Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 20140629

Wehink that is about all have. Thank you for coming today, we appreciate it. You are watching American History tv all weekend. To join the conversation, like us on facebook. Next, on the civil war, historians and officials from the National Park service commemorates the conclusion of the Overland Campaign, which took place in virginia 150 years ago in may and june of 1864. In keynote remarks, civil war scholar James Robertson describes Union General ulysses s. Grants crusade to destroy the southern confederacy, was culminated in the last major battle of the campaign a cold harbor. There, mr. Robertson says confederate general robert e lee earned his greatest and final victory of the war, but it was not enough to stop grant from continuing his march and beseechingly and his men at petersburg. The Richmond National Battlefield Park organized this hourlong event. [applause] good evening. I and the pastor here at the Fairmount Christian church, and we are really sad that you are here tonight. We know we were much anticipating being over at the battlefield, but we are glad you could be with us tonight, and i would ask innocently begin our evening with a word of invocation. These bow your head with me. Father in heaven, we come to this place tonight not to celebrate war 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 lessons that divide us, but may 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 courthouse had pushed human 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 wardreary 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 change is it against evinced by the unanimous statement of visitors taken from them. Rely upon it the end is near as well. A similarly, in late may, the washington republican and the philadelphia bulletin also reported, lee has commenced a hasty retreat, pursued with real vigor by grant. Grant is embarrassing lee. 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 cabinet to and some days ago davis and his cabinet left richmond some days ago. It is nothing less than a 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. Following june three assault, a private of the 36 wisconsin wrote to his daughter from the trenches, no 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 . [applause] 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 about him, and finally ordered 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 be lying dead on the field of battle, and you may not know it, and so it was for the soldiers north and south. Thank you for joining us this evening. I am the superintendent of Richmond National Battlefield Park. I would like to take just a moment to introduce to you all our participant in tonights program. First, our honored guest. David adams, a close personal friend, who im happy to say, and steward of a large portion of the coal harbour battlefield, our readers, and i want to send a special thanks to our chorus from the lee davis high school. Thank you all very much for being with us in this program 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. We will pause to see the significance of the stores and what it means and generations who came after. As we do that, we need to a 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 we would had in a place for rain might be a possibility. Their shuttles provided perfect places for our shuttles. To have the tours 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 Historical Society Working together to provide programs with Gary Gallagher to set the stage for 1864 commemoration. It seemed like a month ago. Thank you for your Strong Partnership. 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. I lost some nights worrying about the logistics of 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. As the superintendent of the 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. 150 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, families, the adamses, the burnetts 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. The park service, we talk a lot 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. Stewards and we are extremely grateful. [applause] a good evening. I wish to thank dave, superintendent of the Richmond National Battlefield Park for extending the invitation to speak on the significant occasion. It is indeed an enormous honor 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 48 years old. He had a very young family for his age. Made a living raising wheat and corn and vegetables. 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 waves. Emerald green cornfields when 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. We all know how the war divided the country. It divided families. It divided cold harbor. Most cold harbor residents certainly supported secession and the confederacy. They saw the war as an invasion 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. And so we wonder what had they seem at cold harbor . What had they experienced at cold harbor . What did they remember about cold harbor . While why were some weeping . War relics would be on earthe unearthed by the plow. By my grandfathers youth, it 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. Revealing lead bullets, cannonball fragments. Occasionally a bayonet, occasionally a rifle and occasionally a human bone. Longago left in the spot they felt that june day. For years, picking a lead bullet 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 grandfathers farm on june 3, 1864 . We know it enormous damage happened on his place from the battle of gaines mill. His house had been a union field hospital. In june 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 the and duty and call harbor was about those things. This youthful image of mine included men falling neatly in a line then to the ground. And wounds that could be easily 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 devotion to what those americans 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 other Historical Places to 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. With the degrees from Davidson 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 children and 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 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 spot where a corpse it may have 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. Now in his standup comedy, the row i am playing right now is what you would call the middle. In other words, 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. I think you will agree we had an incredible opener and my role now is to efficiently get you to our friend, the incomparable bud robertson. As i middle here, i hope i can 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. When superintendent dave called and asked me to say a few words which marks a century and a half of the battle of cold harbor, i asked him a wide me . Why me . My war took place 70 years ago, 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 bud or earlier this week, gordon or other experts have not already said about the battle itself . This is not in my era. My ability to add it to the understanding is limited. Once i realized 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 . For many, if not most of us, we 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. We think of the 2 waves of 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. And we think of that photograph, you know the photograph i mean . In the photograph, its bearer kneels behind it looking at the camera with a steely grays. In the background, 4 more men. These are the living actors in 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 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. Only by tearing our eyes away 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. At least it did into mine. 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. Saw the u. S. 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 become accustomed. It stood out was pointlessness. As i socket to find an angle for these remarks by searching my mind of what i knew, a book i read several years ago came to mind. It is called the war of the world and it is provocative work by a provocative historian. Its premise is that the 20th century where the two global. 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. And quite convincing fashion, 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 time period 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 of fighting here also seemed to 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. As it turns out, that favors proved very costly. I am struck that the fighting at cold harbor took place 50 years 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 thesis 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 saw here . Would the course of the world war had been different . We all know that what if games are imprecise and dangerous. 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. 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 saw here . Would the course of the world war had been different . We all know that what if games are imprecise and dangerous. 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. We 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 lives in a deadly environment. 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. We 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 lives in a deadly environment. 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. Then 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 reflects the cumulative effect. In a letter, a classic example. 23rd has lost a large number of men and officers. I am writing all of the time to heart riveting chrysler it cannot be helped. Many have fallen. We are now within 10 miles of the rebels. I can only thank god ive been spared yet. This is a bloody struggle in m 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. One afternoon, in 1973, a group stopped 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 is 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. Over the years, dr. Robertson 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. He marked up manuscripts amateurs form them from transforming them with his red 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. For 44 years, dr. Robson was the alumni distinguished professor of history. How many active this church today attended his classes over the years . That is wonderful. I 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, jr. [applause] thank you. Thank you very much. I would say david was one of my toughest students and i do remember. I had a Football Player that i taught, and he did not take the midterm exam. On the final he failed it flatly 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. And and i said i dont think you do not 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. And i am grateful to you coming 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. By 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. Joseph would later declare, the assault at cold harbor was an attempt by fear and furious fighting to for the advantage to maneuver. It failed our cost of life. It was in the civil wars 30 year that general Ulysses S Grant 3rd year that ulysses s. Grant, but he always had an aloofness. He always want to be alone and comfortable with his thoughts and his cigars. On may 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. This was a simple plan, but it had never been tried before by union commander. Grant made his headquarters with the army, his attention would be totally in lees forces. Other generals had overtaken the same strategy and met defeat. Grant regarded a battle loss as 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. Put another way, in may 1864, the union army stopped playing chess and switched over to checkers. Both armies bled hopelessly that month. The grant took a pounding. Begin movements and turn the southerners away. So began a game of flank and fight and flank and fight again. Kept pushing. The armies were approaching the river. [indiscernible] so began a game of flank and fight and flank and fight again. Kept pushing. The armies were approaching the river. [indiscernible] richmond, itself. Bloodied hosts gravitated toward a place of cold harbor. Soldiers found it more than 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 lee, then 57. 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 strength. Lee was not a top traveler. He was in a civilian carriage. He did not have the strength to ride a horse. Nevertheless, lees soldiers were champion engineers and at some point, they had but hours to construct. And sometimes one to two days. 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. Lees line was seven miles long extended northwest to the creek to the river. By june 2, lees troops were more interest than at any point. That thursday night, june 2, the drizzle of rain, one of lees army, they seem to be making [indiscernible] the officer moved closer. To his shock, 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. Collaboration for subordinates 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. It was no spectacle as a gettysburg. The terrain, vegetation, proved formations. Simultaneous attacks were supposedly to be at three point with columns. Yet 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. Those who survive the night never forgotten what they experienced. An observer stated that the columns was much as a sharpened pencil. 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. From the start, the 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. For the 15th alabama, those men were following as soon as they could because it behind them they were reloading weapons and handed them forward. A kernel quoted i can see dust out of a mans clothing wear a ball would strike him. In two minutes, not a soldier was standing. Cold harbor cannot be called ash called it it was simply a butchery. Grand 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 lees 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. 4 days past passed and the numbers became less wounded and more dead. One said that not every in the civil war were so many wounded bodies left to die. Lees army was too thin to do a counter attack. Meanwhile, grant puffed on his cigars and would restate and thought about the future. Whittled on a stick and thought about the future. Toward the james river to cross over. Lee gave pursuit. By midjune, at cold harbor, thickets, open 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. What happened 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. Never before 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. Soldiers on both sides, bone tired, dirty. A months fighting had produced a near 60,000 union casualties. Roughly 2 of every 4 soldiers. Grant had 32,000 losses. After cold harbor, unions still outnumbered confederates. Grant had a reservoir of manpower. At cold 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, 1986 union graves, 670 stones 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. Four days past while the countless bodies on the field became less wounded and more dead. One observer declared, never before and neither again in the civil war were so many Wounded Soldiers left so long to suffer in plain sight of their comrades , the enemy, and the buzzards. Lees army was to thing in number and to warn in body to attempt a counterattack. Huff on hisrant cigars, whittled on sticks. He thought about the future with that abstracted look on his face. Scouts reported that grant had abandoned the cold harbor of line and was likely headed eastward. Lee gave pursuit. By midjune, at cold harbor, thickets, open 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. What happened 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. Never before 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. Soldiers on both sides, bone tired, dirty. A months fighting had produced a near 60,000 union casualties. Roughly 2 of every 4 soldiers. Grant had 32,000 losses. Grant had 32,000 losses. Grant inflicted 32,000 losses on lee. After cold harbor, unions still outnumbered confederates. Grant had a reservoir of manpower. At cold harbor, lee won only time. Even victory was the coming too expensive for the army of northern virginia. Much could coverage the ground monuments that should cover as quickly as they do elsewhere preserving as much of the battlefield as possible is difficult because the agreed the greed to make money in the present exceeds the gratitude we should have for the past. In the National Cemetery here, 1986 union graves, 670 stones contained the names of the soldiers. The other 1300 graves 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 last assaults at cold harbor a. His regiment was shot to pieces. As the 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. He was obviously dying. The colonel walked over to the soldier in over in anticipation of the Young Volunteer passing final words to be conveyed to his family back home. Instead, private maddux asked is the day ours . Is the day ours . And the officer could not bring himself to admit the truth so he lied. Yes, my son, he said, we have won the victory. Then he said, i am willing to die. And he did died. And he lives nearby in the National Cemetery with his unknown siblings. This battlefield stands so generations can come here and see here and perhaps feel here what brave men did on behalf of our country. Each offered the greatest treasure he had, life. Thousands of them gave the supreme offering. We do not have to be an intellectual or even educated to understand the totality of what 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 stands and blessed unity. In blessed unity. You are here together tonight. And here this evening, as americans one and all, we look back with reference to learn from the greatest teacher or any of us can ever have history. Armed with an understanding of the past, you and i can look forward with common pride and renewed hope to the year is 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. Almost half oft their original forces. The casualties were astounding astounding to soldiers, two generals, and to those left back home. Admitted the staggering loss during the Overland Campaign, for every soldier, killed, wounded, or captured, there was a family. Sisters, brother, wives, sons, daughters, that also directly felt that loss. The loss of the men who fell at cold harbor and across the fields of virginia in spring 1864 reverberated through communities across the north and south. The empty chairs at kitchen tables across the country, and to the gaps in the battle lines and the camps left indelible impacts on the living left behind. So, too, did the beliefs for which so many thousands of men lived and died that bloody spring. Indeed in spite of, and perhaps even in light of the loss of so many lives and the widespread destruction brought by six weeks of heavy battle, those beliefs and ideas about nation, government, and home became even more deeply enshrined in the hearts and minds of those left to fight on. To reflect on those beliefs and learn from them today. Riding soon after the war with the perspective afforded by ting soon after the war with the perspective afforded by time, she wrote about the Overland Campaign in central virginia. She wrote the battle of cold harbor forever removed the armyssion of general lees. The barefooted, ragged, ill fed rebel army which had been on than under fire for more a month had obtained as exception of victories unparalleled in the history of modern warfare. Putnam also noted the resolution of the union army and its leader, saying the most striking feature in this distinguished commander of the federal army seems to be quiet determination and indomitable perseverance and energy. Under such disappointment another wouldve had his courage shaken, so he had received from the battle of the wilderness to that of cold harbor repeated and powerful recurrences repulses. His loss of men was unparalleled. Perseverance was undisturbed. The quiet determination of Ulysses Grant echoed loudly through the fighting men of the union army. When defeat was decisive, as it was at cold harbor, the rank and file gained renewed energy recognizing grants tenacity and purpose. The effect on the men was perfectly explained by a federal officer named adams. All of this fighting had been unsuccessful fighting. And yet, we have a great fighter in grants. He takes hold as one having confidence in himself and not having the least fear of his adversary. He is bold and takes risks, thus inspiring confidence in his army. One can see that grant believes in an incessant fighting and marching as producing necessary results. Not only on his own army, but the enemy. If his army is exhausted and needs rest, it is not only likely that the enemy, with the smaller numbers, is even more so, and so the moment of greater exhaustion that comes 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 brings us to this place. And for each of us, as we leave here this evening, we depart with the sacred responsibility to remember those who fell here, and consider how we can properly honor the sacrifices and the legacy of what happened here. To them, we owe a great debt. Two years ago, we concluded each of our seven days battle commemorations with taps, which we called a salute to these soldiers. We will 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 for being with us. It does not end the commemoration of cold harbor. A few more programs are to occur. I believe that the church has our so kind as to display 15 pages of color pages for these programs. Thank you again for making the switch from cold harbor to fairmont and we are so fairmount, and were so grateful to you folks on the church. Thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] youre watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan 3. To join the conversation, like us on facebook at cs panhistory. Author Daniel Schulman on the coke mothers, the rise to political power, and their battle over their fathers empire. This was aimed massive