A report on Battle of Cold Harbor, Siege of Petersburg and Confederate States Army

On June 19, 1861, Early formally became a colonel in the Confederate army, commanding the 24th Virginia Infantry, including his young cousin (previously expelled from Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for attending a tea party), Jack Hairston.

Thus, Early commanded that corps in the Battle of Cold Harbor.

Thus Early commanded the Confederacy's last invasion of the North, secured much-needed funds and supplies for the Confederacy and drawing off Union troops from the siege of Petersburg.

Ambrose Powell Hill Jr. (November 9, 1825 – April 2, 1865) was a Confederate general who was killed in the American Civil War.

Hill held the Confederate left flank at Cold Harbor, but two divisions of his corps were used to defend against the main Union attack on the right flank on June 3; when part of the troops to his right gave way, Hill used one brigade to launch a successful counterattack.

During the Siege of Petersburg of 1864–65, Hill and his men participated in several battles during the various Union offensives, particularly Jerusalem Plank Road, the Crater, Globe Tavern, Second Reams Station, and Peebles Farm.

Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general who served the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War, during which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army.

Grant engaged Lee's army in bloody but inconclusive battles at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania before the lengthy Siege of Petersburg, which was followed in April 1865 by the capture of Richmond and the destruction of most of Lee's army, which he finally surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

These battles in the Overland Campaign included the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor.

Henry Heth ( not ) (December 16, 1825 – September 27, 1899) was a career United States Army officer who became a Confederate general in the American Civil War.

In the subsequent Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, his division was held primarily in the rear, and was positioned on the Confederate left flank at the Battles of North Anna and Cold Harbor.

Heth also participated in the Siege of Petersburg, playing direct roles in the battles of Globe Tavern; Second Ream's Station; Peeble's Farm; Boydton Plank Road; and Hatcher's Run.

Following a brief appointment as superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy in 1861, and after Louisiana seceded, he resigned from the United States Army and became the first brigadier general in the Confederate States Army.

Gen. Robert Hoke's) to Lee for the Battle of Cold Harbor, but Lee urgently wanted more and took the step of offering Beauregard command of the right wing of the Army of Northern Virginia for his cooperation.

Beauregard continued commanding the defenses of Petersburg in the early days of the siege, but with the loss of the Weldon Railroad in the Battle of Globe Tavern (August 18–21), he was criticized for not attacking more forcefully and he became dissatisfied with the command arrangements under Lee.

John Brown Gordon (February 6, 1832 – January 9, 1904) was an attorney, a slaveholding plantation owner, general in the Confederate States Army, and politician in the postwar years.

His division was held in reserve at the Battle of North Anna and was positioned in the Magnolia Swamp, north of where the major fighting occurred at the Battle of Cold Harbor.

In this role, he defended the line in the Siege of Petersburg and commanded the attack on Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865 (where he was wounded again, in the leg).

The Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia was a unit of the Provisional Army of the Confederate States.

At Cold Harbor, Hill was stationed on the Confederate left flank but on June 2 Mahone's and Wilcox's divisions were moved to the Confederate right in response to the movements of the Union II Corps; Heth's division remained on the left.

Following Cold Harbor, the corps was rushed to the Richmond-Petersburg area where it was engaged in the three-day Battle of Petersburg.

The Battle of the Crater was a battle of the American Civil War, part of the siege of Petersburg.

It took place on Saturday, July 30, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General George G. Meade (under the direct supervision of the general-in-chief, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant).

It was actually trench warfare, rather than a true siege, as the armies were aligned along a series of fortified positions and trenches more than 20 mi long, extending from the old Cold Harbor battlefield near Richmond to areas south of Petersburg.