The Killing Fields of Cold Harbor

Cold Harbor - In June of 1864, the Army of the Potomac bloodied itself in several fruitless frontal assaults against prepared defensive works. The American Civil War had become a war of attrition and trench warfare. Men, wearing Blue gallantly rose up from their trenches to march across open Virginia fields to attack their fortified Gray opponent. In most cases, these assaults did little to break the lines of the Army of Northern Virginia. The gain? Thousands of soldiers added to the casualty rolls. On June 3rd alone, 7,000 Union Soldiers fell in 30 minutes. This one attack haunted General Ulysses S. Grant. He regretted ordering an attack that amounted to nothing more than murder on the Killing Fields of Cold Harbor.

Some will say that the Union Army knew that these attacks would end only in death. Soldiers would pin their names and hometowns on the backs of their uniforms in the forlorn hope of being identified among the dead and returned home for a proper burial. Most of those killed never made it home. They received a quick soldiers burial where they fell. They rest today in a National Cemetery not far from where they took their last breaths.

But what made these men rise up and attack a Confederate position that was virtually impregnable? The Confederate position was engineered based on the terrain, was built in depth, and its interlocking fields of fire could annihilate most attacks. Was it valor? Was it hope? Was it trust in their brothers in arms? Was it a belief that their lot in life was to fight and die for the Union and Emancipation?

The Heavy Artillery Regiments from the Washington, DC garrison made their debut in the Army of the Potomac during the 1864 Overland Campaign. In each of these regiment's inaugural battles, carnage and heavy losses were the end result. This was no different at Cold Harbor. These regiments, numbering more that most brigades in either Army, rose up and attacked the vaunted Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Their heroism was demonstrated at the point of the attack. Their deeds told in the killed, wounded, and missing added to the newspaper accounts - the butcher's bill. Their memory kept by loved ones in hometowns across the North.

But what makes a man rise up and attack an entrenched opponent? What makes a man stand to amidst the hail of musketry and cannon fire? What makes a man grit his teeth and charge an opponent with the cold steel of the bayonet?

This past weekend, I found myself asking these questions as I walked across the Cold Harbor battlefield. Only fragments of this field and its extensive fortifications remain. But what a story these trenches do tell. Take a walk through these Virginia woods. Stand beside Union and Confederate trenches that in some cases remain 6-8 feet deep. Look across Bloody Run and the fields separating each Army's works. Think about the madness and carnage of war. Think about the soldiers, their heroism and their sacrifices on this field. Study the battle, walk the ground, and gain an appreciation for how the battle was fought as entrenchments began to rule the day. The lessons not learned at Cold Harbor were to be repeated time and time again during the First World War.

The terrain, the trenches, the fields, the graves, the ghosts of Cold Harbor beckon you.

I challenge you to get involved with battlefield preservation. Let's save what we can in this last generation before development runs its ugly course. The land where our ancestors fought, whether they wore Blue of Gray, is sacred. Their struggle helped to define America as we know it. Study your past, tell your children their links to these great historic events, and honor the memory of these soldiers of old.