After the Battle of Cold Harbor ended, soldiers unearthed skeletal remains of soldiers who had fought at the Battle of Gaines Mill two years earlier at the same site.
After the Battle of Cold Harbor ended, lots of soldiers were sent to dig and collect the dead body of fellow soldiers who had fought in the battle. During the process, many old skeletal that remained from the Battle of Gaines Mill two years earlier were unearthed. This incident happened because the Battle of Cold Harbor was fought on some of the same ground as the 1862 Battle of Gaines’ Mill.
In late June 1862, the Union and Confederate armies were locked in combat just outside of Richmond. Robert E. Lee, only recently placed in command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, had launched a bold offensive in an effort to force George McClellan and the Army of the Potomac away from the capital. On June 27, a large battle, commonly known as the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, broke out near the Old Cold Harbor crossroads as a Union rear-guard force withstood repeated Confederate assaults. The Confederates broke the Union line at nightfall and sent a chill through McClellan, who ordered his army to retreat all the way to a new supply base on the James River. In early June 1864, not quite two years later, the fortunes of war brought the armies back to the old battlefield, but with their roles reversed.
