These well-preserved rifle pits probably mark 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 western flank of the army. Although some Federal soldiers dug-in, none entrenched on this battlefield to the extent they did two years later at Cold Harbor.

“I am of the opinion now…that had our lines been better posted and entrenched…we might have been saved from defeat….Two years later the Army of the Potomac could not have been forced to spend idle hours…without running temporary lines of defence everywhere.”

Lt. Col. A. J. Warner

10th Pennsylvania Reserves

Marker can be reached from Watt House Road 0.7 miles south of Cold Harbor Road (Virginia Route 156), on the right when traveling south.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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