Lee’s First Victory: At a Huge Cost - Mechanicsville VA - American Civil War Monuments and Memorials on Waymarking.com

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Lee’s First Victory: At a Huge Cost-Gaines' Mill Battlefield unit of the Richmond National Battlefield Park-- “Yesterday evening we was in one of the hardest fought battles ever known. I never had a clear conception of the horrors of war until last night….In going round that battlefield with a candle searching for friends I could hear on all sides the dreadful groans of the wounded and their heart piercing cries for water…May I never see any more such in life…I assure you that I am heartily sick of soldiering.” A.N. Erskine, 4th Texas Infantry

By nightfall Union resistance on Turkey Hill had ended. Except for the wounded, most of the Federal forces recrossed the Chickahominy overnight and joined the remainder of the Army of the Potomac. In just two days of brutal fighting Lee audaciously divided his army, drove one Union corps across the Chickahominy, and successfully ended McClellan’s thrust to Richmond. The cost, however, was staggering. Both sides combined lost 15,000 casualties, the greatest loss in any battle of the entire Peninsula Campaign, and second only to Shiloh at that stage of the war.

Before the area could recover, the armies returned in the spring of 1864. The savage battle of Cold Harbor swept across some of these same farms, leaving miles of fortifications, 18,000 more casualties, and untold misery in its path.

Name of Government Entity or Private Organization that built the monument: National Park Service Union, Confederate or Other Monument: Union Rating (1-5): Related Website: [Web Link] Photo or photos will be uploaded.: yes Date Installed or Dedicated: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/17/2024 Don.Morfe visited it