Misery In The Trenches

During the fighting at Cold Harbor, Union soldiers lived in these earthworks for nearly two weeks while enduring severe hardship in the trenches. Intrenching could be done only at night because sharpshooters' fire was incessant, and no man along the line could stand erect and live an instant. For twelve days and nights, fire from sharpshooters on both sides continued all day, while all night zig-zags and parallels were constructed nearer to the enemy's works. A Federal officer said that in none of that army's marches by day or night did it suffer more than during those twelve days.

Highland Springs, Virginia · United States