The Bloody Eighth
Cold Harbor Battlefield Park Walking Trail
The 8th New York Heavy Artillery joined the Army of the Potomac midway through the Overland Campaign in an effort to offset the Federal casualties suffered at the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. The regiment of 1,600 men, still fresh from serving in the defenses of Baltimore and now fighting as infantry, had seen only limited action before Cold Harbor.
Starting from this vicinity on the morning of June 3, 1864, the 8th New York attacked the Confederate earthworks located 500 yards in front of you as part of Grant’s assault to break Lee’s lines. The 8th New York sustained the highest loss of any regiment at Cold Harbor suffering 505 casualties, with the vast majority falling within 30 minutes. A veteran of the regiment later commented on the disastrous assault: “The army seemed to melt away like a frost in the July sun.”
The New York State Monuments Commission erected a monument to the 8th New York Heavy Artillery in 1909. It can be found in the Cold Harbor National Cemetery.
Marker can be reached from Cold Harbor Road (State Highway 156) 0.2 miles east of Boatswain Lane, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
