The 7 days 1862

In 1862 the area around Cold Harbor was the scene of the 7 days campaign where Lee, with a great deal of help from McClellan, stopped the Union advance on Richmond north of the James River.

The area is strewn with battlefields, mostly small ones, but we contented ourselves with the two bigger & best preserved ones - Gaines Mill & Malvern Hill.  You have to walk to see these battlefields properly & it was just too damned hot to do more - the weather app said "93F but feels like 99F because of the humidity".

McClellan sat motionless with most of his army facing a forlorn hope allowing Lee to take the initiative.  At Gains Mill Lee gained numerical superiority despite Jackson not showing up on time.   At tremendous cost the Rebs repeatedly attacked the strong Union position until weight of numbers eventually told & the Union army broke.  But more importantly McClellan's nerve also broke & the began the tradition of the Army of the Potomac & gave up at the first reverse.

 The Union position was naturally strong.  They were deployed in a wooded valley steep enough so the 2nd line could fire over the 1st.  They also had an open plateau behind which must have made it easier to keep command control & to deploy reserves.

For once it seems the woods are not much different now as then, though after a few exchanges of fire, there would have been a lot less leaves on the trees. There was no entrenching then, just some improvements to the natural defenses in the trees.

At Malvern Hill a few days later, a Union rearguard stood on it chosen ground to allow McCellan & the main army to retreat back to their fortified supply base.  This time the Union deployed on open farmland with steeps slopes or swamps protecting their flanks.  Once again Lee threw men against a good defensive position, but this time he couldn't break it.

The Union guns had perfect fields of fire.

The Confederate losses in these battles far exceeded the Union's.  In aggregate, Lee's casualty rates were much higher than Grant's but the myth persists that Grant was a butcher & Lee a genius.  But Lee's profligacy with his men's lives may well have had a positive result.  lt may have been one of the reasons that McCellan was convinced he was outnumbered.