June 2, 1864---The Battle of Cold Harbor (Day Three)

JUNE 2, 1864:   

The Battle of Cold Harbor      (Day Three):          

After a forced night march, the Union Second, Sixth and Eighteenth Corps arrive at Old Cold Harbor after dawn. The men are so physically exhausted that Grant can make no use of them. He gives his men most of the day off, scheduling the opening of his planned assault until 5:00 P.M.  As the day passes, more footsore Union troops straggle into Old Cold Harbor. He delays the attack again, until 4:30 AM on the 3^rd.

While Union troops arrive and bivouac, Lee puts his arriving men to work digging entrenchments and building earthworks. 

If he had launched an initial attack, Grant may have just been able to overcome the works as they stood on June 1^st. By June 3^rd, the Confederacy has built itself a fortress.

 

Union General Don Carlos Buell, who has been without a Command since the Battle of Perryville in 1862, resigns in disgrace from the Union Army.