According to the following editorial 150 years ago today was a remarkably quiet Sunday up at the Cold Harbor front. Also, if Grant can’t do to Lee what Lee did to McClellan, then the Confederates must be the best soldiers. The piece following disdains the war advice offered by The New-York Times’ Henry Raymond.
From the Richmond Daily Dispatch June 6, 1864:
Richmond Dispatch
Monday morning…June 6. 1864.
The front.
Yesterday was an uncommonly quiet day, undisturbed, as far as we could learn, by more than a single rumor, which, however, if there is any truth in it, is of more importance than the generality of rumors it bore that one of Grant’s couriers had been intercepted with a note from Grant himself to his Chief of Commissarial, instructing him to use his stores with the utmost economy, and saying that he could get no more until he reached James river. The impression has very generally prevailed that Grant is trying to force his way to that river, and that impression may have given rise to the rumor. If there be any truth in it, he must feel some doubt about the policy or possibility of establishing his base at the White House. Of this we know nothing; but, from appearances, he is evidently trying to reach the James, either to establish his base there or to cross over to the opposite side. This, we suppose, is the secret of his furious attacks upon the positions at Cold Harbor and Gaines’s Mill, and their neighborhood, and of his having assembled a large force at Bottom’s Bridge. If he can get over this side, he hopes to get possession of White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill, as McClellan did, and thus to open the way to the river. These positions are both in our hands, and we hardly think they will be abandoned without a struggle. How capable they are of defence McClellan made it appear upon his retreat. Being now in our possession, we shall be in the position that McClellan was then, and Grant will be in the position that Gen. Lee then occupied.–Now, in 1862, our men carried the positions of Cold Harbor and Gaines’s Mill, which McClellan held then as we do now, while we occupied the position now held by Grant. Thus far Grant has been unable to make the slightest impression upon these positions. On the contrary, he has been repulsed in every attack he has made, most signally and most murderously. The affair of Friday was a mere massacre, and the attack of Fridaynight was repulsed with heavy loss on the part of the enemy and scarcely any loss on our part. If we could take the same positions when they held them, which they cannot take while we hold them, the inference is, that ours are the best troops. We have, therefore, no great fears for White Oak Swamp or Malvern Hill, even if Grant should cross the Chickahominy, which he has not done yet. Meanwhile we congratulate our brave soldiers, and their officers, upon being able to pass one Sabbath without losing or shedding blood. We scarcely heard the sound of a cannon yesterday — a circumstance which, just at this time, may be regarded as somewhat remarkable.
Raymond disappointed.
Raymond may be a “little villain””those who ought to know say he is — but he is a big soldier. He studied at Solferino, and took the degree of “Master” at the White House. If Richmond has not yet been taken it is no fault of Raymond’s. He gave the best possible advice, but those who had the ordering of the campaign would not follow it. …
Maybe the Richmond editors wrote their lead article late in the afternoon on the 5th, because according to Union General Meade the rebels launched a failed assault that very Sunday evening.
From The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade … (page 201):
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, 9 P.M., June 5, 1864.
[It had been comparatively quiet since the 3rd, but the rebels had just been repulsed that evening.] Indeed, we are pretty much engaged all the time, from early in the morning till late at night. I don’t believe the military history of the world can afford a parallel to the protracted and severe fighting which this army has sustained for the last thirty days. You would suppose, with all this severe fighting, our severe losses, constant marches, many in the night, that the physical powers of the men would be exhausted. I have no doubt that in time it will tell on them, but as of yet they show no evidences of it.
I feel a satisfaction in knowing that my record is clear, and that the results of this campaign are the clearest indications I could wish of my sound judgment, both at Williamsport and Mine Run. In every instance that we have attacked the enemy in an entrenched position we have failed, except in the case of Hancock’s attack at Spottsylvania, which was a surprise discreditable to the enemy. So, likewise, whenever the enemy has attacked us in position, he has been repulsed. I think Grant has had his eyes opened, and is willing to admit now that Virginia and Lee’s army is not Tennessee and Bragg’s army. Whether the people will ever realize this fact remains to be seen.
