The clash of Cold Harbor occurred from May 31 to June 12, 1864 in Virginia between the union and confederate strengths and it resulted in a victory for the confederacy. The charging officers were Robert E. Lee for the confederacy and for the Union their leaders were General Ulysses S. Gift and George G. Meade. It is recognized as one of the bloodiest yet most key and trim sided battles of the American Civil War. The Battle of Cold Harbor was additionally one of the last clashes of the union drove by General Grant and as a major aspect of his 1864 overland campaign. In this battle the union soldiers nearly doubled the amount of confederate soldiers. This was counteracted by the fact that the 62,000 confederate soldiers were mainly made out …show more content…
This battle was a total thrashing of the confederate side towards the union. This is here to show that quality overpowers quantity by the fact that the numbers disparity is huge and that the confederate soldiers were just experienced. This was one of the worst defeats that General Grant had ever faced. At this time in the war not only did the union overpower in the amount of soldiers but they also had an overwhelming amount of money at about two hundred thirty-four million dollars whereas the confederacy only had about seventy million dollars. The amount of money from the confederacy to the union is about triple the amount. The confederacy got rid of their fiscal matters throughout the war through donations from people (voluntary), imposing taxes on many things, appropriation of northern owned properties in the south, distribution of government debt and printing of confederate dollars. The union had a lot more men who could be enlisted to the army where the confederacy didn’t have as much. The numbers of the …show more content…
General Sheridan’s troops and him having control over the crossroads were very important towards their movement and how they went on forward in the battle. General Sheridan of the confederate army received reinforcement troops from Redmond and the Totopotomoy creek lines. During the day of reinforcements arrival the confederate army was attacked and were quite successful with their battling. On June 2nd the day after a small successful attacked a massive seven mile front was developed by the two armies. This battle was located mostly in Central Virginia and it provided a humongous amount of land. Cold Harbor has many special elements to how it is built but one really important one was two crossroads which were used a resource receivers for General Grant’s troops. The next day the union corps were attacked and were killed at all possible areas alongside the Bethesda Church where parts of the union army were located. The next two days both armies were moving and relocating themselves and at this time in the battle the union sort of knew that they were going to lose. The battle then ended on June 14 and resulted in a victory for the
It really puts things into perspective at just how significant this battle is. The Battle of Olustee. N.P., n.d. Web. Also states, “Confederate losses were 93 killed, 847 wounded, and 6 missing, a total of 946 of approximately 5,400 troops involved”. Once again the viewpoint on this battle changes when you realize just how many died.
Lee show’s his raw skill beating Ulysses S. Grant in the battle of Cold Harbor using his superior defensive tactics which proves he is a better general than Grant. Cold Harbor was the final battle of Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland campaign, a series of battles in which was the first time Grant and Lee faced each other on the battlefield. The battle of Cold Harbor occurred during May thirty-first to June twelfth, eighteen sixty four. The most remembered part of the battle was a frontal assault on confederate lines that absolutely destroyed the union troops, seven thousand troops in less than an hour, some say most of the deaths occurred in the first ten minutes. One Confederate for every four Union soldiers.
To the North, at Harriers Ferry, Confederate General Joseph Johnston with 9,000 Soldiers faced off with the Union General Patterson who was holding strong with 18,000 Soldiers. These are the forces that would be involved in the First Battle of Bull
Secondly and in my opinion what lead to the demise of the Confederate Army, was the fact that General Lee wanted to smash through the opposing Union force in one quick movement, in other words due to the fact he knew he had the superior numbers of the battlefield he wanted to use a more attrition style warfare against the Union and unfortunately for him and his army, the Union was dug in pretty well and had started an ambush on his far left flack. Another key point is that the fact the confederate army had aimed their artillery far too high thus over shooting where they needed to and when the infantry regiments moved in the smaller but more effective Union artillery was able to do massive damage to the troops on the front lines and greatly decreased their numbers, by the time the confederate army reached they Union army and was within rifle range their numbers were just for too small and even though plenty of blood shed was left on the battlefield from both armies, the Confederate army was forced to retreat from the battle thus ending it and giving the victory to the Union Army but at a
There was also a very rough terrain on the mountain, also making it hard to battle. This battle was not very close, or much less fair. The Union swept the Confederates in this battle because of the advantages their number. The casualties of this battle were fairly small, being 408 with the Union and 1,251 with the Confederates.
At one point between noon and afternoon, the rebels held a short counterattack but which was otherwise unsuccessful. Finally, because hope for reinforcement had been lost and seeing that there was no way that they could flip the tables again due to a disadvantage in numbers, Beauregard ordered a retreat to Corinth. Despite being so close to obliterating the enemy, Grant did not have the heart to make his desperate and tired men to give chase in the mud and rain. The Battle of Shiloh was by far the most brutal battle with an astounding amount of fatalities never seen before. The combined casualties of the Union and Confederacy was around 23,000 which exceeds the losses of all American wars up to that period including colonial wars and the Revolutionary War.
This forced Lee to gather food and supplies from local farmers and residents. This significantly weakened the Confederate forces because they didn’t get the proper amount of supplies. This was the beginning of the weakening of Lee’s
Confederate Army had trouble arming all their troops .Confederate Army didnt have many uniforms, men usually just fought in what they brought with them .Confereate Army was better trained .Union had a bigger army .Union had a more powerful Navy .The
The war was a fight over whether to ban or allow slavery. The Confederate Lt. General Jubal Early launched a surprise attack against the Union Major General Philip Sheridan’s army across Cedar Creek.. Sheridan after losing many cannons and prisoners was able to rally his soldiers to hold a defensive line. Shenandoah Valley was the Confederates plan to threaten Washington D.C.
Technology during this period was some light artillery and shoulder fired musket firearms such as the 1861 Springfield rifle. The Confederates didn’t have near the firepower as the Federal Soldiers. The Federal Soldiers of this battle had been trained but weren’t able to complete the training that they really needed due to the bad weather. The Confederate Soldiers were an inexperienced group of basically untrained Soldiers. Logistics for the Federal Army had been hampered by weather and the distance of travel back to Sarcoxie.
The Union guns then opened fire and gouged huge holes in the line demoralizing the Confederates. In just 50 minutes 10,000 soldiers were
[His] aggressiveness resulted in a single general’s record [of] 209,000 casualties for his army (55,000 more than Grant’s)” (Bonekemper). These casualties his army suffered were ones the South couldn’t afford, especially since the Southern military was already so much smaller than the Union’s. In fact, after his first 14
The Civil War is considered to be the bloodiest episodes of warfare in American History. During this war, there were numerous well known battles. One of the most famous battles was called the Second Battle of Bull Run. The Second Battle of Bull Run was fought over August 28-30, 1862. Although this battle lasted only 3 days, there were approximately 22,000 casualties during this span.
The Union and the Confederacy were fighting for their own acceptable intentions. The Union sought to defend the constitution and have one unified country. Nevertheless, the Confederacy felt endangered when Union soldiers were directed to their territory. So because when one feels endangered or threatened, one must have the sudden desire to protect. It is in the human nature to do so.
Originally, the northern area of the town was guarded rather successfully by John Buford and his men, soon to be reinforced with two more corps of Union soldiers. He may have been able to defend that position for a much longer time than he did if it weren’t for the two extremely large Confederate groups that assaulted Buford from the northwest, which had then