this was a dysfunctional family. it one the soldiers who will pay for this disfunction. mead does very little to prepare for the assault. there are little orders set out how the attack is to take place. very little reconnoitering. many stories have come down about cold harbor. one of the stories that i'm sure most of you have heard is union troops who were attacking these earth works for the past several weeks knew that they were probably going to get killed. and men would write their names on paper and pin it to their jackets, so that their bodies could be identified. i doubt that that really happened here at cold harbor. i've checked through the contemporary sources, the letters from the men, and none of them mentioned that. the only place that that story is mentioned is by horace porter, who is one of grant's aides and he wrote it in a memoir that he produced many

years after the war, that is filled with literary inventions. i suspect that is one of his many literary inventions. it's true that soldiers of the army of the potomac had done that before in earlier battles. this would be in november of 1863. but there's no evidence that it actually happened here at cold harbor. but everybody knew it was going to be a fierce and terrible day. 4:30 a.m., the signal gun goes off, and this huge union monolith heaves forward. or parts of it do. that's the sad thing about the battle of cold harbor. down on the lower end of the battlefield, general hancock's second corps punches forward. across from them at one spot, they make a breakthrough in a salient in the federal line where general breckenridge is positioned. but lee has a lot of reserves. one myth is that lee did not have reserves, that his line was thin.

that's not true. some parts of the confederate line this entire divisions behind them and that was the position on the lower end of the battlefield where hancock made his attack. the reserves pour in, drive hancock's men out and the union's second core find themselves in an untenable position. wounded men across the fields, men who are not wounded, but can't get to their lines, burrowing behind besides, all of the horrors of cold harbor are taking place along hancock's line, south of where we are right now. in this area, where the union's sixth core, horatio wright's men was to attack. very little happened. as a matter of fact, one of the confederate generals where we are right now, wrote that he had no idea an attack was even being made. the reason is, wright's men had attacked this same position on june 1. they knew what they were facing

and they now knew the confederates had two more days to get for them. they moved forward a short distance and started digging. and the accounts of the soldiers who fought on this part of the battlefield reflect that. to our north, where the union 18th core would be, attacked. they came forward and baldy smith would send his men forward in columns. they'd go forward in columns down the next ravine over. it's called the middle ravine on the park services map. they figured that way, he would have enough mass to punch through the confederate line. well, good idea, but it wouldn't work this time, because the confederate first corps had time to strengthen. they realized these ways they may be broken through, so the confederate engineers had

positions artillery along those ravines and had dug entrenchments there, so that basically this union column would be feeding into what military men call a reentrant angle, what i like to call a pencil sharpener. a pencil going in and getting ground to pieces. that's what happened to baldy smith's 18th core. men were slaughtered. within a short time, the 18th core was stymied. men crawling behind the bodies of dead men. the fields were basically total killing fields. evander law, one of the confederate generals in that part of the field later wrote those famous words, it's not war, it's murder. and up in that part of the field, it looked like that. the fifth and ninth core on the way end of the battlefield did very little until a few hours had passed and launched another assault.

later in the afternoon will try yet once again. so this massive attack at cold harbor is really a disjointed set of attacks by disparate union army cores, very little support from each other, no defined objective except to break through somewhere. a very bad idea and definitely very poorly executed. >> i have been over these battlefields and done walks on these battlefields with men who have actually led men in battle. and had the honor one time to do a staff ride with general francs. we talked about told harbor. i asked, what do you think of grant's decision to attack at cold harbor and the way it was executed, and the answer i've gotten from people much more experienced in this than myself, is that they respect general grant's decision, that this was the time to make the attack. that's the kind of hard decision that an army commander or supreme commander has to make president the politics of it, and the situation of the armies, the expectation of perhaps more confederate reinforcements, made

this a rational or reasonable time to make that kind of assault, and they don't fault grant for having decided to do what he did here. what they do fault, though, is the total breakdown in command. obviously, meade as army commander was responsible for making sure that the coordination was there, that the supports were there, the field was reconnoitered, he doesn't do that. and grant had an obligation to do that. so there's plenty of fault to go around. grant later wrote in this attack at cold harbor was an attack that he wished had never been made. i find it interesting that he wrote that in the passive voice. he didn't say i wished i had never made it. he said i wished it was an attack that hadn't been made. i wonder if that was a side swipe on his part at general meade.

at any event, by noon, grant called off the attack, and that was the end of the famous attack at cold harbor. in later years, the historians have written about the battle and talked about the casualties that took place here, and you see all sorts of inflated stories about the attack on cold harbor, the biggest assault, produced 7,000 union casualties in ten minutes, or 15,000 casualties in five minutes, you'll see everything. when i was working on my book on cold harbor, i spent a lot of time investigating the casualties that took place. they were terrible, but what were they really? when you go through the actual casualty reports from the units engaged, the casualties are about half of what's generally claimed. somewhere in the range of 3,500 during that morning set of assaults.

in other words, over a period of several hours. so the brutal attack at cold harbor, which sort of goes down in civil war lore as one of the worst of the assaults ranks somewhere around sixth or seventh worst among the assaults of the civil war. as far as people, as far as casualties. bad it was, but it was not the absolute catastrophe that it's often painted up to be. as a matter of fact, the losses in that assault were in many ways no worse and in some cases no worse than assaults launched in the wilderness and the courthouse. over the next day or two, the armies jockeyed for positions. the fields we're looking at now, were scenes of horror. wounded men, unwounded men lying there but unable to get food or water. sharpshooters on each side killing anything that moved, any

body that moved. there are stories of men going out at night from the lines, trying to bring water to the injured, trying to pull comrades back, they too would be shot at. this was a killing ground. a horror show. it was hot and it was one of those -- one of the worst scenes you could imagine in the american civil war. there were scenes of bravery and there's several accounts of men who managed to work their way out into the field and drag their friends back. some of the injured colonels were dragged back as well. two days, three days, june 5th, after the big assault had taken place, general hancock went to general meade and asked if there

could be some sort of a flag of truce so that wounded men could be brought back in from his portion of the line. his local commanders had been asking for that. this, of course, was relayed to grant. grant made the request of lee, and then for the next two days, up until june 7th, lee and grant bicker back and forth about exactly how the truce will be done, whether it can be local or generalized. it takes a long time for messages to go back and forth between the lines and not until june 7th, at the end of the day, is a truce declared and for a few hours, the soldiers from each army come into these fields that we're in today and bring back the bodies. because there's very few wounded left alive. hard to tell how many, but by many accounts, there's five or six, and the rest are all now bodies. if we were here that day, we'd see soldiers from each side

trading tobacco and coffee. there are accounts of the union soldiers moving to the confederate lines, talking with them, shaking hands with them. it's as though this entire madness had stopped for a few hours. darkness comes on, the truce is called off. shots are fired, and that's the end of the truce at cold harbor. now these men who just a few minutes before were talking with each other, are trying to kill each other again. the armies stay here at cold harbor until june 13th. so they'll be here for another week. during that time, very few wounded men are brought in. during that time there's some movement, some jockeying, some assaults. i'd tell you what happened during those days, but i haven't quite finished my next book, which covers those battles, so i don't want to give away all the details. the big thing is this, though, grant realizes now, as he had in north anna, that he cannot break through here at cold harbor. and so he does what he has

always done, and that is, he decide to maneuver. and he comes up with a good idea. he's going to have cavalry under phil sheridan make a raid up to the north. cut off some of the rail lines, maybe even move up into the shenandoah valley, take places like lynchburg and cut off the james river canal. he's then going to take the army of the potomac, pull it out of cold harbor, swing it south, cross the james, and then that army, in combination with butler's army and the 18th corps can take petersburg, cut the supply line to the army in northern virginia, and finally defeat lee. the union plan works like clock work. sheridan heads off on his raid. it will end disastrously at the battle of trevilian station, but

it serves its purpose for the time. and on the morning of the 13th of june, lee and his men look across and discover that the union earth works are empty. grant once again has managed to pull his army away without lee figuring out what had happened. the union army swings south, down to the james river. grant intends to cross. but lee does not understand what grant means to do. lee thinks that what grant might be preparing to do is to swing back toward richmond north of the james river. so lee stays here at cold harbor, sends some of his soldiers to the south, but doesn't do a major shift, because, again, he's uncertain as to what grant will do. well, as you civil war historians know, by june 15th, union forces are attacking at petersburg. lee is now alerted to what's going on. confederates managed to reach the town in time.

there's a vigorous defense, and the war will basically devolve into a siege with many big battles, but still a siege that will last for the next ten months. i'm often asked, well, who is it that won this battle at cold harbor? and that won this big campaign between grant and lee? and i have to say, if you look at this, in terms of individual battles. lee had the upper hand in the wilderness. spotsylvania courthouse and here at cold harbor, because each place he was able to deflect grant. but if you look at it as a unified campaign, i'd have to say grant was the winner. grant's goal was to neutralize lee's army in virginia, and he did just that. lee would be locked into the entrenchment at petersburg and richmond and be neutralized as an effective force in the war. lee's goal had been to hold his line at the rap dan river and after these series of battles, he was driven back into richmond.

so he too realized he had failed in his goal. casualties were horrendous. 33,000 confederates during this campaign, were captured, killed, or wounded. something like 55,000 union soldiers killed, captured, or wounded. 88,000 americans all-told in something like 42, 43 days of fighting and maneuver. if you are to ask, well, who lost the most, obviously the union forces lost more men, but they were the ones generally who were on the offensive. they were launching the attacks. if you were to ask, which army lost the highest percentage of men, then the conclusion would be reversed. lee started the campaign with

about 65,000. he lost slightly more than 50% of the men that he had started with. grant, of course starting with 120,000, lost a little bit less than 50% of the men that he had started with, so in that sense, grant wins the numbers game, depends again on how you count it. well, i've enjoyed chatting with you today. i've sure i've said 50 things that will cause a lot of debate and some of you may have questions as well. i believe i've been asked to talk to you for a little while, sort of like king knute who was supposed to hold back the tides, i'm supposed to keep you happy enough until the sun goes down and the lighting of the candles to be carried on the battlefield. i'd be glad to take a question or two, or whatever you'd like to do, david? what's that? move to the next? okay, well, i guess i've done my job. so thank you very much, i appreciate it. [ applause ] tonight, we continue with the battle of ft. stevens.

confederate forces probe the fortified capital city before deciding to turn back. we'll visit several surviving forts in the nation's capital tonight at 8:00 eastern here on cspan3. up next, a look at the conclusion of the overland campaign. james robertson describes elysse s. grant's campaign. >> well, good evening. my name is rick raines and i'm the pastor here at the fair mount christian church, and we

are really sad that you're here tonight. [ laughter ] we know you are much anticipating being over at the battlefield, but we're glad you're with us tonight. i've been asked to begin the evening with a word of invocation. please bow with me. father in heaven, we come to this place tonight, not to celebrate war, but to celebrate sacrifice, loyalty, bravery, and the things that have happened in our history to make us the great nation we are today. may we learn from the lessons of history. may we not repeat the lessons that divide us, but may we repeat those lessons that make us, indeed, strong. tonight, dear lord, i thank you for the national park service and their very hard work in bringing this event to our community, to our state, and to our nation. and lord, i am most grateful that you've allowed us to be

part of this.$pzi bless what we do in this place this evening and we humbly asking, dear father, that you bless your nation, in jesus name, amen. >> amen. >> on the 4th of may, 1864, the union army of the potomac crossed the rap dan river and passed into the dense woodland the locals called the wilderness. near the bridges, brass bands played the national airs, along with other soldier favorites that stirred the mens' souls with optimism and hope. none could know but the final campaign of the war had begun. by the end of may, the armies had crossed many rivers. the bloody battles of the wilderness, spotsylvania courthouse and the north anna river had pushed human daring and suffering to the extreme. but the soldiers valiantly fought on.

soon after the fight along the north anna river, u.s. assistant secretary of war charles dana hoped to transfer the lingering soldiers' optimism to the war weary northern home front. to boost morale back home and garner political support to continue the war effort, dana proudly proclaimed, the rebels have lost all confidence, and are already morally defeated. this army has learned to believe that it is sure of victory. even our officers have ceased to regard lee as an invincible military genius. on the part of the rebels, this change is evinced, not only by their not attacking, even when circumstances seem to invite it, but by the unanimous statement of prisoners taken from them. rely upon it, the end it near as well. similarly, in late may, the washington republican and the philadelphia bulletin also reported, lee has commenced a hasty retreat. pursued with real vigor by grant. grant is evidently,

embarrassingly. unless lee stops to fight today, we shall hear next of a grand conflict for the city of richmond before or in the works of that capital. advices say jeff davis and his cabinet left richmond some days ago. there is little doubt that richmond, by this time, is pretty well cleaned out of its inhabitants, and that it's nothing less than a fortress. >> by june 3rd, 1864, the union army arrived within eight miles of richmond. the weary soldiers on the front lines, who had endured a month of incessant hard marching, unimaginable blood letting and death, dug in around cold harbor. grant's unrelenting hammering of lee's veteran army continued on this day, 150 years ago. a frontal assault was ordered,

it was unmatched for its sheer brutality. following the june 3rd assaults at cold harbor, private david coop of the 36th wisconsin wrote to his daughter from the trenches. no words that i can write can give you an idea of it. how would you feel to see your father lying in a ditch behind a bank of earth all day with rebel bullets flying over his head, so that his life was in danger if he should raise on his feet. without a chance to get anything to eat, then running across an open field toward a rebel battery, with rebel bullets and canister flying like hail and men falling, killed and wounded all about him. and finally ordered to fall on our faces so that the storm could pass over us. and then be oblige to lie in that position until being covered by the darkness of night so we could get away. and then start on a forced march

through the night without any chance to get supper. so weak he could scarcely walk. to see him lie down in the dirt, and if stopping for a few minutes, so exhausted as to fall asleep. my dear daughter, your father may be lying dead on the field of battle and you may not know it. and so it was for the soldiers north and south. >> thank you for joining us this evening. my name is david ruth. i'm the superintendent of richmond national battlefield park. i'd like to take just a moment to introduce to you all tonight, our participants in this even's program. dr. james i. robertson, paul levengood, david adams, a close personal friend and steward of a large portion of the cold harbor battlefield.

our readers, ashley and michael, and i want to send a special thanks to our chorus from the lee davis high school. thank you all very much for being with us in this program tonight. [ applause ] >> for the last week and a half, many of you have followed in the foot steps of union and confederate armies across the north anna and the pomonkey rivers, to pottawatomie creek, bethesda church and near here at the cold harbor crossroads. tonight, we will pause to ponder the significance of these stories and what they meant to the veterans of both armies and generations of americans who came after. as we do that, we need to acknowledge the hard work of so many who joined with us in remembering and commemorating this unforgettable part of our shared history. from its own commemorative events at north anna to

supporting our events here, hanover county has been a real strong partner with us, helped us with buses and helped us with many of the logistics and we thank the board of supervisors and the county for their assistance. we couldn't have done this without the assistance of fairmont church. this evening is a perfect example of this partnership. their parking lot provided perfect places for our shuttles to have the tours emanate from. so without fairmont church, this certainly could not have happened. our commemoration of the battle of pottawatomie creek wouldn't have been possible without the work of our newest partner, the rural plains foundation a friends group is working hard to expand a professional of the rural plains unit. kathryn patterson is here this evening, if you can just raise your hand. there she is, over to my left. thank you, kathryn, for being with us tonight.

richmond region tourism provided support that helped us conduct and publicize these commemorative programs. we're pleased with the virginia historical society working with us to offer a program that set the stage for our 1864 commemorations. seems like a month ago now, but thank you, paul, for your strong partnership with the national park service. and i also must say that i can stand up here tonight and provide some great words that some of my staff has helped me write, but none of this could have happened without the staff of richmond national battlefield park. and i lost some nights worrying about the logistics, but they lost a lot of nights putting together the programs over the past week. i'd like if you could just stand real quick, if you don't mind -- no matter what division you're in -- [ applause ]

and volunteers, please. [ applause ] >> these folks, many of them, were at the church parking lot this morning at 3:30 a.m. and met the tours and followed in the foot steps of the 18th and second corps, and as depleted as they are, they're here tonight to support this final program. so as the superintendent of this park, i couldn't be more impressed by this staff and proud. so thank you all so very much. [ applause ]

and finally, parts of this battlefield would not be available to tell their stories were it not for the work of the civil war trust and the richmond battlefields association. their preservation work will ensure that these places will remain available to teach and inspire our children, grandchildren, and generations to come. indeed, these places, this land, and the history it contains, are the reasons that we are here. 150 years ago, hanover county, virginia, became one of the bloodiest landscapes on the continent, for more than two weeks, tens of thousands of americans fought one another here, struggled to survive here, and died here. farms were transformed into battlefields. few communities suffered like hanover, and the war gave it an enduring identity. when the armies departed, families like the garthrights, the baezes, the watts, and the adamses, the mcgees and the burnetts, were left to deal with the human wreckage left behind, they also faced the immense struggle of regaining their

livelihoods that the war nearly destroyed. in the previous programs, we told the civilian story left by written accounts from the participants. tonight is different. our first speaker david adams is a life-long resident of cold harbor and is proud to represent the fifth generation of the adams family to live on the battlefield. he's here to talk about what it's like to be so closely connected to the land, a most famous place. through the hospitality of the adams' family, david and his mother, mary beth who is with us tonight, the park was able to take folks along the footpath of the second corps attack on june 3rd. we thank you for the hospitality you've always shown us, particularly this morning when we were there bright and early. thank you all. david? [ applause ]

>> before david gets started, i did want to mention that it's very appropriate that he's sitting next to dr. robertson. he's a tech graduate himself, holds a master's degree in government from the university of richmond and uses those credentials to teach young people since 1979, where he taught at richmond community high school. much of the current staff of the battlefield, i already mentioned, had the good fortune of knowing both david, mary beth, his mother, and david's father edwin, who very good naturedly and with great patience welcomed many inquisitive park service historians to his farm over the years, graciously allowing our groups, eager to see this historic group, the right to step on this historic land. in the park service, we talk about stewardship, we try to take care of our sites, all national treasures. the adams family has treated their portion of the battlefield with respect and gentleness.

they are great stewards and we are extremely grateful for that. again, thank you, david, for being with us this evening. [ applause ] >> good evening. i wish to thank dave ruth, superintendent of the richmond national battlefield park, for extending the invitation to speak on this significant occasion in the life of our country. it is indeed an enormous honor to have the opportunity to share this time with dr. robertson, and mr. levengood. dave, i thank you. in 1864, joseph adams owned a farm about a mile south of new cold harbor. he was 48 years old.

had a very young family for his age. made a living raising wheat, corn, and vegetables. i am his great, great grandson. i grew up and was raised and worked on the same farm. today, i continue to live on it. it is a place filled with the beauty of wheat rolling in waves with the wind. emerald-green corn fields, if adequate rain has fallen and for years, cattle grazing across pastures. but this exact same place also bore enormous violence. i am so very honored to represent a connection with the civilian population of that long ago time. 150 years. this is very meaningful to me. we all know how the war divided

the country. it divided families. it divided cold harbor. most cold harbor residents certainly supported secession in the confederacy. they saw the war as an invasion by high-handed government. but others saw it differently. they were southern unionists. such southerners likely felt that dissolving the union would end in tragedy. these differences were present in the cold harbor community. it was a civil war through and through. by grandfather was born on the farm and worked it all his life. he shared an account given to him by his father of horsemen returning to cold harbor years after the battle, war veterans. the image that was most dominant

in the account was that some of the returning men were emotional. and so we wonder, what had they seen at cold harbor. what had they experienced at cold harbor. what did they remember about cold harbor? why were some weeping? over time, war relics would be unearthed by the adams' plow. through my grandfather's youth, like his father, and grandfather, plowing was done walking behind a mule. by my father's boyhood, a tractor-drawn plow would also inevitably latch on to war material.

sometimes a rainfall would have the same effect. revealing lead bullets, shell and cannonball fragments. occasionally a bayonet, occasionally a rifle, and occasionally, portions of human bone. rust and decay marked how long they had left in the spot they fell that june day. for years, picking a lead bullet off the ground was pretty common place. we never gave its background a second thought. holding a war relic never really conveys anything close to what happened here. how easy to ignore that a lead bullet dropped a century and a half ago may have passed through a man. did it take his life? if it did so, how long did it take him to die?

and what of my grandfather's father's farm on june 3rd, 1864? we know that enormous damage occurred on his place from the battle of gains mill, only two junes before. his house had been a union field hospital. in june 1864, the two armies had returned again. having survived and witnessed the carnage of war once, what dread must have filled his mind and heart. hell on earth was coming again to cold harbor. as a boy, who always loved history, living on a farm that had been a battlefield, always

invoked a romantic image of war. it was always an image confined to heroism and valor and duty, and cold harbor was about those things. this youthful image of mine, however, included men falling neatly in lines, dead to the ground, and wounds that could be easily patched up. it would be much later before i would comprehend as my father and grandfather did, that our farm also produced immense suffering, untold agony and cruelty. but it also produced a genuine devotion to what those americans of 150 years ago thought was right. thank you for your time, and i appreciate it very much. [ applause ]

>> one of the pleasures of being superintendent of this battlefield park is the opportunity to collaborate with other historical institutions, to work in tandem towards shared goals to strengthen the story of the old dominion and how it is told. one of those colleagues is dr. paul levengood. he's president and ceo of the virginia historical society. a position he's held for six years.

paul is a native of pennsylvania, like myself, with degrees from davidson college and from rice university where he earned his doctorate in history. his many accomplishments, serving as editor of the virginia magazine of history and biography. work on the editorial advisory board of the encyclopedia virginia and publication of a book entitled virginia, catalyst of commerce for four centuries, published in 2007. that was the official commemorative project of the virginia chamber of commerce. ball is married, has three children is continues to steer the virginia historical society into the 21st century with a steady and imaginative hand. one of our staff has remarked to me that he has been to every state historical society in the south except for florida, not sure why, and that none can approach the virginia historical society for quality, efficiency, and usefulness. so paul, we appreciate all that you do. we're assembled here between the lines this evening, if we were in fact at cold harbor. as a group, at this place, that witnessed countless hundreds of untold personal tragedies, no doubt some of us, if we were actually on the battlefield tonight, would be sitting or

standing on the very spot where a corpse may have lay 150 years ago tonight. for the survivors, it was too soon to extract broad meaning or context from their ordeal. paul is here tonight to reflect on that topic, how cold harbor came to be remembered. [ applause ] >> thank you very much, dave. and good evening, everyone. now, in stand-up comedy, the role i am playing right now is what you would call the middle. in other words, i'm serving as a bridge from the opener, who gets the crowd going, and in this case, gets the crowd moved, to the headliner, and that's the one that everyone came to see. so i think you'll agree, we had a wonderful opener in mr. adams.

that was very moving. and my role now is to efficiently get you to our friend, the incomparable bud robertson, who is obviously the main attraction this evening. so as i middle here, i hope i can keep your attention for a few moments. and i promise that unlike a comedy show, there will be no ventriloquism or jokes about airline food. when superintendent dave ruth called and asked me to say a few words about this event, which marks a century and a half since the battle of cold harbor, i asked, why me? after all, i'm a 20th century historian by training. my war took place 70 years ago, not 150. however, dave said something kind about my presence adding to the event and i certainly appreciated that. but between us, he's my sometime doubles tennis partner, and it's in his best interest to keep my

ego stroked. but i do appreciate his confidence in bringing me here. now i'll admit that when i was thinking about this evening, it caused me a few sleepless nights, so i'm glad you had sleepless nights and i did too. afterall, what can i add that bud, or gordon ray, or a host of other experts has not already said about the battle itself? this isn't my era, obviously. my ability to add something to our understanding is limited. but once i realized that i really wasn't expected to become an expert on this battle, in a month's time, i gained some measure of peace. so instead, i decided to embrace my non-expert role and take what is a more impressionistic look at the meaning and memory, or lack thereof, of the vicious and in many ways, fruitless battle of cold harbor. so i'll begin by asking you a question rhetorically. what is it that sticks in our

collective memory about the battle of cold harbor? well, for many, if not most of us, if we're pressed to come up with only one thing that characterizes this engagement, it might simply be this. death. this is not gettysburg or shiloh, or even the seven days. here we don't think of gallant charges, tactical successes, or feats of individual bravery. we think of death. we think of the two waves of u.s. troops who launched themselves, uselessly against deeply entrenched confederates and were mown down in staggering numbers. we think of the four days in which the wounded moaned and screamed for help in no man's land as they died, parched, in pain, afraid. and we think of that photograph. do you know the photograph i

mean? in the photograph, a litter sits on the ground. its bearer kneels behind it. addressing the camera, with a steely gaze. in the background, four more men are stooped at their labors. these five are the living actors in this scene. but they are not the actors who draw our attention, who make this john reiki photograph one of the most haunting and macabre of the civil war. no, what draws our attention is not the living. it is the dead. how can we not look in this photograph, into the hollow, staring eye sockets of the five skulls that confront us? we're riveted to them as the very representation of death. only by tearing our eyes away from the skulls can we begin to make out the rest of the scene. the horrifying, disembodied mass of bone, clothing, and equipment, composed of parts of

who knows how many human bodies. in almost a coda of death, we last notice of what looks like the remains of a leg dangling, jarringly from the litter. boot still attached. the photograph sears into the brain. at least it did to mine. i can't remember when i first saw the picture, and i certainly did not know where cold harbor was at the time. i'm sure i thought it was a port town somewhere in virginia. i may not remember in which book i first saw the photograph, but i know that it immediately and lastingly linked the words cold harbor and death in my mind. in subsequent years, i came to read more about the events of the spring of 1864 that culminated at cold harbor, that deadly slog from the rap dan to the james that saw the u.s. suffer 50,000 casualties, in the confederacy, another 30,000-plus, the bloodiest six weeks of the war.

i learned of the thousands who fell in the early morning on june 3rd. i know there are differing schools of thought about what that number was. i learned that grant would harbor terrible regrets about his decisions at cold harbor to the very end of his days. and a learned that even in a war in which the military and the public had become accustomed to horribly long casualty lists, cold harbor stood out for his bloodiness and its pointlessness. in a mental connection i can't quite explain, as i sought to find an angle for these remarks by searching my mind of what i knew of the battle of cold harbor, a book i read several years ago came to mind. it's called "the war of the world," a provocative work by british historian neil ferguson. his premise is that the 20th century, with its two global

conflicts and a series of more than a dozen others, that each caused more than a million deaths, was the most violent and deadly in human history. in quite convincing fashion, ferguson lays out evidence that helps explain why this was so. now ferguson's book makes no mention of the american civil war at all. in fact, it does not pay much attention to events in the 19th century united states, period. i suppose that i may simply be trying to connect a time period in the 19th century to one that i know better in the 20th century. but the more i thought about it, the more it struck me that the carnage here helped set the stage for the almost ceaseless

fighting that would cost tens of millions of lives in the 20th century. not just in the terrible numbers of casualties. the very nature of fighting here also seemed to portend the way we would fight in the modern era. here at cold harbor, as the culmination of the meat grinder that was the overland campaign, humanity was afforded a glimpse of the future. a glimpse, and a warning. a warning of what war could be. brutal, industrial, blood-letting, that measured progress not in miles gained, but in inches. and not in winning a given spot of land, but in inflicting more damage on your opponent than you yourself absorbed. in a word, attrition. i think you can make a real case that something fundamental changed -- [ inaudible ] -- in some ways, modern war and how humans view the process of killing one another emerged out of those trees in the early morning hours of june 3rd, 1864. now, this past weekend, i

attended, along with bud and maybe several others of you, the latest in the virginia sesquicentennial excellent set of annual conferences. this year's focus was on the civil war in a global context. it was very interesting to hear about the international perceptions of the fighting that convulsed this nation. in one session, the presenter observing that with few exceptions, europe viewed the events of the u.s. civil war as an aberration and learned few lessons from it. as it turns out, that ignorance proved very costly. i'm struck the fighting at cold harbor took place almost exactly 50 years before the outbreak of world war i in europe. with advances in weaponry, the front y'all assault on entrenched position we see here

at cold harbor in world war i became far more lethal, lethal on an almost unimaginable scale. it's always tempting to take a thesis and ride it to exaggerated and unsupportable exaggerated and unsupportable extremes. it would be foolish to suggest that if the british and french militaries, or the german for that matter, had taken the terrible example of cold harbor to heart, that human kind would have been spared the horrors of the saum or the marne. however, i can't help but however, i can't help but wonder whether that tactical thinking would have changed if they had consulted one of the few survivors of the second connecticut heavy artillery. or confederate brigadier general evander law who famously described what he saw as not war, it was murder. would they have repeated the mistakes we saw here among the pines of cold harbor? would the course of the first world war and perhaps by

extension, the course of the 20th century been different? would that generation of potential european leaders who perished in the muddy trenches of france and belgium have been able to check the continent's slide into totalitarianism and genocide? as a historian, i'm trained to resist speculation. we know that what-if games are imprecise and dangerous. but i have to say, in this case, i don't really care. if there was a chance that the example of cold harbor, the memory of cold harbor, might have prevented far more awful events half a century or even a century later, it seems worth a moment of reflection and a touch of regret, don't you think? thank you very much. [ applause ]

>> today, the name cold harbor inevitably conjures up images of entrenchments. we immediately think of field fortifications, of mile after mile of heaped-up earth snaking across the hanover county countryside. life in the trenches was a miserable existence, with its mud, filth, broiling heat, and ever-present danger. but the soldiers of both armies appreciated those barriers of dirt. to better protect their own lives in a deadly environment. and as one georgia soldier explained, fighting on the defensive from behind those fortifications had its advantages. this campaign is the first in which our troops have had the privilege of fighting behind protection of any kind, and it is fun for them. they lounge about with the accoutrements on and their guns

close at hand, laughing and talking until someone passes it up or down the line, look out, boys, here they come! every man springs to his place and waits until the enemy gets close up, when the rear rank fires by volley. then the front rank. after which each one fires soon as he can reload. some load for others to shoot. each working rapidly, but calmly until the enemy are repulsed. >> some survivors, the union attacks at cold harbor wrote slightly dazed letters home, often mixing patriotism with anger, sorrow, and hope. that odd compound, perhaps reflects what the cumulative effect of constant campaigning and heavy losses could do to the mind, and the heart of a soldier. joseph barlow of the 23rd massachusetts, in a june 6 letter to his wife is a classic example. the 23rd has lost a large number of men and officers.

i am writing to heart-rending cries, but it cannot be helped. though many has fallen and more must before we can take richmond, we are now within ten miles of the rebel sodom. i can only thank god they have been spared yet. this is a bloody struggle, and may it soon be over. the weather has been awfully hot and the dust enough to kill any man, let alone the fighting. but now it has begun to rain, thank god. oh, if those men at home, had only one spark of feeling for the poor soldiers, they would rush to arms and help them to end this war. >> it's now my great honor to introduce our keynote speaker. more than 40 years ago, i began my career as a seasonal

historian at the chancellorsville battlefield. one afternoon in 1973, a group stopped by the visitors center and the leader hopped out of a bus and began to tell the untimely death of stonewall jackson and brought nearly everybody in the group to tears. i asked the fellow standing next to me, who is this guy? i was told with great reverence, that this is the famous civil war historian bud robertson from virginia tech. well, i knew the rest of the story, because as they say, because i had read and reread his book the stonewall brigade before i arrived that summer. i also had the good fortune of attending virginia tech and over the years, dr. robertson has been an incredible inspiration to me and many others interested in civil war history. the books he has written cover an entire shelf, but the time he's spent mentoring young historians, both in academic and

public history is immeasurable. i'll share a quick story. he's also an excellent and serious editor. he would generously mark up manuscripts, transforming them from white to red pencils. his graduate students found buying christmas presents for him was easy. a box of red pencils was perfect, and he always put them to good use. for 44 years, dr. robertson was the distinguished professor of history at virginia tech. and i must ask, how many in this church congregation today attended his classes of civil war history over the years. that's wonderful. i was with the good fortune to attend many of his lectures. i was always amazed in that mcbride auditorium, for those virginia tech alumni seated here, that hundreds would fill

that auditorium to overflowing, with students from every department, athletes, scientists, architects, mathematicians, all spell-bound in the way dr. robertson made history come alive. in my opinion, there were more teachers like him in the public school system, we would not question why students don't understand or care about american history. [ applause ] today, dr. robertson serves as a key member of the virginia commission that was established to commemorate the 150th anniversary of virginia's participation in the civil war. under his leadership and guidance, the commission has

been successful beyond all imagination. i'm honored to present to you, dr. james i. robertson jr. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you very much. i would say david was one of my better students and i do remember that. i think the worst student i ever had was a football player who drifted into that course that i taught. and he did not take the midterm exam. and on the final, he failed it flatly. so i gave him an f on the course. he came to see me and he said, dr. robertson, i don't believe i deserve an f in this course. and i said i don't either, but that's as low as the system goes. [ laughter ] i wanted to thank david and the park service for the humbling invitation to give the keynote on this important anniversary. one of the first axioms you

learn in graduate school is simple. any nation that forgets its past has no future. and i'm grateful to you for coming out this evening to remember a point in american history that cannot and must not ever be forgotten, june 3rd, 1864. the civil war became more sophisticated, more advanced, and hence bloodier, as the war years passed. by 1864, seasoned soldiers using rifles and well-built earth works, supported by suitable and well-placed artillery, simply could not be dislodged. by any sort of final attack. the fact became indelible, early in june in pine thickets and open ground only eight miles from richmond.

the 148th pennsylvania would later declare the assault at cold harbor was an attempt by sheer and furious fighting, to force the advantage, which march and maneuver had missed. it failed at a cost of life matched by no other 60 minutes in the four years of that war. it was in the civil war's third year that general ulysses grant assumed command of all union military forces. he personally was friendly and approachable. but he always seemed to have what one observer called a peculiar aloofness. he liked to be alone and comfortable with his thoughts, and his cigars. on may 4th, grant unleashed that campaign that would destroy the southern confederacy. union military forces would

strike whenever they could, with all the strength they had. federals would keep attacking until confederate resistance collapsed. it was a simple and elementary plan, but it had never been tried before by a union commander. grant made his headquarters with the army of the potomac. his attention would be totally on robert e. lee's forces. other generals had undertaken the same strategy and had met defeat. grant regarded a battle loss as merely a momentary setback. if bested, he intended to reassemble and attack again. and again. and again. until lee's outnumbered army was forced to and thousands of them gave their supreme offering in the woods and clearings at cold harbor.

both armies bled copiously that month. grant took a pounding in a two-day fight in the wilderness. the union general ignored the defeat and began siding movements to crumple them and turn the southerners away from richmond. so began a deadly game of fight, flank, and fight and flank and night again. mile by mile, grant kept pushing. 50 miles in 30 days after the start, the two armies were approaching the river. an unpredictable stream whose banks depended on when last it had rained. behind it was richmond itself, less than a day's march away. two bloodied but determined hosts gravitated toward a place called cold harbor. soldiers found it more than cold and there was no nautical stream

within miles. cold harbor was little more than a dusty but vital intersection of two country roads. as may turned into june, it was obvious to both sides that the escalating skirmishes were reaching a point where a full-scale battle was imminent. grant's resolve was as strong as ever. however, his opponent was not in good health. overlooked throughout these last two years is the fact that the war had taken a heavy toll on robert e. lee. then 57, he had suffered already in the war a broken hand, a sprained wrist, rheumatism, recurring diarrhea, and the priest ye previous year a massive heart attack for which there was no treatment, cure, or medication. and these had all sapped lee's strength. as he inspected his lines at the opening of june, lee was not a

top traveler. he was riding in a borrowing civilian carriage. he didn't have the strength to ride a horse. nevertheless, lee's soldiers had become champion engineers and diggers. at some points they had but hours to construct earth works. at other points they had one to two days, as was the case at cold harbor. and what they created was not one line of defense but two, and in some cases three lines. lee took advantage of every swell and gully, but probably the most brilliant engineer at that in the war. his lines zigzag on an uneven chain of low hills and ridges. none of them high enough to look frightening, but all of them just high enough to make an ideal killing ground in front. the union army failed to make adequate reconnaissance at cold harbor. simply put, grant left the

strategic details to army commander george meade, and meade left the strategic details to general and chief grant. preparations, therefore, were spotty. the union core would deliver the assault, yet each was left on its own, making for an thoroughly uncoordinated advance. they bowed out slightly to advancing units would expose their flanks to heavy fire. a union colonel asserted afterwards that the assault, quote, would have shamed the cadet in his first year at west point. lee's battle line was seven miles long, extending northwest to southeast. by june 2nd, lee's 60,000 troops were more entrenched than at any point in grant's overland

campaign. that thursday night on june the 2nd amid a drizzle of rain, one of grant's staff officers came upon a brigade. collectively, the men seemed to be making repairs to well-worn uniforms. the officer moved closer. to his shock, veteran soldiers were writing their names and addresses on slips of paper and pinning them to the backs of their shirts so, he said, that their dead bodies might be recognized and their fate made known to their families at home. in the predawn darkness of friday, june the 3rd, it was still raining lightly. survivors of t survivors of pennsylvania saw a similarity. the whole strength of both armies was being put forth against each other at once more completely than ever before or

ever hereafter. on this day, everything would go right for lee. cooperation among subordinate commanders is all that he could have wished. lee had little to do with the conduct of his troops. they proved to be as accomplished killers as they were skillful engineers. somewhere around 5:00 a.m. in fits and starts with delays here and there, the uncoordinated union battle started to move. this was no parade ground spectacle search ased a fredericksburg and gettysburg. the terrain, vegetation and layout of the southern defensive position quickly threw formations out of line. simultaneous attacks were supposed to be at three points with columns of troops six to eight deep. yet, concentrated and intense confederate fire broke the assaulting lines to pieces before federals could make any contact with their opponents.

the battle quickly disintegrated into dozens of small onslaughts with brigades and even regiments operating alone. one division broke out of line to avoid a swamp that was on nobody's map. hundreds fell in the cross fire. then friendly fire took out other hundreds. and those who survived the night of cold harbor never forgot what they experienced. an -- the surgeon of the 121st new york wrote that on all sides booming cannon and rattling small arms tell us that the angel of death is hovering just over our head. in one of the north carolina brigades, a tarheel soldier explained the musket fire rained down our lines from left to right like the keys of a piano. musket ri and artillery joined in the wild music of the hour.

from the start, the battle assumed the characteristics of a slaughter. no one knows how many times union columns attacked. the result was always the same. a yank recalled his advancing comrades instinctively leaned forward, quote, as if they were marching into the face of a hailstorm. and they fell, he added, like rows of blocks pushed over like one striking the other. for the 15th alabama, it was a turkey shoot. those men were firing as fast as they could because lines of soldiers behind the front line were reloading weapons and handing them forward at a steady pace. indeed, alabama colonel william oats wrote bluntly, i could see bust pop out of a man's clothing in two or three places at once where as many boys would strike him at the same moment. in two minutes, not a federal soldier was standing in our

front. cold harbor could not be called a battle, a billy yank concluded. it was simply a butcher. by 6:00 a.m., before the sun had cleared the tree tops, the grand attack ended in disastrous failure. at noon, grant called a halt to the entire operation. yet, fighting continued here and there simply because the two armies were so close to each other they could not let go. grant's first telegram to washington stated, our loss was not heavy nor do i suppose the enemy to have lost heavily. and that's one of the most inaccurate reports in all the civil war history. exact figures can never be known, but grant suffered about 7,000 casualties. five times the losses in lee's army. at least half of the union kill and wounded fell in the first hour of fighting. numberwise, grant's losses in

that one hour were equal to and came in the same short period of time as pickett's charge at gettysburg. for any perspective, the attack at cold harbor was a ghastly mistake. not to grant, however. like the wilderness, cold harbor was but a momentary setback in his ongoing offensive against lee. the union general stubbornly refused to admit defeat or even request a truce to bury his dead and retrieve his wounded. four days passed while the countless bodies on the field became in number less wounded and more dead. one observer declared, never before and never again in the civil war were so many wounded soldiers left so long to suffer in plain sight of their comrades, the enemy, and the buzzards. lee's army was too thin in number and too worn in body to

attempt a counterattack. further, there simply was no general capable of executing it. meanwhile, grant puffed on his cigars, whittled on sticks, and thought about the future with that abstracted look on his face. on june 13th, confederate scouts reported that grant had abandoned the cold harbor line and likely was heading southeastward toward the james river to cross over and advance on petersburg. lee gave pursuit. by mid-june at cold harbor, the pine thickets, the open clearings, and indelible scars of battle lay solid. cold harbor now belonged to history. the battle was lee's greatest triumph and grant's worst defeat. the union commander finally admitted that fact in the last year -- last nine months of his

life when he frantically was writing his memoirs. grant said, i've always regretted that the assault at cold harbor was ever made. no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained. what happened on june 3rd, 1864 was a wild chain of doomed charges, most of which were smashed in 10 to 15 minutes, and none of which lasted over a half hour. in all of the civil war, no attack has been broken up as quickly or as easily as this one by the confederates. porter alexander turned the confrontation our last and perhaps our highest tide. it was also robert e. lee's final major victory. cold harbor was the climax to grant's 1864 overland campaign. never before had armies fought

like they did beginning in may. for a solid month, they had not been out of contact. every day somewhere along the lines, there had been action. in four weeks, union losses were averaging 2,000 a day. generals were dead and others wounded. regiments, even brigades had melted away. soldiers on both sides were bone tired, dirty, oblivious to the stench of rotting horses and men in the humid springtime that swept over virginia. a month's fighting had produced near 60,000 union casualties. roughly two of every four soldiers in the army of the potomac. grant, however, had inflicted 32,000 losses on lee. now after cold harbor, federals still outnumbered confederates by a two-to-one margin. grant had a reservoir of

manpower in the north. lee could not replenish his ever-thinning ranks. at cold harbor, lee won only time. even victory was becoming too expensive for the army of northern virginia. monuments that should cover these grounds as thickly as they do elsewhere are absent. preserving as much of the battlefield as possible is difficult because the greed to make money in the present exceeds the gratitude we should have for the past. in the national cemetery here are 1,986 union graves. some 670 stones contain the names of the soldiers. the other 1300 graves belong to the family called unknown. my graduate mentor often told

the story of private maddox. the young federal soldier was in one of the last assaults at cold harbor. his regiment was shot to pieces. as his wounded colonel was staggering back across the field, he heard a beckoning call. he looked over and saw private maddox lying on the ground with a gaping wound in his body. the lad was obviously dying. the colonel to thorred to the soldier and bent over in anticipation of the young volunteer passing along some final words to be conveyed to his family back home. instead, private maddox asked, colonel, is the day ours? is the day ours? and the officer could not bring himself to admit the truth, so he lied. yes, my son, he stated, the day is ours. we have won the victory. then private maddox said, i am willing to die.

and he did -@die. and he lies nearby in the national cemetery with his unknown siblings. this battlefield stands so that generations can come here and see here and perhaps feel here what brave men did here on behalf of their country. each offered the greatest treasure he had. life. and thousands of them gave their supreme offering at cold harbor. we do not have to be an intellectual or even educated to understand the totality of what they bequeath to us. the civil war did not permit nantly shatter our nation. rather, it was a supreme test of endurance for a young, struggling country that now stands in blessed unity. you are north and south.

you are here together tonight. and here this evening, as americans one and all, we look back with reverence to learn from the greatest teacher any of us can ever have: history. armed with an understanding of the past, you and i can look forward with common pride and renewed hope to the years yet to come. private maddox would like that. thank you. [applause] >> the overland campaign was the largest and the bloodiest campaign of the entire civil war. both armies lost almost half of their original fighting forces.

the casualties were astounding, astounding to soldiers, to generals and those left back home. amidst the staggering losses at cole harbor, for every soldier killed, wounded or captured, there was a family. a mother, a father, brothers, sisters, wives, sons, daughters that also directly felt that loss. the loss of the men that fell at cold harbor and on the fields across virginia in the spring of 1864 reverberated through communities across the north and south. the empty chairs at kitchen tables across the country and the gaps in had the battle lines and in the camps left indelible impacts on the living left behind. so, too, did the ideas and beliefs for which so many thousands of men fought and died during that bloody spring.

indeed, in spite of and perhaps even in light of the loss of so many lives and the widespread destruction wrought by six weeks with of heavy battle, those beliefs and ideas about nation, government, and home became even more deeply enshrined in the hearts and minds of those left to fight on. in those beliefs, we come here tonight to reflect upon and learn from today. >> writing soon after the war with a perspective afforded by hindsight, richmond memoirist sally putnam came to believe in its own unique way, cold harbor had been a landmark event in the 1864 campaign across central virginia. she wrote, the battle of cold harbor forever removed the

impression of the demoralization of general lee's army and ended the attempt to take richmond from the north side. the barefooted, ragged, ill-fed rebel army which had been under fire for more than a month had achieved a succession of victories unparalleled in the history of modern warfare. however, putnam also noted the resolution of the union army and its leader, saying the most striking feature in the character of this distinguished commander of the federal army seems to be quiet determination and indomitable perseverance and energy. under similar disappointment, another would have had his courage so shaken that he would gladly have foregone an undertaking that promised so little fulfillment and success. he had received, from the battle of the wilderness to that of cold harbor, repeated and powerful repulses. his losses in men were unparalleled in the whole history of the struggle, but his

perseverance was undisturbed. >> that quiet determination of ulysses grant so evident to a noncombatant in richmond echoed loudly through the fighting men. the rank and file gained renewed energy from recognizing grant's tenacity of purpose. the effect on the men was perfectly explained by a federal officer named adams. he wrote that the army of the potomac had literally marched in blood and agony. all of this fighting has been unsuccessful fighting, hard, brutal, bar remember pounding. yet, we have a great fighter in grant. he takes hold of his work as one having confidence in himself and not the least afraid of his adversary. he is bold and takes great risk, thus inspiring confidence in his

army. one can see that grant believes in incessant fighting and marching as producing necessary results, not only on his own army but on the enemy. if his army is fought and worked out and exhausted and needs rest, it is not only likely that the enemy, with his smaller numbers, is even more so. and so the moment of greater exhaustion becomes that of the greatest effort. >> the battlefields are quiet and even alluring today. it is a notion that the men who fought here believed in something truly worth suffering and dying for. that draws us to this place. and for each of us as we leave from here this evening, we depart with the sacred responsibility to remember those who fell here and to ponder each for ourselves how we can

properly honor those sacrifices and the legacy of what happened here. to them, we owe a great debt. two years ago, we concluded each of our seven days' battle commemorations with "taps" which we called a salute to the soldiers. we will do so again tonight. it is moving. it is deeply appropriate at this place and at this time. it is for them. ♪

♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, that ends our formal program tonight. i want to thank you all for being with us. it doesn't end the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of cold harbor. there are a few more programs to occur, and i believe that the church has been so kind to display a few more of our 16 colored pages of upcoming events and programs, so please take them with you, and we'll certainly be here to answer any questions, and thank you again for making the switch from cold harbor to fairmount, and we are so grateful to the folks at the church for all they've done for us this last week. again, thank you so much. [applause]

american history tv normally airs on the weekends, but with congress on recess throughout august, we're featuring highlights during the week. coming up here on c-span 3, we'll continue our focus on the civil war with a look at the overland campaign, a series of major battles that took place in virginia in 1864 between union forces under ulysses s. grant and confederates led by robert e. lee. we'll bring you 150th anniversary commemoration ceremonies, marking the beginning and conclusion of the overland campaign. also, a look at the battle of cold harbor, the campaign's final major conflict. tonight, american history tv's look at the civil war continues

we with the battle of ft. stevenss. confederate forces proved the defenses of the heavily fortified capital city before deciding to turn back. tonight, watch as officials from the national parks service commemorate the 150th anniversary of the battle of ft. stevens. we'll also tour the battlefields and visit several surviving forts in the nation's capital. that's all tonight at 8:00 eastern here on c-span 3. coming up next, a look at the beginning of the overland campaign, including remarks by civil war scholar james robertson, who explains the strategy employed by union general ulysses s. grant against the confederates and how the come pain impacted the war as a whole. this event took placed a fredericksburg and spotsylvania military park in virginia. it's just under an hour. >> as the armies of grant and

lee marched in may of 1864, the victory or defeat depended on their efforts. from "the new york herald" april 13th, 1864. upon the campaign that we are about to engage there depends the greatest issues upon which men ever went into battle. we fight for the principles of free government and for the existence of a nation whose institutions are the hope of the downtrodden people of every land. our success in this campaign must ensure the integrity of the united states by the final overthrow of the rebellion. success will give a new life to our country, and a new faith to the stability of free government to the world. it will also determine the next presidency as certainly as if the votes were counted. but if we fail in this campaign, that failure will be the greatest disaster in modern history.

upon general grant there now concentrates the deepest interest with which the world ever watched the actions of a single soldier. he is the foremost man in the greatest contest of the age. >> when the nation and the world wanted to know how the civil war was going, they looked to virginia. that spring, robert e. lee and his army showed clearly as the confederacies greatest hope. ulysses s. grant had come east to manage the armies in virginia, but ulysses s. grant had never met robert e. lee in battle. at charlottesville -- a charlottesville newspaper editor wrote in april, the conflict has, in a sense, narrowed down to virginia. and to this campaign. uncertainty reigned in new york financial markets. gold inched upward towards $200 an ounce.

the looming union presidential election gave confederates hope. from the richmond examiner, april 6th, 1864. there is a pleasing prospective collapse and ruin both financial and political for the yankee nation in this very year. it is due and overdue. but we must not forget to bring an account to a complete and final liquidation. we have to do our part, and our part is one crushing and crowning victory. and so, the armies came. >> welcome to all of you. we're very glad you're here. my name is john hennessy, i'm the chief historian at

fredricksburg and spotslyvania national military park and we welcome you to the opening of the sesquicentennial of the 1864 overland campaign. before i really get started i'd like to introduce our guests here. some we see further introduction as we go. our great and honored guest is dr. james robertson, formerly of virginia tech, one of virginia's great historians. mike caldwell the regional director of the northeast reege of national park service is here this morning. superintendent lucy lawliss at fredricksburg and spotsylvania national military park and ashley whitehead luskey, from richmond national battlefield. and frank owe riley one of the historians here at fredricksburg. and our musician today is ray skon. if ever a single place reflects what this war came to be, this place is it. by the time the armies came to

grapple over this piece of spotsylvania farmland in may of 1864 the stakes were so large the previous investment so big that neither side would let go. this war was no longer a conflict about secession, or even union. it was also about freedom, the extent and nature of the emerging government and the future of a united states striving for an identity and strength on the world stage. ulysses s. grant came to virginia in 1864 with a relentless determination matched only by the common soldiers and commanders. the men who had the most invested and the most to lose by the effort. robert e. lee by 1864 bore the weight of all confederate aspirations with an army no less determined than grant's but increasingly unable to fill the social, cultural and economic hopes of a nation. today we begin telling this story. we hope you will join us again and again over the coming days and weeks.

john ashley is a student from prospect heights middle school in orange, virginia. he's one of nearly 400 seventh graders from orange county public schools participating in the journey through hallowed grounds of the student, by the student, for the student, service learning project this year. the award winning project of the student, by the student, for the student, which john will tell you about, is in its sixth year and has been partnering with nps areas throughout the 150th observance from gettysburg to harper's ferry, antietam and in 2014 with fredricksburg and spotsylvania national military park. john ashley will also begin by leading us in the pledge of allegiance today, joined by jesse o'cain the director of educational programs for the journey through hallowed ground. john?

>> can i ask that we all stand, and remove our hats for the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. delap dags and decay marked the course of everything at old laurel hill. both people and place are gradually falling into ruins. an air of suffocating loneliness reigns, as the shades of everything come on.

the wind has a particular howling sound, as if ghosts and witches were mourning over the sad remains. this is a quote from catherine coos' diary which supports us -- which supplies us with a woman's and unionist account of the civil war in 1864. she is my topic for the journey through hallowed grounds of the student, by the student, and for the student project. and this project students script, film, and edit mini movies, or broadcasts about the civil war and this region. this project has not only taught me the historical facts of the civil war, but the also often untold events that must be dug out of primary sources. these are things that are not simply found in a textbook because they cannot be put into words. but are definitely stories to be shared. broadcast from this year's

project will focus on john w. patterson, a colonel that lost his life on the first day of fighting, may 5th, and sent his family into ruins. burke, an african-american who joined the fight against slavery. the bloody intersection of orange pike road and brock road. the use of pontoon bridges in crossing the river and the constitutionality of secession. these experiences and stories, which take history out of the textbooks and turn them into something that is alive, would not be found by me or any student by the student and for the student project. so for that reason, i would like to thank the journey for hallowed ground group, the fredricksburg and spotsylvania national military park, for expanding my knowledge and the knowledge of all those viewers of these broadcasts. i am sure they will thank you, too.

[ applause ] >> how many of you are descendants of participants in this battle? pretty broad number. we hope you'll announce yourselves as you go on our programs. one of the things we've learned over time is that other members of the audience like to rub elbows with dna that has historical relevance. so, we hope you will announce yourself as we go. we are pleased today to have -- join us today the regional director of the northeast regent of the national park service mike caldwell. in most of the world the term regional director is not a pause, doesn't make your blood stir. but think about his job for a moment. in the national park service, mike caldwell is responsible for some of the most famous cultural

and natural treasures on the face of the earth. from the bridge at concord to independence hall to thomas edison's laboratories, to skyline drive on shenandoah and the hallowed fields of gettysburg and of course fredricksburg and spotsylvania, as well. he's served nearly 25 years in the national park service, a career built largely on historical parks like valley forge, ft. stanwicks, monocacy and new bedford waling. regional directors do a lot of things, of course, including managing a spirited and committed workforce. but by far the most important role is an advocate for the parks in communities with partners and within the government. mike caldwell is a native of alexandria now residing near philadelphia. we are glad to have him as our regional director but more than that we are glad to have him here with us today. mike? >> thank you, john. first i think we should give another round of applause for john ashley. that was phenomenal.

[ applause ] i'm here representing the secretary of the interior sally jewell, director john jarvis of the national park service, and on behalf of the entire department of the interior and the national park service, i welcome you to these events as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the start of the overland campaign. we begin this morning with what certainly is the most expansive commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the civil war. continuing all the way to the battle of the crater at the end of july for civil war enthusiasts, which i see many in the audience, i saw many of you on the way down, 95 this morning as well. in many of the rest areas. for many of the civil war enthusiasts, the national park service will have many commemorative events in the coming months, and the couple years ahead.

they will honor the stories of the soldiers to be sure, but also the places, and the larger stories that reveal the full reach and human impact of the civil war and the 1864 overland campaign. and this effort is not ours alone in the national park service. it takes many partners to make things like this happen. communities, along the road from richmond and petersburg, communities and partners have risen up to help us celebrate the civil war sesquicentennial. the friends of the wilderness battlefield, the city of richmond, and the american civil war center at tredegar, petersburg, fredricksburg, the central virginia battlefields trust and all these and many more have stepped up to help americans connect with their shared history. i'd like to give a round of applause to all the partners that have helped make this happen. [ applause ] no place in america suffered the repeated affliction of war like

spotsylvania county did. four battles, a continuous presence of armies for most of two years. it was a transformative event that imposed suffering on most residents, and brought freedom for the more than 6,000 slaves who lived here. 150 years ago abraham lincoln in the midst of the civil war actually right about the time that the siege of petersburg began, he signed a bill giving yosemite to the state of california. really starting what we now know is the national park system. and here we are today, in part of that national park system. today spotsylvania is part of the same system as yosemite, as yellowstone, as many of the areas that we fondly have either visited, or we share in their preservation. and in the midst of the civil war president lincoln had the foresight to start to preserve these places, these special

places that we still save today. as part of the national park system, places like gettysburg and spotsylvania will forever be an important part of our shared national identity. thousands of visitors from around the world visit these sites, and other civil war sites year after year so that we will never, ever forget what happened here. and why are we constantly drawn to remember? joshua chamberlain who many of you know is a college professor, a soldier, a colonel and then a general after the war became a great advocate for the preservation of special places like we are on today. he explained, perhaps better than anyone else his own connection to the great fields of the civil war.

he said, in great deeds something abides. on great fields something stays. so think about that. something stays. understanding this is no academic exercise. the required no great study. it requires only your presence, like that of today. it requires a place to remember. it requires your mind's eye and the -- when the words of those who were here, like we heard when we kicked off the ceremony today. as you come to these places to celebrate this commemoration, or even if you are just out here on your phone, you know what joshua chamberlain was referring to. you understand what he was referring to. in the northeast region, as john was highlighting, we go from maine to virginia. we care for many natural and cultural resources including many key historic resources that make up our collective history as a nation. they tell our nation it is an

area where we were born and it is where our country came of age in the northeast. the nature of our business is that we cannot manage these places alone. thank you for keeping these national treasures vivid and viable in the changing world that we live in. that so many of you are here this morning, and that so many thousands of you will be in the coming days and weeks that follow in the footsteps of history, and that you visit places like this speaks well to your commitment to the national park system. on behalf of secretary jewell and director jarvis, i offer profound thanks to all of you for caring enough to join us today, as we commence the nation's remembrance of the 1864 overland campaign. and i'd like to send out a special thank you to lucy lawliss and her staff, as well as the many national park service volunteers here, who are here every day of the year so that we will never forget. thank you. [ applause ]

>> from hometowns like litchfield, connecticut, and madison, mississippi, they came. soldiers, and those they left behind home sensed that the spring campaign of 1864 in virginia would be unlike any that had preceded it. from the newark, new jersey, sentinel of freedom may 3rd, 1864. the impending tempest. the quiet which prevails in our armies is justly felt to be the hush which foreruns the tempest. the war will soon be poured out with unprecedented violence. the magnitude of the events which are now being shaped has produced a great feeling of deep solemnity in all thoughtful minds and even the giddy and thoughtless are rendered

comparatively sober and sedate. none are so stolid of intellect or dull in feeling as to be unaffected by the tremendous issues which are now at stake, and the terrific tragedy that is about to be enacted. >> years after the war, a soldier from georgia bid his fellow soldiers to remember the beginning of the overland campaign. don't you remember the long row? do you remember how brigade after brigade filed into the road? do you remember the march from orange courthouse to the wilderness? when, while passing over some elevated point, you could look three or four miles in front, and see the long line of confederates with their guns glittering in the sunlight. and the same to be seen by looking behind you. do you remember how that

inspiring scene made us think we could whip the world. >> we are a remembering people. in this tumultuous world of trauma and turmoil we insist not on forgetting, but remembering. it may seem odd to some of us that we do this. but again and again and again, over weeks and decades and centuries, we remember. we are a remembering people. on 9/11, we remember. on patriots day, we remember. pearl harbor day, we remember. memorial day, we remember. we remember those who perished, certainly. we pray for those injured, and those left behind. their lives and families changed forever. but we also recall those who by their acts demonstrate the fundamental goodness of people.

those who aid the injured, those who rush to protect our people and our nation. those who, caught in the midst of horror, show courage enough to act not solely in their own interests, but in the interests of others. we are a remembering people, because in some way, in many ways, we know that remembering, though sometimes painful, heals us. as a people we should remember far more often, and forget far less. today, this week, this spring, we come together on these virginia battlefields to remember. we do this for many of the same reasons we pause every 9/11, though our personal connection to these civil war stories is

separated by generations. we pay respect, we convey honor, we seek understanding. but we do more than that. this spring on the 150th anniversary of the 1864 overland campaign, our national park service asks us to remember not just as individuals but as a nation. to reflect on not just the acts of participants, acts both noble and harsh, but to reflect together on our -- on our nation's winding, complicated road forward to this day. let us recognize the civil war was not just an accumulation of milestones, dates, places, but a moving, massive national transformation. we learn, we understand, and i hope we come to value our nation as a result of the shared experience. we do these not merely as spectators, for though we may

today and the weeks ahead possessed of a responsibility. there is a connective thread between those who lived here, and went on from here, and us, our ancestors did with the hope, even expectation, that we take their struggle forward. we are a remembering people. in setting aside these hallowed fields, congress and the national park service ask us to remember, an essential and ongoing part of our national story. over the next days and weeks, our rangers will walk many miles and fields with you, stand at places famous and some forgotten. we will share the words and stories of those who were here, soldiers and citizens alike. stories sometimes painful, stories often complicated. stories transcendent, all demonstrating the best of our

nation. our rangers will evoke, and perhaps even provoke. we will do this all, i hope, mindful that our acts of remembrance help us render our forbearers' hopes and expectations fulfilled. it is a debt repaid, and we repay mindful that our acts of remembering help build a more perfect union. thank you for remembering with us. thank you for coming. >> before these were battlefields, these were home places. farms, communities, like thousands of others across america. war transformed them. armies churning across the landscape ruined much, and affected everything. slaves ran to freedom.

civilians remaining behind suffered affront, loss and destruction that added bitterness to an already bitter war. from sally todd may 15th, 1864, whose house was caught in the fighting near todd's tavern about six miles north of here. mother was awfully frightened. but i did not think we would be killed. i was afraid the house would take fire, but thank god our lives were spared. the yankees were the meanest devils on earth. they killed all of our hogs, even the little pigs, and the cow, as it was too poor to eat. but they said they were such cows, killed every hen and took all of our food. broke every lock on the place, our corn, oat and wheat field are nothing more than the main road. pulled all the pailings from around the yard and garden and played destruction generally. but if we can only whip them, and gain our independence, i am willing to give up all.

yes, everything. >> in the spring of 1864, the first united states colored troops arrived at the front in virginia. more than 3,000 men. some of them former slaves in orange, culpeper, spotsylvania and caroline counties, though faced with the prospect of reenslavement or death should they be captured, and though they entered an army hardly predisposed to embrace them, they and their white officers still came. on may 15th, 1864, about four miles north of here, the 23rd uscts, including several soldiers from spotsylvania county, engaged in its first combat with lee's army. much more was to come. including success in the initial attacks on petersburg, in june 1864.

after that experience, one of the army's white soldiers wrote, a few more fights like that, and they will have established their manhood, if not their brotherhood, to the satisfaction of even the most prejudiced. and so they would. >> what happened on these fields reverberated across america to towns that we hardly heard of or hardly remember today or maybe have never even visited. to living rooms, and home places, and communities across the nation. and that is the double wound of war. not only the physical wounds on the field, but the pain that follows every death and every wound among the family and community from which it came. part of our commemoration of the 1864 overland campaign is an frt effort called reverb

rations where on may 24th we will be sending staff to communities across the nation and join in those communities to talk about how what happened here reverberated there. on the back of your programs that hopefully you'll be able to get on your way out of the event here today, you'll see a description of it. you can join us online. it will be live streamed. you can join us if you're in fredricksburg at the fredricksburg national cemetery. but we will connect these events to the communities to which they were so important 150 years ago. for historians of my generation, dr. james i. robertson, bud, has been a giant. he has distinguished from many other members of academia with a tremendous commitment to the public's engagement in history. he writes, so you can read and understand it. he speaks in a way that made his classes the most popular history classes at virginia tech, and

maybe in the whole world during his tenure at that university. all of that was born of his passion and understanding of history. if you worked in a park that tells part of jackson's story, one of my little worries this morning is that our keynote speaker would get here on time and be here and then i remembered that he wrote a biography of jackson, and he was actually here before i was, as you can assume your surprise. but if you work in a park that tells any part of the story of the army in northern virginia, it's a refrain heard often when we talk about questions or matters of history. what does robertson say? we don't always use doctor when we're in the back room. but what does robertson say? and i would suggest to you that there's not a greater compliment that can be paid to a historian than that. and so it will be for many decades to come. this anniversary business is not new to dr. james i. robertson.

at just 31 years old president kennedy appointed him as executive director of the nation's beleaguered commission for the centennial of the civil war. which he quickly righted. more recently he's been a key member of virginia's commission for the civil war sesquicentennial bringing smart, scholarly guidance to what is widely considered to be the most successful commission in the nation by far. and between the centennial and sesquicentennial, he spoke proudly through one of the greatest careers of teaching and writing that any of us will ever see. he was the alumni distinguished professor in history at virginia tech for 44 years. he has written 18 books including the greatest of all biographies of stonewall jackson. today, as our keynote speaker, he will speak to us about the opening of the 1864 overland campaign. we are very honored to have with us today dr. james i. robertson. [ applause ]

>> thank you john, very much. please know i'm deeply humbled by the invitation to be the keynote speaker on this awesome occasion in history and in commemoration. i also would like to extend greetings from the virginia civil war sesquicentennial commission chair by speaker of the house, william hale. for you virginians this is a moment to take renewed pride in the heritage of your state. if you're not from virginia, we adopt you now. stay long, spend much, and enjoy yourselves here in the old dominion. 1864 was the critical year of the civil war. 36 months of bloody fighting had brought a steady erosion of territory in the western half of the confederacy.

however, in the east, where the war would be won or lost, the principal armies had fought to a stalemate. virginia was the birthplace of a nation whose government had been crafted largely by statesmen from the old dominion. now virginia was scarred and overrun by thousands of soldiers fighting to the death for domination. as winter melted into spring in 1864 the simple question was, which would give out first, northern morale or southern resources? the union army of the potomac was on the north side of the rapadan river in what was the largest encampment of the civil war. a ten square mile area marked by tree stumps, filth, dead horses and buzzards circling overhead. on the south bank was robert lee's army of northern virginia. it was in worse physical

condition but still defyant and ever dangerous. each side waiting for the inevitable resumption of battle. but 1864 would be different because of the entrance on the scene of one man, ulysses grant. forced from the army in 1863 because of excessive drinking grant spent eight years in one failed venture after another. in 1861 his father secured him a colonel's commission and according to legend the father didn't fare well with these comforting words, son, you've got a good job now, don't mess it up. yet certainly this commission was certainly not based on good looks. to one observer grant was, quote, an ordinary scrubby looking man with a slightly seedy look. neither a