General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia held all the approaches to the Confederate capital of Richmond as Major-General George G. Meade’s Federal Army of the Potomac (with General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant in overall command) took positions to Lee’s east along Totopotomoy Creek. But the roads south to Old Cold Harbor and New Cold Harbor were still open.
The Federal troops had sustained an unprecedented number of casualties since this campaign began. But despite their heavy losses, they were now closer to Richmond than they had been since 1862. In moving to the southeast once more, a Massachusetts soldier wrote, “The Army of the Potomac having been unaccustomed to the sunshine of victory, rejoiced at the change and became buoyant with hope. The discouragement that hitherto attended us vanished as our confidence in Grant increased.”
On the morning of May 30, Lee received word that Grant was planning a move to Old Cold Harbor. Lee said, “After fortifying this line they will probably make another move by their left flank over toward the Chickahominy. This is just a repetition of their former movements. It can only be arrested by striking at once at that part of their force which has crossed the Totopotomoy.”
Major-General Jubal Early, commanding the Confederate Second Corps, noted that the Federal left flank, held by Major-General Gouverneur Warren’s Fifth Corps, was open for attack, and Lee authorized Early to do so. Early moved Major-General Robert Rodes’s division around Warren’s left and drove the Federals back, routing the Pennsylvania Reserves. Early waited for Major-General Stephen D. Ramseur’s division to come up, giving the Federals time to regroup and prepare.
Major-General Richard H. Anderson’s Confederate First Corps did not come up in support as expected, and Ramseur’s men charged a Federal battery on their own. As the Confederates approached, the massed Federals unleashed a terrible fire; a Confederate soldier recalled, “Our line melted away as if by magic, every brigade, staff and field officer was cut down, mostly killed outright in an incredibly short time.”
After three futile charges, the Federals called on the survivors to surrender, which they did. A Confederate officer seethed, “Ramseur was to blame for the whole thing, and ought to have been shot for the part he played in it.” The Confederates sustained 1,593 casualties (263 killed, 961 wounded, and 369 missing or captured), while the Federals lost 731 (679 killed or wounded and 52 captured).
Warren accused Major-General Philip Sheridan, commanding the Federal Cavalry Corps, of failing to guard the left flank of the Fifth Corps, which supposedly accounted for Warren being surprised by the Confederate attack. Sheridan asserted, “I have had troops on the left of General Warren’s corps all day, and connected with him.” Warren fumed that the “cavalry do not co-operate with us in any reliable way, as far as I can learn.” This planted a seed of animosity between Warren and Sheridan that would eventually grow.
Meanwhile, Major-General William F. “Baldy” Smith’s Eighteenth Corps from the Federal Army of the James began landing at White House on the Pamunkey River. Smith’s Federals were to take positions on Warren’s left and comprise the new Federal left flank. Meade, who had a bad history with Smith, wrote his wife, “Baldy Smith’s corps has joined, and he is placed under my command, much to his disgust undoubtedly.” Smith also had a bad history with Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside, leading the Ninth Corps, dating back to when Burnside commanded the Potomac army and Smith tried to get him fired. Smith would be taking orders directly from Grant for the time being.
That night, Lee learned that Baldy Smith and 16,000 Federals were reinforcing the Army of the Potomac. With Smith’s men, Grant could extend his left flank another three miles to the vital crossroads village of Cold Harbor. Lee once again asked General P.G.T. Beauregard, commanding the Confederates opposing the Army of the James below Richmond, for reinforcements. But Beauregard replied that the War Department must decide “when and what troops to order from here.”
Exasperated, Lee telegraphed President Jefferson Davis directly: “General Beauregard says the Department must determine what troops to send… The result of this delay will be disaster. Butler’s troops (Smith’s corps) will be with Grant tomorrow. Hoke’s division, at least, should be with me by light tomorrow.”
Davis quickly issued orders through Chief of Staff Braxton Bragg for Beauregard to send Major-General Robert F. Hoke’s 7,000 Confederates, “which you reported ready, immediately to this point by railroad… Move with the utmost expedition, but with as much secrecy as possible.”
Also on the 30th, Lee dispatched 2,000 cavalry troopers under Brigadier-General Matthew C. Butler to guard the Old Cold Harbor crossroads, near the Gaines’s Mill battlefield of 1862. The Confederates rode out but were met by elements of Sheridan’s cavalry. After a brief fight, the Confederates withdrew, giving Sheridan the opportunity to seize the crossroads.
The next day, Lee dispatched a larger cavalry force under Major-General Fitzhugh Lee to get to the crossroads before Sheridan. The Confederates did, but Sheridan was ordered to lead two cavalry divisions beyond the Federal left to take the crossroads back. Sheridan was expected to hold at all costs, as Grant realized that Lee was trying to move around the Federal left and drive a wedge between the Potomac army and its supply base at White House.
Sheridan’s superior numbers eventually drove the Confederates off, leaving Sheridan to guard the area in anticipation of Baldy Smith’s Federals coming up to form Grant’s new left. But Smith got lost, and Sheridan received word that Hoke’s Confederates were on their way to try to drive Sheridan off and retake the crossroads.
Sheridan wrote to Meade, “I do not feel able to hold this place. With the heavy odds against me here, I do not think it prudent to hold on.” As Sheridan withdrew, Meade ordered him to “hold on to all he had gained at Cold Harbor at all hazards.” Sheridan’s troopers returned and built fortifications, while Major-General Horatio Wright’s Sixth Corps was directed to make a hard night march to reinforce them. Lee ordered Anderson’s corps to join Hoke in taking back the crossroads the next day.
This ended the most terrible month of warfare that ever occurred in Virginia. Grant had waged a relentless war of attrition, losing over 50,000 men while inflicting some 30,000 casualties on Lee. The Federal campaign had been a tactical failure, as Lee had thwarted every one of Grant’s efforts to either destroy the Confederates or capture Richmond. But Grant had succeeded in pushing the front from above the Rapidan to within 10 miles of the capital. June promised to be just as terrible as May.
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