Lakeview High School Cold Harbor: Why is was an important battle Humberto Cordero 958 Mrs. Kmiecik 23 February, 2015 The Battle of Cold Harbor was an important battle if the Civil War. In order to understand why the battle of cold harbor is important, we will first see history of the battle. The battle of Cold Harbor took place in Hanover Virginia. Most people don't know but the battle was really two battles the first one is most commonly known as Gaines’ Mill (Battles). The battle took seven days between the dates June 25 to July 1, 1862 (Battles). The first Union General who tried to take on Robert E. Lee's soldiers was General Fitz John Porter(Battles).. General Porter had a strategy to win the battle he planned …show more content…
there is a quote from General Grant himself after the battle with Robert E. Lees army and it states that “ 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” (Battles). The battle was a terrible one blood everywhere people dying and after he gave the order he knew that he has made a big mistake and he should have waited for his reinforcement to come, the army was not ready and they were out manned and out gunned by a lot and he regretted attacking throughout the entire battle. There is an Article called “Harper’s weekly” it was published in June 18, 1864, and it talks about the battle and the strategies and what happened after the battle. It is a a great detailed article about the battle and it is open to the public so everyone can see how bad of a battle it really …show more content…
The first battle of Cold harbor known as Gaines Mill the Union army came into the battle with 34,000 men and suffered 6,800 either killed, wounded, missing or captured, while the Confederate army came in the battle with an estimate of 57,000 men to 65,000 and suffered 8,700 casualties and on another note that was General Lee's first major victory and was appointed commander of the Army of Northern Virginia earlier that month (Battles). both sides lost many men but the Confederate lost the most that first battle and still came out