National Park Civil War Series: The Battle of Cold Harbor

In the late spring of 1864, the American Civil War reached a new level of brutality. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant launched the Overland Campaign, a relentless series of attacks against General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army, aimed at degrading his forces and capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. This six-week campaign would become one of the war’s bloodiest, culminating in the devastating Battle of Cold Harbor.

The Battle of Cold Harbor is recorded as a tactical victory for the Confederacy. The larger Overland Campaign only ended when Grant, having suffered nearly 55,000 Union casualties, realized he could not reduce Richmond through attrition. Instead, he would pivot south to Petersburg—the crucial rail and industrial lifeline of the Confederacy.

This new edition of The Battle of Cold Harbor from the popular National Park Service Civil War Series provides readers with context through historical photographs, paintings, and comprehensive troop maps. It is a fantastic resource to help visitors connect to the park sites and battlefields that interpret Richmond National Battlefield Park’s story.

Collect all National Park Service Civil War Series books, comprising more than 30 titles. From the first cannons fired at Fort Sumter, to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, this award-winning collection illustrates the full scope of the war with remarkable vividness and accessibility.

Product Details

• Historical nonfiction
• 8" x 11", full-color & perfect-bound, 48 pages
• Text by Gordon Rhea, maps by George Skoch
• Printed in USA, published by Eastern National