Chapter 21: Cold Harbor of 1864.
- The great fight of June 3d -- unparalleled in brevity, in slaughter, and in disproportion of loss -- Grant assaults in column, or in mass -- his troops refuse to renew the attack -- effect at the North -- Confederate “works” in the Campaign of 1864 -- the lines -- sharpshooting -- the covered way -- the spring -- death of Captain McCarthy, of the Howitzers -- how it occurred on the lines -- how it was received in the city -- my brother Loses an eye -- “alone in the world” -- a last look at the enemy -- buildings felled and scattered by artillery -- gun wheels cut down by musketry -- bronze guns Splotched and Pitted like smallpox -- epitome of the Campaign of 1864 -- maneuvering of no avail against Lee's Army -- did that Army make Lee, or Lee that Army?
There were two battles at Cold Harbor, one in 1862 and one in 1864. In 1862 the Confederates attacked and drove the Federals from their position; in 1864 the Federals attacked, but were repulsed with frightful slaughter. It is undisputed that both McClellan's army and Grant's outnumbered Lee's,--Grant's overwhelmingly,--and it is asserted that the position occupied by the Federals in 1862 and the Confederates in 1864 was substantially the same. We were in line of battle at Cold Harbor of 1864. from the 1st to the 12th of June-say twelve days; the battle proper did not last perhaps that many minutes. In some respects, at least, it was one of the notable battles of history-certainly in its brevity measured in time, and its length measured in slaughter — as also in the disproportion of the losses. A fair epitome of it in these respects would be that in a few moments more than thirteen thousand men were killed and wounded on the Federal side and less than thirteen hundred on the Confederate. As to the time consumed in the conflict, the longest duration assigned is sixty minutes and the shortest less than eight. For my own part, I could scarcely say whether it lasted eight or sixty minutes, or eight or sixty
