Brooksville Raid, COLD HARBOR, Confederate Reenactment.
'War Between the States' historical reenactment. The largest 1861-1865 war reenactment in Florida, featuring authentic, period-correct Confederate and Union uniforms, weapons and gear. Hundreds of spectators enjoyed the event, which was held at the Sand Hill Boy Scout Camp in Brooksville, Florida.
At Cold Harbor General Robert E. Lee's lines were 7 miles long, lining the low ridges and in a curve.
This made the field a 'killing field'. On June 3rd, 1864 at 4:30 in the morning, the Union started their advance. Almost immediately with massive fire from the Confederate lines, there were heavy casualties of Union soldiers and the survivors were pinned down. One Union soldier in Hancock's division is quoted 'we felt it was murder, not war or at best a very serious mistake had been made'.
At 7:00 am Grant ordered Meade to exploit any successful point of the assault, so another Union attack was ordered. At 12:30 pm, Grant conceded his army was done. That morning there had been over 7,000 Union casualties, with 1,500 casualties for the Confederates. Not wanting to concede defeat in the struggle, Grant refused to ask for a truce to care for his wounded. So the Union wounded remained on the field from June 3rd to after June 7th, which was 'too late' for most of these wounded Union soldiers. The casualties at Cold harbor was for the Union at 13,000 with the Confederacy at 5,000 casualties. He created the signs to disengage and move to his left one more time. Grant's plan was to move on Petersburg, VA which was the railway and center of supply and line of communication to Richmond, Virginia (the Confederate capitol). Grant crosses the James River by pontoon bridge. Confederate General Beauregard defends Petersburg successfully until reinforcements from General Lee's Army can arrive. Both sides settled into 10 months of trench warfare. Grant eventually over-extends General Lee's lines, crashing Lee's right flank in April of 1865. A few weeks later, General Lee surrendered the Army of North Virginia at Appomattox Court House. Grant was satisfied in setting up a siege of Richmond. It worked at Vicksburg, because Grant know that supplies could not get in, ammunition would be waning and the entire will-to-fight would be de-moralized. See here the Confederate Army has gone into the town of Petersburg, VA and the trenches around Richmond.