D he gives grant basically a twopart requirement, first to Bring Organization to the union war effort. And secondly to defeat the army of Northern Virginia. And grant goes about making it possible to carry out that charge with a vengeance. First he put together a Program Unlike any the war has yet seen. He realized up to this point battles would last a couple of days and armies would pull apart for months. Grant would not let that happen anymore. They would fight them until they were destroyed. He also realized the old goal of capturing territory didnt make sense anymore. Hence the goal would be to destroy them and only by doing that could the rebellion be brought to a close. And finally he realized they had to move together so the confederates couldnt shift from one theater to the other. We are going to see opening campaigns in the east grant riding with the army and in the west under the direction of grants close friend and subordinate general sherman and these will be bat thals will run day after day after day with the goal of bringing the confederate ar mist to their knees. In the Eastern Theater that would be virginia, grant comes up with a program to destroy lees army of northern virg. His plan is he will take the main federal force, move it directly against lee. He will out number lees forces by two to one, 120,000 federal troops to 65,000 federal troops. At the same time he will have an army moving down southward cutting off lees supplies and have another army move up the james rivera tacking richmond. So there will be a three prong add tack against the army of Northern Virginia rep pli indicating that massive army grant sees for the entire nation. Lee finds himself in a tough situation. The arnie of north virginia is just south of the river here in virginia. The massive army is just north of him on the other side of the river. Lee likes to take the initiative but he cant. Hes massively out numbered and away of the army forming below richmond and realizes he may have to shift reinforcements to one or the other and so lee under takes a waiting game. What is grant going to do . Grant is going to move one way or the other and lee is uncertain. He forfeits the initiative to his opponent. In this instance he had no choice. He sends the calvary out past each end of his line to let him know where the federals are coming from and waits. Grant visits the army and has to decide what to do. As you civil war historians know that army was commanded by the immediate. He was in a hot seat. He had filed destroy lees army at get isburg. He was being investigated by congress. We know how bad that can be. O immediate was in a bad situation. Grant have ited him and was told he would step down and let him bring his own people from the west to run the army. He decided to keep mead on. E needed somebody with his knowledge. Dwrant decides to travel with the army and look over meads shoulder and make sure they were fighting the way he wanted them to and not interfere with his operations. Grant will keep that promise for one day as the army moves into the wilderness. I talk about the relationship of the commanders of these armies. Id like to talk tabblet subordinate commanders. They are going to play a big part. Grant and mead will have a bat relationship. Initially mead will be hopeful it will work out. These are two different kinds of generals. Grant likes to do the unexpected, likes to take risks. They are socially very different people and they come from different social strata. They write home and tell their wives that the relationship is deteriorating and after a few days of fighting mead writes home and tells his wife he would resign from his position if he could but honor required him to stay on. There was a breakdown in the union command relationship. Robert e. Lee has no such problems. He will be the head of the army of virginia and everybody knew it. Who were the subordinate commanders each had under them . The union army had four Infantry Corp and one calvary core. The second will be commanded by scott has been cook. Im sure you are familiar with him. He will not perform well against grant because hes been badly injured. He was shot. Had a twound his thigh and he will spend a lot of campaigns against lee here in an ambulance. The union fifth core will be under a general by the name of warren. General war sven an unusual character. A young man, had been an engineer. He didnt have a lot of experience commanding troops. Hes an odd duck. As a matter of fact, some of his subordinates commented on how he loved to resite limericks and hed be onlyth only one to laugh at them. Thats general warren. General warren also thought a lot of himself and as youll see as this campaign unfolds often thought his plans were better than those of his spoirs. The union sixth core is in the hands of john said wick. He will be shot down by a sharp shooter. By the time the armies get here the union sixth core is headed by a gentleman by the name of wright. Ambrose wright is a general that most of you have probably not heard about and he comes to the sixth core without much background. The union army will also have within it general Ambrose Burnside who will be commanding the ninth army core. He is the general who headed the army of the po tom i can during the battle of gettisburg. Grant is bringing him back. But because of his former position grant decides he cant serve underneath mead and will report directly to grant who will coordinate him with general mead. You can see the command confusion that is going to take place. And some of that will be evident here at cold harbor. Most of the calvary commanders you would be familiar with are now gone. John bue ford has died. Kill patrick has been exiled to the west. What grant decides to do is bring one of his generals from the west eastward and put him in charge of the calvary of the army. In effect general granlt will be selecting the calvary commander who will be reporting to general mead. An awkward command relationship and wont work because each of those are strong willed man. Contemporary writers tell us as a cam poin opens cher den was legged. 5 tall, bow head. Pointed Abraham Lincoln said cher den didnt have enough neck to hang him by and was the only man he knew who could scratch his ankles without bending over. This is the new captain for the army. Well see a lot of him here at cold harbor. A fascinating figure but a lot of problems for general mead. What about robert e. Lee and his force . The people well meet here at cold harbor. Lee had three infantry cores and one calvary core. It begins under james long street. He will be badly wounded after the second day of fighting grant and hes replaced by henderson. A man who liked to smoke pipes. Well see a lot of him here at cold harbor. The second core is under richard youll. He will become ill and by the time the armies get here he will be replaced by early. A former prosecutor, strong willed guy. I have a fondness for prosecutors having been a prosecutor myself so well see how early performs here. He confederate third core by powell hill. Quite ill. Hes commanding jacksons old first core as well as his former light division. Hill will do very poorly. There is one thing about a. P. Hill that most people havent focused on i think makes an interesting story. Being a storyteller id like to write a book about it some day. He had the unusual talent of ting women who later married Union Generals. Its hard to figure out how he was able to figure this out ahead of time. Most of you are familiar with the fact he went out with marci who mar rid george mcclelllan. Went out with a woman amy chase and she married warren. Warren and hill first came up against each other at a battle in the fall of 1863 and this was a few months after warren had married emily chase. When i was digging through some of warrens archives i came across a caller of a letter warren sent across the line to hill. He sent a note across that said general a. P. Hill, i have defeated your army core and i have mar rid your old sweetheart. This will give you an idea of the state of affairs here. This something getting pretty personal. At brings the armies here to cold harbor . Grants plan is to swing down river from lee. Lee is just below this river. Decpwrant going to swing down river, cross and then come back at lee basically turning his frank on may 3, during that night into the Early Morning of may 4. He crosses down river from lee in Central Virginia and comes at him from below. Stops in an area called the wilderness. The union forces stop there to get supplies and also because they dont think lee can catch them in the wilderness. Lee realizes he has to hold that line at the river. This is miles north of richmond. He feels he has to hold that line or he will be driven back to the confederate capitol. Land find himself in entrenchments and would be unable to maneuver. His goal is to maintain flexibility and maneuverability. What lee does is attack grant in the wilderness. He divide his army into three parts. Launches a three prong attack. It goes on for two days. 18,000 Union Soldiers are killed, wounded and captured. 30,000 americans in all. The wilderness catches on fire. Some of the most brutal scenes of war take place. Lee is in a powerful position in the wilderness and grant cannot break through. What does grant do . He decides he will pull the army out of the wilderness, swing south about ten miles this. Will put him between lees army and richmond. As grant figures it lee will have to come out from the wilderness and fight him on open ground this. Is a tactical maneuver aimed at pulling lee out. The army shifts south. A dramatic point in the war because up to this point general had been defeated retreated but grant moves south. There is brutal fighting in places in places such as the mule shoe and bloody angle. It goes on for almost 10days and frant realizes he cant break through there. So grant maneuvers again. He pulls out and sends a finger of it out an a looping march hoping to entice lee to come out so he can pounce on him. That doesnt work. There is a race to the north of the river about 25 miles north of richmond and the Confederate Forces take up position. Decpwrant able to get a finger of his army across. Lee throws his army in a wedge formation with the tip touching the north bank. He realizes by doing this each wing thoffswedge on high ground. A very defenseable position. The union army comes across and its split. Part of the union forces on this side, part on that side. Lee relses at that point he could strike either half of this divided army with his force and have parody of numbers but he is nable to do so because lee falls ill with bad diarrhea. Hes there at the river lying in his tent saying we must strike them a blow. We must not let them pass. We must strike them a blow but he cannot strike that blow. Grapt realizes the trap that he has fallen into. Throws up earth works and we see the two armies cheek by jowl. Like two schoolboy approximates facing each other across earth works. The confederates in a wedge shape formation and the union army in a wedge shape formation larger facing inward. They stay for two days and grant comes up with another idea. Maneuver of course. What he wants to do now is pull out from the north ana river and do it before lee understands what is happening and swing down the river system to the east. This will take him along the north ana and where it joins with other riffers and aim for the crossings around nelson bridge that. Will put him about 17 miles from richmond, down friver lee and he can make a sharp dash to the confederate capitol. Slice off the supply lines and get the victory that hes been attempting to get. This move goes off like clock work. The night of may 26, grant pulls his army under cover of darkness, bands playing across the north ana river on to the north side and heads off to the crossings. Lee has no idea what is going on until the next morning and discovers the federals are gone. The union force makes its march, crosses at has beenover town and part at nelson bridge and finds itself on the south side ready to march toward richmond. A dramatic thing happens now with the calvary. Lee is now getting reports as to where grant is showing up but he needs to send out a force to find out where the federals are. Jeb stuart, the confederate calvary commander has been killed. He headed south during these stewart after wn him and had been wounded on may 1e6789 lee puts in charge at least temporarily of his calvary core a South Carolina general wade hampton who will distinguish himself mightly but troop ied in leading a this size. Grant and mead decide to send a force to find out where the confederates are. On the morning of may 28 with the union army pouring across the river, cher dan starts a force out in the direction of lee. Lee has pulled out and sends his calvary force toward where he thinks the federals might be. And the two of them encounter each other of course near salem church. This is a place that the shop area, nosk recent times has been renamed after bob crick who introduced me here and its now called studly. There is a massive calvary fight that occupies most of may 28 and its a dramatic and different kind of calvary fight. The confederates basically get off of their horses, throw up field works and fight dismounted. A series attacks are launched by general cher dan. He is unable to break through. The army is gathering near him but he wants to win this battle alone. This fight goes on all day until toward the end of the day general armstrong is able to break the impass, overruns portions of hamptons line and confederates fall back. As night fall comes across has beenover county its clear that the federal have driven hamptons calvary back. When won this battle . Phil clearly had occupied the field. But if you gauge who won or lost by whose goals were achieved clearly hampton had won. Hampton screened the army. He had no idea where his main force was. At the same time hampton discovered where grants army was because in scooping up Union Prisoners he picked up Union Infantry and was able to learn grants location. This it was first meeting engagement in the bat thals lead up to our fight here at cold harbor. Lee decides to take up a strong defensive line during that same day and early the next day. If awe take a look at the river and you look at richmond, the is a fensive line below marshy high bank small stream that runs just below the river. And lee decides to take up a line along that creek. During the last part of may 28, all night and into the next day, the Confederate Army moves into place. What happens on may 29 . Grant has now pulled his calvary back to the rear so they can guard the union supply depot at a place called White House Landing. What the Union Generals decide to do is send out the whole union arnoy look for lee. So sixth core moves down the main road, gets down near the creek and then swings sort of up river. The unions second core come on down and set up position near the modern day shell on the house which was there shellton house which was there at the time. Others form in the rear starting to shift further downstream on the creek. He 29th is a day of recording. Thoughts are in the mind of both the union and confederate commanders with respect to reinforcements. Grant has learned that his two supporting armies, have just been defeated. Im told by my virginia friends that the force up in the valley s defeated by a handful of v. M. I. Cadets. That may bay slight exaggeration but they were defeated and butler was defeated by general bum guard and another force of confederates. All of this happening may 15 and mma 16. Grant realizes his supporting armies are got knot going to get their jobs done and he can draw reinforcements from them. He asked general butler to send him balancedy smith 18th corp. Somewhere around the 28th of may balancedy smith starts toward cold harbor area. Hes going to be coming by boat. Its quite an operation. Balancedy smith is going to take his corp from an area called city point near petersburg, come down the james river, swing around, come up the i dont recollect and finally land by boat up at White House Landing. Thats going to take a few days and baldy smiths men wont arrive until the 30th of may. General Brecken Ridge who had defeated see gull is now freed up and is pouring down here in this direction reaches the army and takes up position on the creek. E petitions richmond for reinforcements from that area. Now that general butler is out of the picture that should free up troops from there and a decision is made to send him general hokes division. During the 29th these various reinforcements will be moving into this area. May 30 is a big day as we move toward cold harbor. If you take a look at the map, here is the river, below it is the creek and then there are two roads just below the creek. One was scald shadey grove road. And down below that is another road called old church road. What lee decides to do on may 30 is to launch an offensive. He realizes that part of the union army, this union fifth corpse has now crossed the creek sand on his side of the creek. This is lees chance to catch an undetached part of the army and wipe it out. Warren is sitting down there by himself. So lee gives this job to the new head of his second corp, early. With s to come bain andersons corp. Anderson is going to attack down the shadey grove road and will drop down to that old church road and attack in the same direction and swing north into the underbelly of warrens shoulders this. Is going to be a twoprong add tack. Things start off well. Early and his man go charging down the old church road, manage to drive the federals back who are in that area, mainly pennsylvania yans from the pennsylvania reserves. Drive them back to a church and then charge north into the underbelly of warrens main force. Where is anderson . Anderson has not stepped off. He sent one division out under picket. Picket decided warren is too strongly entrenched and backed up and stopped. Without support this attack the fute till. Its a slaughter. Illis is virtually masacred by warrens men by Union Artillery replacements and it been a massive defeat. General warren of course is delighted. Lee is upset. A fight breaks out between early and anderson explaining how this defeat had been the fault of the other. What does all that add up to . What it adds up to is this grant and mead realize this army of Northern Virginia l