Unknown of Cold Harbor
by American Landscapes
Title
Unknown of Cold Harbor
Artist
American Landscapes
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War between May 31 to June 12, 1864. During those thirteen days, General Grant's Union Army of the Potomac and General Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia faced each other with an estimated combined total of 160,000 or more soldiers. At times, they were separated by only 150 yards of ground. Twice, on June 1 and June 3, 1864, fighting erupted when the Federals launched massive assaults against the entrenched Confederates. It is considered by many historians that this was one of the most unnecessary battles of the war with Grant later recalling 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."
Cold Harbor National Cemetery was established in 1866 on the site of the Battle of Cold Harbor and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. Interments were collected from a 22-mile (35 km) area, taken from the battlefields and field hospital sites of Cold Harbor, Mechanicsville (Beaver Dam Creek), Gaines's Mill, and Savage's Station. The land was appropriated in April 1865 during the first post-war search and re-burial operations conducted on local area battlefields. Soldier remains at Cold Harbor have been occasionally discovered by farmers and construction crews well into the 21st century. Room for the burial of American veterans of later periods was made when the original design of the cemetery was altered by removing several paths and walkways that bisected the cemetery. The cemetery is now closed to further interments. Monument to the Unknowns, a 5-foot-high (1.5 m) marble sarcophagus erected by the federal government in 1877 to commemorate the 889 unknown Union soldiers buried in two trench graves at the back of the cemetery.
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February 2nd, 2024
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