Cold Harbor and Gaines Mill Battlefield Hike - 10.13 Miles

From my July 27, 2013 hike - 10.13 miles:

I got up super early one day last summer (by super early I mean before dawn). I decided to hike the trails at Cold Harbor. While hiking I decided to extend my hike onto the Gaines Mill Battlefield and then proceeded to the different section of the Cold Harbor battlefield that is run by Hanover County. I started at the Cold Harbor Visitor Center just before sunrise. I did the 2 mile Cold Harbor battlefield trail loop twice and then went onward to the Gaines Mill Battlefield via the Cold Harbor Road. This portion of the hike was not ideal as there were no sidewalks or not really any portion of a shoulder I could walk on. I kept a constant watch out for cars and each time one passed I had to walk on someone's yard. Again, this is not a desirable situation. However, when I turned down on Watt House Road there was no traffic and I was able to resume my hike in peace.

A look across the battlefield at dawn. This was taken at the visitor center. This would be where the Union center would be and a great deal of the attacks on June 3rd, 1864 took place. 

The trail starts on the Confederate side of the attack. Here are some well preserved breastworks.

Another great view from the Confederate side. The Union attacks would have come from the center of your viewpoint towards you. There were no trees at that time at this part of the battlefield.

Though a pond now this was the Union right which was not a pond then. This marks the edge of the Park boundary. A majority of the Union right flank is private property. I believe the Civil War Trust has decided to go after this portion to preserve.

You cross the park road and enter the Union breastworks. The trail takes you right down the middle of them.

GAINES MILL BATTLEFIELD

 COLD HARBOR NATIONAL CEMETERY

From History.com 

Battle of Gaines' Mill: June 27, 1862

The Battle of Gaines’ Mill was the third of the Seven Days’ Battles (June 25-July 1, 1862), the climax of Union General George McClellan's Peninsula campaign(March-July 1862) in Virginia, whose goal was to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond.

On June 27, 1862, Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee went on the offensive against Brigadier General Fitz John Porter’s (1822-1901) Union troops, who had formed a defensive line behind Boatswain’s Swamp north of the Chickahominy River. Porter’s men withstood a series of Rebel assaults throughout the day; however, that evening, a coordinated attack by some 32,000 Confederates succeeded in breaking the Yankees’ defensive line and driving them back toward the Chickahominy. After darkness fell, Porter’s men retreated to the other side of the river; the Rebels did not pursue them.

Of their approximately 34,000 troops at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, the Yankees suffered some 6,800 killed, wounded, missing or captured, while the Confederates had some 8,700 casualties out of an estimated force of 57,000 to 65,000 men. It was first major victory of the war for Lee, who had been named commander of the Army of Northern Virginia earlier that same month.

After the loss at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, McClellan abandoned his plans to seize Richmond and instead withdrew his men to a base on the James River. 

Second Battle of Cold Harbor: May 31-June 12, 1864

In early May 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant(1822-85) launched his Overland campaign, in which his Army of the Potomac clashed with Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in a series of battles in Virginia. That month, the two sides inflicted heavy losses upon each other as they wheeled along an arc around Richmond—from the Wilderness forest to Spotsylvania and other smaller battle sites.

On May 30, Lee and Grant collided at Bethesda Church; the battle was inconclusive. The next day, the advance units of the armies arrived at the strategic crossroads of Old Cold Harbor (in the same vicinity as the site of the Battle of Gaines’ Mill), where a Yankee attack seized the intersection. Sensing that there was a chance to destroy Lee at the gates of Richmond, Grant prepared for a major assault along the entire Confederate front on June 2. But when Winfield Hancock's (1824-86) Union corps did not arrive on schedule, the operation was postponed until the following day. The delay was tragic for the Union, because it gave Lee's troops time to entrench. Perhaps frustrated with the protracted pursuit of Lee's army, Grant gave the order to attack on June 3—a decision that resulted in an unmitigated disaster. The Yankees met with heavy fire and suffered significant casualties, and were only able to reach the Confederate trenches in a few places. Grant later expressed remorse for what many saw as his reckless actions at Cold Harbor, stating, "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."

Grant pulled out of Cold Harbor nine days later and continued to try to flank Lee's army. The next stop was Petersburg, south of Richmond, where a nine-month siege ensued. Out of some 108,000 troops at the Second Battle of Cold Harbor, the Union suffered 13,000 casualties, while the Confederates suffered 2,500 casualties out of 62,000 troops.