the battle of cold harbor was fought during the american civil war near mechanicsville, virginia, from may 31 to june 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on june 3.it was one of the final battles of union lt. gen. ulysses s. grant's overland campaign, and is remembered as one of american history's bloodiest, most lopsided battles.thousands of union soldiers were killed or wounded in a hopeless frontal assault against the fortified positions of confederate gen. robert e. lee's army.on may 31, as grant's army once again swung around the right flank of lee's army, union cavalry seized the crossroads of old cold harbor, about 10 miles northeast of the confederate capital of richmond, virginia, holding it against confederate attacks until the union infantry arrived.both grant and lee, whose armies had suffered enormous casualties in the overland campaign, received reinforcements.on the evening of june 1, the union vi corps and xviii corps arrived and assaulted the confederate works to the west of the crossroads with some success.on june 2, the remainder of both armies arrived and the confederates built an elaborate series of fortifications 7 miles long.at dawn on june 3, three union corps attacked the confederate works on the southern end of the line and were easily repulsed with heavy casualties.attempts to assault the northern end of the line and to resume the assaults on the southern were unsuccessful.grant said of the battle in his personal memoirs, 'i have always regretted that the last assault at cold harbor was ever made.... no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained.'the armies confronted each other on these lines until the night of june 12, when grant again advanced by his left flank, marching to the james river.in the final stage, lee entrenched his army within besieged petersburg before finally retreating westward across virginia.by late may 1864, only two of these continued to advance: maj. gen. william t. sherman's atlanta campaign and the overland campaign, in which grant accompanied and directly supervised the army of the potomac and its commander, maj. gen. george g. meade.grant's campaign objective was not the confederate capital of richmond, but the destruction of lee's army.president abraham lincoln had long advocated this strategy for his generals, recognizing that the city would certainly fall after the loss of its principal defensive army.grant ordered meade, 'wherever lee goes, there you will go also.'although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition.both union and confederate casualties could be high, but the union had greater resources to replace lost soldiers and equipment.on may 5, after grant's army crossed the rapidan river and entered the wilderness of spotsylvania, it was attacked by lee's army of northern virginia.although lee was outnumbered, about 60,000 to 100,000, his men fought fiercely and the dense foliage provided a terrain advantage.after two days of fighting and almost 29,000 casualties, the results were inconclusive and neither army was able to obtain an advantage.lee had stopped grant, but had not turned him back; grant had not destroyed lee's army.under similar circumstances, previous union commanders had chosen to withdraw behind the rappahannock, but grant instead ordered meade to move around lee's right flank and seize the important crossroads at spotsylvania court house to the southeast, hoping that by interposing his army between lee and richmond, he could lure the confederates into another battle on a more favorable field.elements of lee's army beat the union army to the critical crossroads of spotsylvania court house and began entrenching, a tactic that became increasingly essential for the outnumbered defenders.
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