Battle of Cold Harbor--Flag of Truce

Hanover County · dedicated 2005 · Rte. 156, at intersection with Turkey Hollow Place

On 5 June 1864, two hot days after Gen. Robert E. Lee's bloody repulse of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s frontal assault, Federal Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman met Confederate Maj. Thomas J. Wooten nearby on Cold Harbor Road to initiate written communication on the plight of the Union wounded between the lines. Confederate Gen. A. P. Hill’s trenches stood 800 yards west, and skirmishers’ rifle pits survive only 200 yards away. Because Lee and Grant disagreed on terms, two more days elapsed before they observed a two-hour flag of truce. Only a few wounded Federals were found alive. The remainder had either died, crawled to safety, or been retrieved under cover of darkness.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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Battle of Cold Harbor--Flag of Truce

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