The Savannah morning news., 1904-06-11
BATTLE OF COLD HARB0R
AND NAN SHAN HILL.
Great Fight of Civil War Recalled
by the Japs Charge on Russian
SfH0nnhnId

EDITOR morning news. Inc storm
ing of Nan Shen hill by the little Japs,
after eight bloody repulses. puts the
little brown man at the top. When
we consider the conditions, his gall
lantry is emphasized. Veteran troops
realize the depressing effects of excess
sive and bloody repulses, and with their
field artillery ammunition only suffi-
Client to cover one more assault, we
can well applaud the splendor of their
work.
Parallels can hardly be drawn with
other battles or assaults on fortified
positions, because modern arms have
revolutionized conditions. Rapid-tire
| pieces of the Gatlin, Maxim and Hetch-
kiss pattern, breech-loading, long range
| and quick-fire artillery, with maya
| zine rifles, all contribute to barring
| parallels where strongly defensive po-
| sitions have been stormed.
If we cannot use parallels we can
bring up incidents of the past. 1 think
| 1t was SaragosSa, where Wellington
| stormed what appeared to be almost
| impregnable works. Instances are not
wanting in the recent late unpleas-
| antness" in this country.
Especially is the Sd of June, just
| forty years ago, memorable of one of
| these bloody events. 1t will be re-
| called that when Mcclellan environed
| Richmond in the summer of so he
placed strong confidence in the en-
/ trenched position of his right at Cold
| Harbor. Here the crest was crowned
| with three lines of works, each one
| topping the other, so that each COM
| mand became an effective firing line
| at the same time. Fourteen pieces of
| heavy, or siege guns, f1anked by light
batteries, constituted the artillery.
The position was naturally strong, with
an oozy creek at it's base. This Nc
Clellan intensified by the strong triple
| lines and ample artillery. Fitz Lee
| writes: ut has been said we were
| lavish of blood in those days and it
was thought to be a great thing to
charge battery or line of earth
| works."
Gen. Lee had inaugurated the now
famous Seven Days Battle of Rich
mond, and Coal Harbor was the key to
| McClellan's right. 1t must be seized,
else the plan of battle would fail. The
front assault had been bloodily re-
pulsed and the federals enthused at
| their success. Gen. Hood tells us he
| Qhen with Jackson), was pressing
with his splendid Texas brigade in the
direction of the fierce firing. Here 1
found Gen. Lee. He rode forward to
meet me and, extending his usual
greeting, announced that our troops
had been fighting CALAMITY, but had
not succeeded IN dislodging the en-
envy. He added: This must be done
ican you break his line?" 1 replied, II
will try The gallant Texan,
with Hampton on the left and in con-
junction with Laws Alabamians,
moved from the cover of the woods
and formed line in the open. A half
| mile across this 'vallev of death"
moved these Confederates in another
attempt at storming the formidable
| works.
way in blood, but without returning the
fire that decimated them, they moved
on until well upon the work. Then
line of fire blazed from their guns and
with rush, and that fierce yell that
no man ever yet heard unmoved upon
the field of battle, these gallant men
| swept the works and the key point of
| McClellan's right with its artillery and
prisoners were laid at Lees feet. But
it had been costly, Hood says. one-half
of his gallant Texans lay dead or
wounded upon the field. Such actions
in battle are expensive in blood.
Gen. Dick Taylor places the relative
forces on this part of the line, at,
Federal, $4,000; Confederate. 10000. Nc
Clellan's latest returns placed his total
| forces at $4,000, while Lees gave him
a fraction under 10000. This First
Battle of Coal Harbor was fought on
June 27. 1862.
Two years more of fierce battles and
| severe campaigning had hammered
and hardened the wonderful Army of
Northern Virginia into the most SUI
| perb and elastic body of soldiers the
| world has ever produced. When the
last campaign opened at 1.-The Wilder
| ness" Grant reported to Secretary
| Stanton, he had raised the Potomac
Army to a standard never before at
| tanned, and 149,160 men followed his
| flag. Swinton, the Potomac army's
| historian, gives Lee "of all arms ST.
| 626." The disparity was the same in
| munitions and material, as in men, but
| enthusiasm and patriotism in inversed
ratio. The bloody three days at THE
| Wilderness and the inability to lift
Lee from his path, convinced Grant
| his boast of "Oh, no, never maneuver,"
| was not applicable here, for he had to
| abandon that theory, and by a nights
march attempt to take Lees right in
| reverse.
| But the master-chess player put his
hand upon the bloody chessboard and
at Spottsylvania again called check"
Eight days of savage assault and
bloody tributes again convinced Grant
| the elastic Army of Northern Vir-
| ginia, was prepared ito fight it out on
| this line if at takes all summer"
| Again strategy became necessary
| and the side-step to the left brought
the two struggling masses opposite
each other at historic Coal Harbor.
But conditions were reversed. Now
Lee occupied practically the line he
| had won from Mcclellan two years be-
| fore. His army was now reduced to
| less than $4,000 men and subsisting on
three crackers per man, for a days
| ration. Grant had paid dearly for his
| attempts to storm Lees defenses
| Writers, CONSTANT with his records
place his losses up to second Coal Iar-
| Dor at 10000 men. But a generous
government had amply met this terri
BILE and bloody drain.
Now the line of battle was contracted
| so that Grant could hurl his immense
| army zen masse" upon the depleted
| lines of Lee. In fourteen assaults he
| threw the blue columns upon that
ragged gray line, tipped with bright
! Steel but to a defeat more bloody than
| the Potomac army had ever expert
| enced. In an hour, the fury of battle
was practically expended, and before
Lees line lay sight sickening to the
most hardened veterans. Fourteen
thousand nine hundred and seventy
one bloody victims testified to the Wig
or of the assault and the steadiness of
nerve and accuracy of sight of those
ragged gray veterans.
SwintO1 writes of this fight "Cyranf