June 3, 1864
Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, loses about 7,000 men in less than an hour trying two frontal assaults on the entrenched Confederate lines at Cold Harbor. Grant, refusing defeat, does not negotiate a truce until June 7th to send rescue parties to help the wounded on the battlefield, resulting in further loss of life. Within the last month of the Army of the Potomac’s advance, estimates of 50,000 Union and 32,000 Confederate casualties haunt the two armies; the Confederates, however, have no resources for new recruits to fill the dwindling ranks.
Cavalry action at Haw’s Shop, VA, part of the Cold Harbor attack.
Skirmish near Via’s House, VA, during the Campaign from the Rapidan to the James River, VA.
Brig. Gen. William W. Averell’s, USA, Cavalry command sets out from Bunger’s Mills, Greenbrier County, WV, to join up with Maj. Gen. David Hunter, USA, on his way to Lynchburg.
Note: All "Today In The Petersburg Campaign" blog entries are used with permission from Ronald A. Mosocco’s Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War per the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. Order the book HERE.
Copyright © 1993, 1994 by Ronald A. Mosocco