What problems did the Union have after the June 3 1864 battles surrounding Cold Harbor?

Answer 1

The Union forces went in a full frontal assault against a well prepared Confederate army that was fortified and not exposed. The result was a disaster for the Union army. There is a link below for more information. The Army of Northern Virginia also suffered losses, but US Grant's brutal assaults were highly criticized in Northern newspapers. Grant had the Army of the Potomac led by General George Meade as the general in charge, but Meade took the lead and the orders from the General in Chief Grant.

Problems for the Confederates involved their attempt to keep casualties to a minimum as unlike the North, lost troops were not easily replaced.

Answer 2

The Union problem surrounded how to retrieve the dead and wounded from the "no man's land" between the Rebel and Yankee entrenchments. Some were close enough to the forward positions so that daring men could crawl on their stomaches to reach the wounded and dead and drag them back to the trenches. The dead soldiers had to be buried and that was done in trenches dug to the rear. By necessity the dead were placed in trenches ten to twenty feet long , six feet wide and three feet deep. Blankets or some sort of cloth were used to cover their faces. When the trench reached its limit of corpses, dirt was piled on the trenches that raised about one foot above the surface. In some cases, the dead were covered over as new works were pushed into the area where they lay and the bodies became part of the new trench walls. Despite all efforts, hundreds of bodies lay between and unreachable space between the battle lines of the North and South.Sadly the result of war is such that the words of Robert E. Lee, earlier on in war rang so true. To paraphrase " It's a good thing war is so terrible lest we become fond of it ".

Answer 3

They had thousands of dead and wounded soldiers to deal with. It took days to get the wounded back to the hospitals. Burial details went for weeks.