of operations that has ever been planned with Richmond as the objective. He has adopt not; he has bisected all. He is at present on the line of McClellan’s peninsular campaign; but will he remain on it? May he not swing across that too? It would certainly be in the line of his mode of action to do so. But such considerations belong to an order of speculation in which extreme delicacy is an obligation of duty imposed upon every writer here. Accordingly, let the section of to-day pass into history to hold such relation with the whole campaign as the future.

  William Swinton

  The New York Times

  Wednesday, June 8, 1864

  Battle of Sunday

  Special Dispatch to The New York Times

  Near Cold Harbor, Sunday Evening, June 5

  The enemy appear to be exceedingly anxious to break up our lines, particularly on the left, so as to cut off all communication with White House Landing. During the last three days they have made several assaults, but in each instance were repulsed with fearful loss. The last attempt of this kind was made just after dark this evening in front of Smyth’s brigade, late Carroll’s, of Gibbons’ Division, Second Army Corps. The weather was peculiarly favorable for the movement, as the rain of last night was succeeded by a hot murky day, and, in consequence, the whole lower strata of atmosphere was a dense mist. Under cover of this impenetrable fog the enemy advanced a strong line of battle, and succeeded in rescuing a point within pistol range of our works before discovered by the advanced pickets. No sooner did the outpost give the alarm than one sheet of fire belched forth from our ranks in front and on both flanks of the enemy. In about half an hour he fell back, leaving the ground covered with his dead and wounded.

  A little later moment there was apparently a similar demonstration about to be made in front of Russell’s Division of the Sixth Corps, but that was speedily checked.

  These night attacks have got to be so frequent that they cease to create an alarm, for the whole army is always on duty, ready at any moment to meet any emergency. Gens. Grant and Meade are constantly on the alert so that a surprise is practically an impossibility.

  But while these attacks at night create no alarm, there is something romantically interesting about them. It is a pyrotechnic display of gigantic proportion. The continued explosions of thousands of rockets would be no comparison.

  The loss on our side in this last assault was small owing to the fact that the men were behind earthworks.

  Lieut. McCone, Fifth Excelsior, of Gen. Hancock’s Staff, had his leg shot off while standing near Gen. Hancock’s hea
dquarters.

  The Second Cavalry Division, Gen. Gregg, gained an important position to-day on the left.

  THE BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR. THROWING UP BREASTWORKS (FORBES). LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

  From Our Special Correspondent

  Near Cold Harbor

  Friday, June 3 – 3 o’clock P. M.

  Since my dispatch of 9 o’clock A. M., I have gathered some additional particulars of the contest this morning. Compelled to leave the field to get off that dispatch at the early hour I did, and not foreseeing that our troops might be compelled to give up a portion of the works they had won against such odds, makes my first account under present circumstances rather exaggerated; that is, the object of the movement on the left was not fully accomplished. True, the cavalry on the left of our line rests upon the Chickahominy, and this morning all felt confident that the left of the infantry line would certainly hold that position, by doing which the enemy, taken in flank, would have had their whole line on this side of the Chickahominy rolled up like a piece of parchment, and the entire demoralization of the enemy must have been the result. As it was, the success was only partial. Our extreme left (Barlow’s division of the Second Corps) advanced to within three-quarters of a mile of the river – an advance of nearly one mile. Of this gallant movement I wish to speak more in detail. Gen. Barlow’s division occupied the extreme left of the line of the army, in fact; Gen. Gibbon’s next, while Gen. Birney’s division was held in reserve. The movement was inaugurated by the advance of one-half of the firstnamed division. Gen. Miles’ brigade, composed of the Fifth New-Hampshire, Sixty-first New-York, Eighty-first Pennsylvania, One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania, One Hundred and Eighty-third Pennsylvania, Twenty-sixth Michigan and Second New-York Heavy Artillery, of Barlow’s division, occupied the extreme left; while Brooks’, brigade, of the same division, composed of the Fifty-third, One Hundred and Forty-fifth, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, Sixty-sixth and Sixty-fourth New-York, Second Delaware and Seventh New-York Artillery, moved up on the right. The movement was commenced at precisely 4 ½ o’clock A. M. The One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, Col. Beaver, deployed as skirmishers. At first the ground over which the command moved was covered with trees and an undergrowth of bushes passing through which the command emerged into an open space in full view of the enemy. At this moment a terrific fire was opened upon the devoted patriots, but they quailed not. Continuing to advance, one-half the command charged upon and obtained possession of the enemy’s works. A battery of six guns was in our hands, and just as Col. Morrris, of the Second New York Artillery, was in the act of turning the guns upon the foe, they advanced in overwhelming numbers, and the braves of the Union were compelled to fall back. The enemy did not then and has not since been able to use these guns. Our men (One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, Col. Beaver) hold a position within thirty-five yards, and every man is shot who attempts to approach the guns. The enemy, composed of HILL’s and Breckenridge’s troops, are behind a line of earthworks on the crest of a roll of land, while our boys hold a similar position in a depression of the land, having thereby a little advantage as to position, as the reader will readily perceive, for to aim at our men, a rebel must raise his head so far above the earthworks as to look down a hill, while ours look up at an angle of perhaps thirty degrees. The enemy’s flag floats defiantly over the parapet, and has been frequently shot away; when this is done the boys banter the enemy to raise their “rag” again. Not a head or the least portion of a man’s person can be exposed but what a dozen guns are instantly fired by our men; and various are the expedients resorted to induce some of the enemy to make a show of hands; some of these which have been successfully used a number of times, are to give the word of command as though our men were to advance, about to be relieved, or reinforced; being within a few paces, the enemy hearing every word distinctly, in large numbers peer over their works to take advantage of the supposed order. Scores of them to-day have forfeited their lives by serving a bad cause with such alacrity. In the charge upon the works, Corp. Terrance Bigler, Company D, Seventh NewYork Heavy Artillery, snatched the State flag of the Twentysixth Virginia Infantry from the hands of the bearer within the enemy’s works, and carried it off triumphantly to the rear. The different temperament of men under the excitement of battle is strongly illustrated by the following incident: The Colonel of the Twenty-sixth Virginia was bayoneted on the spot by one of our men, while a Captain at his side was taken prisoner by another – all the work of a moment. Fifteen commissioned officers and 215 non-commissioned officers and privates were captured by this division.

  Gibbon ‘s division, as I have before said, was at the right of Gen, Barlow. His command also had a desperate conflict, assaulting the enemy’s works several times, and gaining some ground and capturing about 150 prisoners. McKean’s, Owen’s, Smith’s and Tyler’s brigades were all in the fight. A portion of one brigade got so far within the enemy’s works that it could not go either way, and there it remains at this moment. The men will be got-out tonight.

  What the Historians Say

  The battle at Cold Harbor, also known as Second Cold Harbor, took place in Hanover County, Virginia, on May 31–June 12, 1864.

  It was the ninth major battle in Grant’s Overland Campaign that took place during May and June 1864.

  The principal commanders were Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade leading the Union forces of 108,000 men and Gen. Robert E. Lee, the Confederate force of 62,000

  The estimated casualties were 13,000 and 2,500 respectively.

  THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC CROSSING THE PAMUNKEY RIVER ON THE MARCH TO COLD HARBOR (FORBES). LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

  On May 31, Sheridan’s cavalry seized the vital crossroads of Old Cold Harbor. Early on June 1, relying heavily on their new repeating carbines and shallow entrenchments, Sheridan’s troopers threw back an attack by Confederate infantry. Confederate reinforcements arrived from Richmond and from the Totopotomoy Creek lines.

  Late on June 1, the Union VI and XVIII Corps reached Cold Harbor and assaulted the Confederate works with some success. By June 2, both armies were on the field, forming on a seven-mile front that extended from Bethesda Church to the Chickahominy River. At dawn on June 3, the II and XVIII Corps, followed later by the IX Corps, assaulted along the Bethesda Church-Cold Harbor line and were slaughtered at all points. Grant commented in his memoirs that this was the only attack he wished he had never ordered.

  The armies confronted each other on these lines until the night of June 12, when Grant again advanced by his left flank, marching to James River. On June 14, the II Corps was ferried across the river at Wilcox’s Landing by transports. On June 15, the rest of the army began crossing on a 2,200-foot long pontoon bridge at Weyanoke. Abandoning the welldefended approaches to Richmond, Grant sought to shift his army quickly south of the river to threaten Petersburg.

  It was a major Confederate victory.

  14

  Petersburg

  The Second Major Battle of the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign

  AUTHOR’S COMMENTARY

  They were opposites in many ways. The Charleston Mercury, no supporter of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, took every opportunity to criticize the President. As the second Union assault of Petersburg was under way, so too was a proposition in Richmond to increase Jefferson Davis’ salary. On June 14th, the Mercury’s correspondent penned his thoughts regarding Davis’ preference for payment in gold, stating that it was the cause of much ridicule in the independent newspapers. “It is a monstrous proposition,” it railed, “twenty-five thousand dollars in gold, at present rates. . . would make the President’s salary $350,000 in Confederate money.”

  To the North, on the following day, June 15th, as General Butler’s XVIII Corps and General Kautz’s cavalry crossed a 2,200-foot pontoon bridge at Appomattox River at Windmill Point and attacked Petersburg, Henry J. Raymond, editor of The New York Times, was standing before an overflowing crowd at th
e Cooper Institute in New York City. He was endorsing, for President and Vice-President, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson as the nominees of the Republican Party. Raymond, in addition to being the founder and editor of The New York Times, was also a founder of the Republican Party and Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

  June 17, 1864: From the Charleston Mercury

  Telegraph from General Lee’s Lines

  Richmond, VA, June 15

  GRANT’S exact whereabouts and intentions are still undetermined. A body of his cavalry attacked GARRY’S cavalry, of our army, this morning, near Malvern Hill, and were driven back. MCINTOSH’S brigade of Yankee cavalry has also been skirmishing with a part of HETH’S division on Charles City road, about two miles below RIDDLE’S shop today. A few prisoners were captured, who say it is the advance of GRANT’S army, which is not, however, believed to be more than a mere reconnoitering party. GRANT is either going to the Southside or is broken down, and has gone below to reorganize and recruit.

 

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