1. Just east of Richmond, ten miles or so, is a low rise which runs north of the James River. Part of the rise is a feature call Malvern Hill. Park literature has this to say about the battle, to summarize:

"The battle of Malvern Hill was the last in the weeklong series of engagements in 1862 known as the Seven Days battles. Malvern Hill is the story of Confederate infantry against massed Federal artillery – Southern valor against Union firepower. Late in the afternoon on July 1, 1862, blasts from Union cannon blanketed this field with smoke. Residents of Staunton, Virginia, more than 100 miles distant, heard the roar of those guns."

"Looking back to the north, you now share the view of the Union artillerists. Remember that their guns stretched all the way across the hill in front of you. Today only eight guns represent where at least thirty stood during the battle. On several occasions, when Southern infantry approached, the cannoneers willingly gave way to their own infantry supports, which rushed forward through the line of cannon and dispersed the Confederates. This often involved close-quarters fighting, and a great many of the Union army’s 3,000 casualties occurred in these actions."

"Porter positions artillery seemingly hub-to-hub across this half-mile crest. In front, fields slope down to woods and swamp – a tough place to form a charge. As Confederates launch disjointed assaults, Federal cannon, like giant shotguns, saturate the open ground with canister and grapeshot."

"Over five thousand dead and wounded men were on the ground," a Union officer reported next dawn, "but enough were alive and moving to give the field a singular crawling effect."

The photo is from back of the Union line. Five artillery pieces are on the south side of the road, while three others are in line to the north. The field of battle was much less wooded on the left in 1862, while there were some woods in the distance on the right.

2. Less than ten miles north east of Richmond, lies a gently rolling landscape, with a mix of field and woods cover. There, in 1864, the two armies fought to a standstill at Cold Harbor, as Grant’s forces pushed hard to capture Richmond.

The Union forces, seeking to move around, if not through the Confederates, had started the spring campaign of 1964 with savage fighting in the tangled woods of the Wilderness. On the 5th and 6th of May, 119,000 Union troops fought 62,000 Confederates, with casualties totalling 18,000 for the Blue and 10,800 for the Grey.

The Civil War Battlefield Guide, published by the Conservation Trust, says: "One Northern private wrote that "it was a blind and bloody hunt to the death in the bewildering thickets, rather than a battle." To the claustrophobic nature of the combat was added the terror of numerous flash fires that raged through the dry underbrush, incinerating soldiers too wounded to escape.

Grant tried to break out by sliding forward to his left along the Confederate flank. Lee matched the movement, leading to the battle for Spotsylvania Court House, May 8 – 21, 1864. Over a two week period, the Union forces, in a series of engagements, took about 18,000 casualties, while the Confederates suffered 8,000 – 9,000.

Grant moved again, to the South and East, and the two sides met at the North Anna River, May 23 – 26th, 1864. Grant was looking for access to Richmond, and on both side, smaller forces engaged, resulting in 2,623 casualties for the Union and 2,517 for the Confederates.

Grant then moved forward and to the left again, to within a day’s march of Richmond, meeting at Cold Harbor, May 31 – June 3, 1864. The final attack launched by the Union, at 4:30 am, covered a front 4 miles wide on June 3rd, against Lee’s entrenched Confederates. The night before, Union men had written their names on scraps of paper fastened to their clothing, hoping to be identified after the battle. In a disastrous few minutes, 7,000 Northern men fell, killed and wounded. After the war, Grant wrote: "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made."

Major General Martin T. McMahon, U.S.V wrote, about the failed Union attack: "The time of actual advance was not over eight minutes. In that little period, more men fell bleeding as they advanced than in any other like period of time throughout the war."

Total losses for the battle: Union – 13,000 men, Confederates – 5,000.

Total losses for the 6 weeks campaign: Union: more than 51,000 killed and wounded. Confederates: 27,000 killed and wounded. The stage was set for the next campaign, as the mobile war of Spring changed into a stagnant siege of Summer, in the defenses Richmond and Petersburg.

The photo is of Cold Harbor, from the north, looking from the Union positions, across what would have been open ground, toward the Confederate trenches.

One Confederate officer, Captain James E. Phillips, 12th Virginia Infantry, wrote: "I counted 21 Union flags flying from the Crater and these works. The sight gave me no hope of ever getting away alive."

The Union attack was a failure. Although a new Division of Black troops had been trained for the attack, but late on July 29th, fearing public outcry should the Black troops suffer heavy casualties, General George G. Meade ordered General Burnside to pick another, all-white division to lead the attack. The unprepared white troops – and the attack faltered. The Black division joined the battle at 8 am, when the fighting had degenerated into a brutal, confused brawl. More than 600 of the Black troops were killed or missing by the end of the day. Total casualties: Union – 4,000, Confederate – 1,300.

Major Charles P. Adams, U.S. Army, wrote: "It was agreed that the thing was a perfect success, except that it did not succeed."

General Grant reported to Halleck: "It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in the war. Such opportunity for carrying fortifications I have never seen, and do not expect again to have.

The war dragged on for another 9 months, before Lee’s surrender was forced at Appomattox Court House, in April, 1865.

Time has softened the scars of the battlefield, but the Crater still endures, sitting at the final stop of a one way road which threads for several miles through the groves and fields of the southeastern perimeter of the Petersburg Defenses.

This battle was effectively depicted as a scene in the Movie Cold Mountain.

The photo is looking towards the Confederate lines, from the eastern lip of the depression.

For your information.

Jim Szpajcher