The fate of the wounded at Cold Harbor is one of the most harrowing episodes of the war. After the fighting was over on June 3, hundreds of badly wounded men were left stranded in the no-man’s land between the opposing armies, suffering horribly from exposure to a broiling sun and no water.
Make Opening Day a National Holiday
The June 3, 1864 assault was one part of two weeks of operations that ultimately claimed over 13,000 Federal casualties. Confederate losses totaled barely 5k, a disparity that only seemed to reinforce the pointlessness of the battle, and to a later generations, synonymous with the futility of war.
