God of Love and Pity, draw the veil over the scene! No pen can tell its
story--no heart endure to hear it.
The stop was brief. Already the cavalry were skirmishing for the next
position.
Again the keen eye of Lee had divined his enemy's purpose. By a shorter
road his men had reached the North Anna before Grant. When the Union
leader arrived on the scene he found the position of his advance
division dangerous and quickly withdrew with the loss of two thousand
men.
Once more he determined to turn Lee's flank and hurled his army toward
Cold Harbor. This time he reached his chosen ground before his opponent
and on the 31st, Sheridan's cavalry took possession of the place. The
two armies had rushed for this point in waving parallel lines, flashing
at each other death-dealing volleys as they touched.
Both armies immediately began to entrench in their chosen positions.
Lee, familiar with his ground, had chosen his position with consummate
skill. On June the 1st, the preliminary attack was made at six o'clock
in the afternoon. It was short and bloody. The Northern division under
Smith and Wright charged and lost two thousand two hundred men in an
hour.
Again Lee had placed his guns and infantry in a fiery crescent on the
hills arranged to catch both flanks and front of an advancing army.
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