These bow your head with me. Father in heaven, we come to this place tonight not to but to celebrate sacrifice, loyalty, bravery, and the things that have happened in our history to make us the great nation we are today. May we learn from the lessons of history, may we not repeat the but maythat divide us, we repeat those lessons that make us indeed strong. Tonight, dear lord, i thank you for the National Parks service and theyre very hard work in bringing this event to our community, our state, and to our nation, and, lord, i am most grateful that you have allowed us to be part of this. Bless what we do in this place this evening, and we humbly ask, dear father, that you bless our nation. In jesus name, amen. On the fourth of may, 1864, the union army of the potomac crossed the river and passed into the dense woodland the locals called the wilderness. Near the bridges, brass bands laid the National Errors along with other soldier favorites that stirred the mens souls with optimism and hope. None could know, but the final campaign of the war had begun. By the end of may, the armies had crossed many rivers. The bloody battles of the wilderness, spotsylvania humanouse had pushed daring and suffering to the extreme, but the soldiers valiantly fought on. Soon after the fight, u. S. Assistant secretary of war hoped to transfer the lingering soldiers optimism to the now warweary homefront. To boost morale back home and garner Political Support to continue the war effort, dana proudly proclaims, the rebels have lost all confidence and are already morally defeated. This army has learned to believe that it is sure of victory. Even our officers have ceased to regard lee as an invincible military genius. On the part of the rebels, this edange is it against evinc by the unanimous statement of visitors taken from them. Rely upon it the end is near as well. Similarly, in late may, the washington republican and the philadelphia bulletin also aported, lee has commenced hasty retreat, pursued with real vigor by grant. Lee. Is embarrassing we show here next of a grand conflict for the city of richmond before or in the works of that capital. Advice to say that davis and his inet to and some days ago davis and his cabinet left richmond some days ago. Than aothing less fortress. By june 3, aged six to four, the union army arrived within eight miles of richmond. The weary, dustcake soldiers on the front line who had endured a month of incessant hard marching , unimaginable bloodletting and death dug in around the virginia crossroads notice cold harbor. Grants unrelenting hammering of lees army continued on this day 150 years ago. A frontal assault was ordered, unmatched for sheer brutality. Three assault, a private of the 36 wisconsin wrote to his daughter from the words that i can write can give you an idea of it. How would you feel to see your father lying in a ditch behind a bank of earth all day with rebel bullets flying over his head so that his life was in danger if he should raise on his feet . Without a chance to get anything to eat been running across an open field toward a rebel battery with rebel bullets flying like hail and men falling, killed, and wounded all orderedm, and finally to fall on our faces so the storm could pass over us, and then be obliged to lie in that position until covered by the darkness of night so that we could get away and then start on a forced march in the night without any chance to get any supper and so weak we could scarcely walk, to see him lie down in the dirt and if allowed to stop for a few minutes, so exhausted as to fall asleep . My dear daughter, your father may and so it was for the soldiers. Thank you for joining us this evening. I am the superintendent of the National Battlefield park. I would like to take a moment to introduce to you all the participants and the program. First, our honored guest. Dr. Paul levingood. David adams. Close, personal friend who i am happy to stay, the steward of the field. Our readers, ashley and michael. I want to send a special thanks to our chorus from the lee davis high school. Thank you very much for being with us tonight. [applause] the last week and a half, many of you have followed in the footsteps of union and confederate soldiers. Near here at the cold harbor crossroad. See thepause to significance of the stores and generationss and who came after. A we do that, we need to knowledge the hard work that so many who joined with us in remembering and commemorating this unforgettable part of our shared history from its own commemorative events to supporting events here, it is been a real Strong Partner and helped us with many of the logistics and we sang the supervisors and the county administrator for their assistance and we cannot have done this without the support of fairmont church. This evening is a perfect example of that partnership which would had in a place for several peaks will we knew reyna might be a possibility. Their shuttles provided perfect places for our shuttles. Tourse it be the emanate from. Our commemoration at the creek would not be possible from our newest partner, the planes foundation. A group to expand the profile of the rural plains. Our chairman and president is here. If you could raise your hand, there she is. Over to my left. Thank you for being with us. The supreme leadership under jack to provide support to conduct and publicize these commemorative programs. Once again, we are pleased with the Virginia HistoricalSociety Working together to provide programs with Gary Gallagher to 18 64e stage for commemoration. It seemed like a month ago. Thank you for your Strong Partnership. The stage for 1864 commemoration. I can stand up here tonight and provide some great words that some of my staff have really helped me write but none of this couldve happened without of the staff. Nights worrying about the logistics of buffet lost nights putting together the program. If you can stand right quick if you do not mind, no matter what division you are in. [applause] and volunteers, please. [applause] these folks, many of them were at the Church Parking lot this morning at 3 30 a. M. And met the tours and followed in the footsteps, as depleted as they are, they are here tonight to support this final program. Thehe superintendent of park, i cannot be more impressed by this staff and proud. Thank you all so very much. [applause] and finally, parks battlefield would not be available to tell their stories were it not for the work of the civil park trust. Their preservation work will ensure that in these places remain available to teach and inspire our children, grandchildren, and generations to come. Indeed, these places, this land and store it contains is the reason we are here. Years ago, Hanover County became one of the bloodiest landscapes on the continent for more than 10 weeks two weeks, they fought one another and struggle to survive and died here. Forms were transformed into battlefields. Communities suffered like hanover and the war gave it an enduring identity. When the armys department, burlies, the adamses, the netts were left to deal with the human wreckage left behind and they phrase it him and struggle of gaining their livelihood that the war nearly took. We told the civilian story through accounts. Tonight is different. Our first speaker, david adams is a lifelong resident of cold harbor and is proud to present the fifth generation of the adams family to live on the battlefield. He is here to talk about what it is like to be so closely connected to the land as community of such a famous place. I must add it through the hospitality of the adams family, david and his mother, she is here on the front row, the park was able to take folks along the footpath on june 3. Weve thank you you all so much for the hospitality you always show us particularly this morning. Thank you all. [applause] david . Before david get started, i didnt want to mention that it is very appropriate that he is sitting next to him i did want to mention that it is very appropriate he is sitting next to the doctor and uses his credentials to teach young people since 1979 where he taught at Richmond Community high school. Much of the current staff had the good fortune of knowing both the david, mary beth and davids father who very goodnaturedly and with great patience welcomed many inquisitive historians to his farm. Graciously allowing our enthusiastic groups the right to step on this historic land. , we talk a lote about stewardship. We try to take care of our sites, all national treasures. The adams family through many generations have treated their portion of the battlefield with Great Respect and gentleness. They have an ideal stortz and we are extremely grateful. S and we are extremely grateful. [applause] a good evening. , wish to thank dave superintendent of the richmond National Battlefield park for extending the invitation to speak on the significant occasion. Honorindeed an enormous to have the opportunity to share this time with dr. Robertson and mr. Levengood. Dave, i thank you. In 1864, joseph adams owned a farm about a mile south of new cold harbor. He was 40 eight years old. He had a very young family for his age. Wheat anding raising corn and fashionables. I am his great great grandson. I grew up and was raised on the same form farm. Today, i continue to live on it. It is filled with the beauty of wheat rolling in a waves. Whenld green cornfields adequate rain has fallen. And for years capital grazing. Cattle grazing. This place border violence. I am so very honored to represent a connection with the civilian population of that longago time, 150 years ago. This is very meaningful to me. Dividednow how the war the country. It divided families. It divided cold harbor. Most cold harbor residents certainly supported secession and the confederacy. Invasionthe war as an by highhanded government. Others saw it differently. They were southern unionists. Such as southerners likely felt that the dissolving the union would in in tragedy. These differences were present in a cold harbor community. It was a civil war through and through. My grandfather was born on a farm and worked it all his life. He shared an account given to him by his father, a horseman returning to cold harbor years after the battle. War veterans, the image that was most dominant in the account was that some of the returning men were emotional. What had theyer seem at cold harbor . What had they experienced at cold harbor . What did they remember about cold harbor . Weeping . Why were some earthe would be on plow. Hed by the , ity grandfathers youth was done walking behind a mule. My fathers boyhood, a horsedrawn plow would wrench on to war materials. Sometimes a rainfall would have the same effect. Bullets, lead cannonball fragments. Occasionally a bayonet, ok shall he a rifle occasionally a rifle and ok shall he occasionally a human bone. The spot theyin felt that june day. Bulletrs, picking a lead off the ground was pretty commonplace. We never gave his background a second thought. Holding a war relic never really conveyed anything close to what happened here. How easy to ignore that a lead bullet dropped a century and a half ago may have passed through a man. Did it take his life . If it did so, how long did it take him to die . What if my grandfathers on june 3,s farm 1864 . We know it enormous damage happened on his place from the battle of gaines mill. His house had been a union field hospital. 1864, the two armies returned again having survived and witnessed the carnage of war once. What dread must have filled his mind and heart. Hell on earth wasnt coming again to cold harbor. As a boy, who always loved history, living on a farm that had been a battlefield always invoked a romantic image of war. It was always an image confined to heroism and valor in to do and call harbor was about those things. This youthful image of mine included men falling neatly in a line then to the ground. Be easily that could patched up. It would be much later before i would comprehend as my father and grandfather did that on our farm could be immense suffering and untold agony and cruelty. But it also produced a genuine americanso what those of 150 years ago thought was right. Thank you for your time and i appreciate it very much. [applause] one of the pleasures of being superintendent of being of this part is collaborating with toer Historical Places strengthen the story of the old dominion and how it is told. One of those colleagues, dr. Paul levengood. He is president of the Virginia Historical society. He is a native of pennsylvania like myself. Davidsondegrees from college in Rice University where he earned his doctorate in history. His many congressmens include managing editor and bought his many accomplishments include managing editor of the magazine and publication of a book entitled virginia, catalyst of commerce for 4 centuries. It was the commemorative project Virginia Chamber of commerce. Paul is married and has three continues to stir the Virginia Historical society into the 21st century. One of our staff and some by you may all have imagine what it is has remarked he has been throughout every state of the south except florida and none can approach the Virginia Historical society for quality, ease efficiency, and usefulness. Paul, we appreciate all that you do. We are assembled between the lines. If we were at cold harbor them a a group their witness untold personal tragedies, no doubt some of us if we were on the battlefield tonight would be sitting or standing on the very havewhere a corpse it may laid. For the survivors, it was too soon to extract a broad meaning or context rum the ordeal. Paul is here to reflect on that topic. How cold harbor came to be remembered. [applause] thank you very much and good evening, everyone. Comedy, thetandup row i am playing right now is what you would call the middle. I am a bridge, from the opener who gets the crowd going and in this case, does the crowd moved to the headliner. That is the one everybody came to see. Anhink you will agree we had incredible opener and my role now is to efficiently get you to our friend, the incomparable bud robertson. I caniddle here, i hope keep your attention for a few moments and i promise on like a comedy show, there will be no venture localism or jokes about airline food. Calledperintendent dave and asked me to say a few words which marks a century and a half of the battle of cold harbor, i me . D him a wide me . Why ago,r took place 70 years not 150. Dave said something kind about my adding to the event and i appreciated that. But when us, his my sometimes doubles tennis player and it isnt his best interest to keep my ego stroked. I do appreciate him bringing me here. I will admit when i was thinking about this in evening it cost me a few sleepless nights. After all, what can i add that or earlier this week, gordon or other experts have not already said about the battle itself . This is not in my era. Thebility to add it to understanding is limited. Once i relys i was not expected to become an expert on the battle in a months time, i gained measure of peace. Instead i decided to embrace my nonexpert role and take what is a more impressionistic look into memory or lack there of of the vicious and in many ways fruitless battle of cold harbor. I will begin by asking you a question, rhetorically. What is it that sticks in our collective memory about the battle of cold harbor . Us, wey, if not most of are pressed to come up with one thing that characterize the engagement, it might simply be this death. This is not the gettysburg or shiloh. Here we do not think of gallant charges, tactical successes or feats of individual bravery. We think of death. Ofthink of the 2 waves troops who launched themselves uselessly against confederate and were mowed down in staggering numbers. We sing of the four days in which the wounded moaned for help as they died. In pain, afraid. Photograph, of that you know the photograph i mean . Photograph, its bearer kneels behind it looking at the camera with a steely grays. In the background, 4 more men. Inse are the living actors the scene. They are not the actors to draw our attention whole makes of this photograph of one the most haunting and macabre of the war. What draws our attention is not the living, it is a be d it is the dead. How can we not look into the hollow, staring eye sockets that stare at us . We are riveted to them as the representation of the data. Awayby tearing our eyes can we begin to make out the rest of the scene. The horrifying mass of bones, clothing, and equipment composed of how of who knows how many human bodies. We notice the remains of a leg, dangling, from the litter. The boot still attached. The photograph steers into the brain. Mine. St it did into i cannot remember when i first saw the picture. And i certainly did not know where cold harbor was at the time. I thought it was somewhere in virginia. A may not remember in which a book i first saw the photograph but i know immediately and linked to the words cold harbor and death. In subsequent years, i read more about events of spring of 1864 that culminated. The deadly slaught. Suffer 50,000. The bloodiest six weeks of the war. I learned of the thousands who fail in the morning and i do know there were different schools of thought. I learned that ulysses as the grant would have terrible Ulysses S Grant would have terrible regret. The military and public had but, e accustomed. Ecom it stood out was pointlessness. As i socket to find an angle for these remarks by searching my , a book iat i knew read several years ago came to mind. It is called the war of the world and it is provocative work by a provocative historian. The 20thse is that century where the two global conflicts and a series of more than a dozen others image cost more than one Million Deaths was the most violent and deadly as in human history. Fashion, convincing ferguson lays down evidence to explain why it is so. Fergusons books makes no a mention of the American Civil War at all. It does not pay much attention to the 19th century united states, period. I may be trying to connect the in the 19th century to one i know better, the 20th century. The more ive thought about it, the more it struck me that the carnage here helped set the stage for the almost ceaseless fighting that would cost tens of millions of lives in the 20th century. Not in the terrible numbers of casualties among the very nature tofighting here also seemed portend the way we would fight in a modern era. Here at cold harbor, the culmination of the meat grinder that was the Overland Campaign. Humanity was afforded a glimpse of the future. A glimpse and a warning. A warning of what the war could be. Brutal, industrial, bloodletting. That measure progress in inches. Inflicting more damage to your opponent then you your self absorbed. In a word attrition. I think you can make a real case that something fundamental here on this plot of land, the small crossroad less than 10 miles from richmond. I would ask you to consider in some ways that modern warp and how humans view the killing of one each other emerged out of the trees and the Early Morning hours of june 3. This past weekend i attended along with bud it may be several others the latest of the American Civil War commissions set of conferences. This years focus was on the civil war in a global context. It was very interesting to hear about the International Perception of the fighting. In one session, the percent are observed europe a view to the events of the u. S. Civil war as an aberration and learned a few lessons of military or otherwise. , that favorsut proved very costly. I am struck that the fighting at place 50 yearsk from the outbreak of world war i in europe. With advances in weaponry, frontal assault on entrenched positions we see here at cold harbor, in world war war, it became for more and almost unimaginable scale. It is always tempting to take a leases and write to exaggerate unsupportable extremes. It wouldve been foolish to say if the british or germans had taken the terrible example of cold harbor to heart humankind wouldve been spared the horror. However, you cannot help but wonder whether thats a tactical thinking would have changed if hague had consulted one of the few survivors of the Second Artillery or confederate brigadier who famously described what he saw as not war. It was murder. Would they have repeated the mistakes we sigh here saw here . Wouldve the course of the world war . Been different would that generation what you wouldve the world wore been uld the war woi been different . We all know that what if games dangerous. Se and in this case, i do not care. If there was a chance that the terrible example of cold harbor, the memory may have prevented more awful events half a century or a century later, it seems worth a moment of reflection and a touch of regret. Dont you think . Thank you very much. [applause] today, the name cold harbor conjure images of entrenchment. ,e think of field fortification mile after mile of steeped up across the countryside. Life in the trenches was a miserable existence with mud, field and heat and danger. The soldiers of both armies appreciated those barriers. To better protect their own deadly environment. As one george or souljah explained, fighting on the defensive from behind had its advantages. As one georgia soldier explained, fighting on the defensive from behind had its advantages. It is fun for them. They lounge about in their guns close at hand, laughing and talking until somebody passes up or down the line, here they come. Every man springs into action. Hen the front range after which each one fires. Some load for others to shoot. Each working rapidly but promptly until the enemy are repulsed. Some survivors of the attack at cold harbor were slightly dazed. Often mixing patriotism with anger. Sorrow. Hope. That i compound reflects the curative effect that compound cumulative effect. In a letter, a classic example. Has lost a large number of men and officers. I am writing all of the time to itrt riveting chrysler cannot be helped. Many have fallen. Ofare now within 10 miles the rebels. I can only thank god ive been spared yet. Mis is a bloody struggle in and may soon be over soon. Now, it has begun to rain, thank god. Oh if those men at home had only one sparked a feeling for the poor soldiers, they would rush to arms, helped to end. It is my great honor to introduce our keynote speaker. For more than 40 years, i began my career as a historian. In 1973, a group stop by the Visitors Center and the leader began to tell the untimely death of Stonewall Jackson brought in nearly every body in the group to tears. I asked the fellow standing next to me, who is this guy . I was told with great reverence this the great historian, bud robertson. I knew the rest of the story because i had read and reread his book the stone wall brigade before i arrived at chancellorsville. Robertsonears, dr. Has been an incredible inspiration to me and many others interested in civil war history. The books he has written cover and entire shelf. The time you spent mentoring young historians both an academic and public history is immeasurable. I was share a quick story. Dr. Robertson is an excellent editor. Huge mc marked up manuscript amateurs form them from redsforming them with his pencil. His graduate school found of buying christmas presents for him was easy, buying a box of red pencils were easy any put them to good use. 444 years, dr. Robson was the alumni distinguished profession profession professor of history. Tommy at this church today manyded his classes how active this church today attended his classes over the years . That is wonderful. Was fortunate to have attended many of his lectures. I was always amazed. Hundreds would fill the auditorium to overflowing with students from every department including athletes, scientists, architects all spellbound in the way dr. Robertson made history, live. In my opinion, if there were more teachers like the dr. Robertson and the school system, we would not question why students do not understand or care about American History. [laughter] today, dr. Robson serves as a key member of the commission that was established to plan and commemorate the 150th anniversary of virginia and the civil war. Under his leadership, the commission has been successful beyond all imagination. I am honored to present dr. James robertson,j jr. [applause] thank you. Thank you very much. Myould say david was one of toughest students and i do remember. Player that ill taught, and he did not take the midterm exam. It flatlyal he failed so i gave him an f. He came to me and said i do not believe i deserve an f in this course and i say you deny either but that is as low as the course goes. Not and i said you do either, but that is as low as the course goes. [laughter] i want to thank the park service. One of the first actions you learn in graduate school is simple any nation that forgets its past has no future. Comingm grateful to you out this evening to remember a point in American History that cannot and must not ever be forgotten. June 3, 1864. The civil war became a more advanced as of the war years past. 1864, soldiers using rifles supported by suitable and wellplaced artillery simply could not be dislodged by any sort of frontal attack. It became indelible early in june pine thickets, eight miles a way for richmond. Declare, theater assault at cold harbor was an attempt by fear and furious fighting to for the advantage to maneuver. Life. Ed our cost of wars 30 the civil year that general ulysses s 3rd year that ulysses but hegrant s. Grant, always had an aloofness. He always want to be alone and comfortable with his thoughts and his cigars. 4, he unleashed the campaign that would destroy the southern confederacy. Union military forces would go out wherever they could. They would keep attacking until they collapsed. But its a simple plan, had never been tried before by union commander. Grant made his headquarters with the army, his attentional would lees forces. Other generals had overtaken the same strategy and met defeat. Asnt regarded a battle loss merely a momentary setback. He attended and intended to reassemble and attack again and again and again until lees outnumber army was forced to play the sort of game they could not win. In may 1864,ay, the union army stopped playing chess and switched over to checkers. Hopelessly that month. The grant took a pounding. Movements and turn the southerners ways away. So began a game of flank and fight and flank and fight again. Kept pushing. The armies were approaching the river. [indiscernible] itself. , hosts gravitated toward a place of cold harbor. Than found it more cold. Cold harbor was a little more than a dusty intersection of two country roads. As a maid turned into june it was obvious to both sides that the scrimmages were reaching a point of a full scale battle. Grants resolve was as strong as ever. However, his opponent was not in good health. People looking throughout the last two years that the war had taken a heavy toll on robert e 57. Then he has suffered already in the war a broken hand a sprained wrist, rheumatism, in the previous year, a massive heart attack for which there was no treatment or cure or medication. These sapped lees strand. Lee was not a top traveler. He was in a civilian carriage. He did not have the strength to ride a horse. Soldiersess, lees were champion engineers and at some point, they had but hours to construct. Two days. Mes one to what do they created was not one line of defense but two and in some cases three lines. Only took advantage lee took advantage of one the most brilliant engineers. His lines is exact on low hills and ridges. All of them to make an ideal killing ground. The union army failed to make reconnaissance at cold harbor. Grant left the strategic details to george and lee left the details to grant. Preparations were spotty. The unit core would deliver the assaults but each will left on its own, leaving uncoordinated. In addition, it bowed out slightly so advancing units would follow diverging paths. A union kernel asserted afterwards that the assault would have shamed the cadet in his first year at west point. Line was seven miles long extended northwest to the creek to the river. s troops were more interest than an ativan at any point. And that at any point. The thursday night, june 2, leese of rain, one of , they seem to be making [indiscernible] closer. Cer moved soldiers were writing their names and addresses to the back of their shirts so there dead bodies maybe recognize and their fates known to their families. In the predawn darkness, it was still raining lightly. Survivors of the wet hail, saw a similarity. A confederate general noted that the strength of both armies was to put forth against each other at once more completely than ever before or ever hear after. On this day, everything would go right for lee. Subordinates for was all he could wish. They proved to be at the completion killers as they were skillful engineers. Sometime around 5 00 a. M. , fits and starts were delayed. It began. Spectacle as a gettysburg. Vegetation, proved formations. Simultaneous attacks were supposedly to be at three point with columns. Concentrated, broke the assault and lines before they could make contact with opponents. The battle quickly disintegrated into dozens of small onslaughts with regiments acting alone. One division broke out of line to avoid a small but that was on nobodys map. Nightwho survive the never forgotten what they experienced. An observer stated that the as a sharpenedch counsel. The surgeon wrote on all sides, the angel of death was over and just over our head. When the North Carolina brigades explained, the musket ran down power lines from left to right like they keys of a piano. , thethe start characteristics of a swallow. Nobody knows how Many Times Union columnist attacked. The result was always the same. Advancing comrades leaned forward as if they were marching into a hailstorm and they felled like rows of blocks striking one another. Doles th alabama, those men were following as soon as they could because it behind them they were reloading weapons and handed them forward. Dustnel quoted i can see othing wear as cl ball would strike him. In two minutes, not a soldier was standing. Ash harbor cannot be called called it it was simply a butchery. Attack ended in disastrous failure. Lee called a halt. Fighting continued here in there because of the two armies were so close each other and cannot let go. Grants said our loss was not heavy. That is one of the most in accurate reports. Exact figures can never be known but grant suffered about 7000 casualties. Five times of the losses in lee s army. At least half of the union army killed or wounded fail in the first hour. From any perspective, the attack at cold harbor was a ghastly mistake not to grant however, cold harbor was a momentary setback in his ongoing offensive against lee. The Union General several refused to admit defeat or even request a truce to bury him to retrieve his wounded. Passed and the numbers became less wounded and more dead. That not every in the civil war were so many wounded bodies left to die. Thin to do as too counter attack. Meanwhile, grant puffed on his cigars and would restate and thought about the future. Stick andd on a thought about the future. Toward the james river to cross over. Lee gave pursuit. By midjune, at cold harbor, thi clearance, it indelible scars. Cold harbor now belonged to history. The battle was lees greatest triumph and grants worst a loss. He admitted that fact in the last nine months of his life when he was writing his memoirs. Grant said i always regretted the assault at cold harbor was ever made. No advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy laws we sustained. On june 3, 1864 was a wild chain of the doomed which was smashed in the 1015 minutes and none which lasted over half an hour. In all of the civil war, no attack has been broken up as quickly or as easily as this one by the confederates. Alexander turned it our last and perhaps our highest tide. It was also Robert E Lees final major victory. Cold harbor was the climax to grants Overland Campaign. Had they followed like they did beginning in may. For a solid month, they had not been out of contact. Every day, there had been action. In four weeks, union losses were averaging 2000 a day. Generals were dead and others wounded. Eoldiers on both sides, bon tired, dirty. Months fighting had produced a near 60,000 union casualties. 4 soldiers. Every 32,000 losses. After cold harbor, unions still outnumbered confederates. Grant had a reservoir of manpower. Harbor, lee won only time. Even victory was the coming too expensive for the army of northern virginia. Much could coverage the ground as quickly, preserving as much of the battlefield as possible is difficult because the agreed to make money exceeds the gratitude we should have for the past. In the National Centenary here, stonesion graves, 670 contained the names of the soldiers. The others belong to the family of the unknown. My graduate mentor often told the story of private maddux. They young federal soldier was in one of the last of stalls at cold harbor. And regiment was shot. As his wounded colonel was struggling across the field, he heard a beckoning call and looked over and saw private medics lying on the ground with a gaping wound in his body. He was honestly dying. The colonel talked to the soldier in over in anticipation of the Young Volunteer passing final words to be conveyed to his family back home. Asked isprivate maddux the day ours . The officer could not bring himself to admit the truth so he lied. Yes, my son, he said, we have won the victory. The private said i am willing to die and he didnt die. And he did die and he lives nearby and the ceremony cemetery. This battlefield stands so generations can come here and see here and perhaps feel here what brave men did on behalf of our country. The greatest treasure he had, life. Thousands of them gave the supreme offering. At cold harbor. We do not have to be an intellectual or even educated to of whatnd the totality they bequeath to us. The civil war did not shatter our nation, rather it was a supreme test of endurance for a young, struggling country that now you are not so. You are here together tonight. Here this evening, as americans one and all, we look back with reference to learn from the greatest teacher in of us could ever have, history. Armed with an understanding of the past, you condition i can look sford with common pride and renewed hope to the years yet to come. Private maddux would like that. Thank you. [applause] the Overland Campaign was the largest and the bloodiest campaign of the entire civil war. Both armies lost almost half of their original fighting forces. The casualties were astounding, astounding to soldiers, to generals, and to those left back home. Amidst the staggering losses sustained at cold harbor and during the Overland Campaign, for every soldier, killed, wounded or captured, there was a family. A mother, father, brothers, sisters, wives, sons, daughters, that also directly felt that loss. The loss of the men who fell here at cold harbor and on the fields of virginia in the spring of 1864 reverberated through communities across the north and south. The empty chairs and kitchen tables across the country and the gaps in the battle lines and in the camps left indelible impacts on the living left behind. So, too, did the ideas and beliefs for which so many thousands of men fought and died during that bloody spring. Indeed, in spite of and perhaps even in light of the loss of so many lives and the widespread destruction wrought by six weeks of heavy battle, those beliefs ideas about nation, government and home became even more deeply enshrined in the hearts and minds of those left to fight on. In those beliefs we come here tonight to reflect upon and learn from, today. Riding soon after the war with the perspective afforded hindsight, richmond memoirist sally putnam came to believe that cold harbor was a landmark event in the 1864 campaign. Ended tle of cold harbor the attempt to take richmond from the north side. The barefooted, rigged, illfed rebel army, which had been under fire for more than a month, had achieved a succession of victories paralleled in the history of modern warfare. He also noted the resolution of the union army. He said the most distinguishing character seems to be quiet determination and indomitable perseverance and energy. Another would have had his courage so shaken that he would gladly have foregone an undertaking that promised so little in success. He had received from the battle of the wilderness to that of cold harbor repeated and powerful repulses. His losses in men were unparalleled in the history of the struggle, but his perseverance was undisturbed. That quiet determination of grant so evident to a non combatant in richmond echoed oud. He wrote the army of the potomac has literally marched in blood. It has all been unsuccessful fighting, hard, brutal. Yet we have a great fighter in grant. He takes hold of his work as one having confidence in himself and not the least afraid of his adversary. He is bold and takes great risk, thus inspiring confidence in his army. One can see that grant believes n incessant fighting and marching as producing necessary results, not only on his own army but his enemy. If his army is fought, worked out and exhausted and needs rest, it is not only likely that the enemy with his smaller numbers is even more so. And so the moment of greater exhaustion becomes that of the greatest effort. The battlefields are quiet and even alluring today. It is the notion that the men who fought here believed in something truly worth suffering and dying for. That draws us to this place. And each of us as we leave here, we depart with the responsibility to remember those who fell here and to ponder each for ourselves how we can properly honor those sacrifices and the legacy of hich of what happened here. To them we owe a great debt. Two years ago we concluded each of our seven days battle commemoration with taps, called a salute to the soldiers. We do so again tonight. It is moving. It is deeply appropriate at this place and at this time. It is for them. Ladies and gentlemen, that ends our formal program tonight. I want to thank you all for being with us. It doesnt end the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of cold harbor. There are a a few more programs to occur, and i believe the church has been so kind toities ay a few of our 16 colored pages of events and programs. We will be here to answer any questions. Thank you again for making the itch from cold harbor to fairmount. We are so grateful to the church and everything they have done for us over the last week. Thank you so much. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] the civil war airs here every saturday at 6 00 and 10 00 p. M. Eastern time. To watch more of our civil war programming any time, visit our website, cspan. Org history. Youre watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend on cspan 3. With live coverage of the u. S. House on cspan and the senate on use, here on cspan 3 we complement that coverage by showing you the most rerelevant congressional hearings and events. Then on weekends, cspan 3 is the home to American History tv, with programs that tell our nations story. The civil wars 150th anniversary, visiting battlefields and key events, artifacts, museums and touring sites to see what they reveal. History book shelf with the best money history writers. The presidency, looking at the policies and legacies of our nations commanders in chief. And our new series, real america featuring are keisel government and educational films from the 1930s through the 70s. Cspan 3, created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local slight provider. Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. The eisenhower president ial Library Museum hosted multiple events to celebrate the dday invasion of nazioccupied france. Coming up next, stories from those who worked on the home front. Wives of soldiers and children who grew up in the 1940 talk about writing letters to enlisted machine aprod, how schools engaged in the war and harbor, ories of pearl dday and president roosevelt as death. This program is 40 minutes. Well, in his book, the second world war, the late