The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1914-06-12
ground which bad been So hardIy won.

ground which had been so hardly won.
In less than half an hour the Federal
army had lost more than 1000 in killed
and wounded, loss never equaled in
any other battle in the war in the same
space of time. More than half that loss
was suffered within the first 10 minutes
after the signal gun.
Grant was remorseless. Another
charge was promptly ordered. Meade
transmitted the order to the corps COM
manders. Some Of them ignored it.
Some passed it on to their brigade and
regimentsl officers. Some OF these re-
peated it to the men. But not man
stirred. The order was repeated, with
the same result. A third time Meade
issued it, and third time it was not
obeyed, Smith openly refusing and the
others making no effort to enforce it.
The men lay in their shallow burrows,
firing at every enemy that appeared,
but not one would advance a step.
They we're ready for battle, but not for
suicide.
Owing to the formidable character
Of the enemy's main works it was DEEM
ed impolitic to continue the assault. !"
Thus ran the euphemistic news reports
Of the incident The concrete, frigid
fact was that the whole army spontane-
ously mutinied against the REPETITION Of
an undertaking that never should have
been made at all. The corps command
ers at last persuaded Grant Of the futility
Of any further efforts OF that kind, and
he reluctantly acquiesced.
The browning horror was the fact that
for two or three days many OF the dead
and wounded lay uncared for upon the
field because Grant and Lee we're unable
to agree upon the terms of brief ar
misticc. When at last an agreement
was reached the roll OF the wounded had
been greatly diminished and that Of the
dead correspondingly increased.
For nine days Grant stubbornly main
tanned his place. Then, on June IL, be
retired from Cold Harbor, the poorer by
1878 men than when he first reached
the place. Since crossing the Rapidan
he had lost "a, 926 men in fighting an
army Of only $4,000. More than that,
he abandoned his whole plan OF cam
paign. On May IL he had said: II
propose to fight it out on this line, IL it
takes all summer" the line being to
strike at Lees army again and again,
Until by sheer attrition, If no other way,
i was defeated and destroyed. On June
IL, with the summer not yet really be-
gun, he quit fighting on that line AMI
'emoved his army to the south side of
he James, making not Lee, but Rich
nond, by way Of Petersburg, his chief
objective.
Cold Harbor has been the subject OF
much controversy, sometimes acrimoni-
JUS, which it would seem Improbable to
enew or to recall in detail. Final judg
nent has been passed upon it by the
me man who was responsible for it.
Cold JHarbor is, / think, said Grant,
the only battle / ever fought that /
gould not fight over again under the
circumstances. And again, in bis
Personal Memoirs:" II have always
egretted that the last assault on Cold
Iarbor was ever made. No advantage
'hatever was gained to compensate for
be heavy loss we sustained /" From
nat verdict there can be no appeal
lille the frank and voluntary rendering
it goes far toward atonipg for the
lost costly and perhaps the least ex-
lsable error in the great soldiers
sreer. New York Tribune.
N III 4. L.. n