Union Rifle Pits

These well-preserved rifle pits probably marked the far end of the Union line. The 16th Michigan Infantry or 44th New York Infantry likely built them on the morning of the battle to guard the army’s western flank. Although some Federal soldiers dug in, none entrenched on this battlefield to the extent they did two years later at Cold Harbor. Lt. Col. A. J. Warner of the 10th Pennsylvania Reserves later expressed the opinion that if the lines had been better posted and entrenched, defeat might have been avoided, adding that two years later the Army of the Potomac would not have spent idle hours without running temporary lines of defence everywhere.

Virginia · United States