Confederate Grand Assault
“All was disorder and excitement; the field was full of men running for their very lives, and it was almost impossible to make any resistance to the tide of humanity pressing down upon us.”
John E. Stewart, 44th New York
General James Longstreet received orders to attack just before sunset. Almost as if on dress parade, Longstreet’s regiments started forward across an open field. Union gunners found their range; exploding shells tore huge gaps in the Confederate lines. When the charging Confederates arrived above the creek, 8,000 men under Gen. George W. Morell fired volley after volley, but they failed to stop the advancing Southerners. Up the slope in front of you they came. Just moments after Hood penetrated the Union line these Confederates splashed through the creek and charged the Federal position. Northern soldiers broke ranks and fled to the rear.
While Hood’s Confederates raced toward the top of the hill, the men of Gen. Daniel Butterfield’s brigade fought for their lives along these slopes.
Marker can be reached from Watt House Road (Virginia Route 718) 0.7 miles south of Cold Harbor Road (Virginia Route 156).
Courtesy hmdb.org
