06/03/2026
"A little after daylight on June 3 we advanced on the enemy and drove him from his rifle pits, then threw up a line of works on the ridge beyond. There has been heavy fighting on our right. Our side, they say, is gaining a decided advantage. Our part of the front has been quiet since we took the enemy rifle pits. About 9 p.m. some of Beauregard's troops charged our brigade but were handsomely repulsed, some of their men falling inside our works"
With this short account Thomas Galwey recorded the 8th Ohio's involvement in the June 3rd, 1864, assaults at the Battle of Cold Harbor. After over a month of fighting, the Army of the Potomac managed to drive the rebel Army of Northern Virginia nearly to the gates of Richmond, the rebel capitol. An attack on June 1st was unsuccessful, but Federal high command felt a strong attack the following day might succeed. However, the Federal 2nd Corps (which included the 8th Ohio) had to travel behind nearly the entire Union army and arrived at its assault positions to late on June 2nd to attack. The assault was then scheduled for the following day.
Although Galwey and the 8th seemingly had an easy time for a change, the overall attacks did not go well. Stiff rebel defenses caused huge casualties among the Federal attackers, leaving nearly 6,000 dead Union soldiers, while also being unable to capture the main rebel line. Two decades later Ulysses Grant wrote in his memoirs "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made.... At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained. Indeed, the advantages, other than those of relative losses, were on the Confederate side.
