What was the most significant event on June 4 during the U.S. Civil War?

LTC Stephen F. — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 17:05:52 -0400

In the Civil War, the infantry and the cavalry formations were the primary combat forces. Then as now, the infantry units were trained and equipped to seize and hold ground from the enemy. The Cavalry operated at the flanks frequently in major battle serving as intel gatherers and interdictors of enemy lines of communications. In the Shenandoah valley and in Tennessee and the deep south, cavalry operated in large units and conducted raids. J.E.B Stuart (CSA), Nathan Bedford Forrest (CSA) and Philip Sheridan (USA) were accomplished cavalry leaders.
Confederate guerillas were active in Kansas in 1864. While the conventional confederate forces generally avoided Kansas and Missouri, the guerillas attacked transportation networks including waterways. On this day they attacked steamer Prairie Rose near Waverly, Kansas and steamer Sunshine was fired into by guerrillas at Wellington.
1864: Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia. LT Gen U/S. Grant wrote in his Personal Memoirs that he “regretted for the rest of his life the decision to send in his men. The two opposing armies faced each other for nine days of trench warfare, in some places only yards apart. Sharpshooters worked continuously, killing many. Union artillery bombarded the Confederates with a battery of eight Coehorn mortars; the Confederates responded by depressing the trail of a 24-pound howitzer and lobbing shells over the Union positions. Although there were no more large-scale attacks, casualty figures for the entire battle were twice as large as from the June 3 assault alone.
Every corpse I saw was as black as coal. It was not possible to remove them. They were buried where they fell. ... I saw no live man lying on this ground. The wounded must have suffered horribly before death relieved them, lying there exposed to the blazing southern sun o' days, and being eaten alive by beetles o' nights.
The trenches were hot, dusty, and miserable, but conditions were worse between the lines, where thousands of wounded Federal soldiers suffered horribly without food, water, or medical assistance. Grant was reluctant to ask for a formal truce that would allow him to recover his wounded because that would be an acknowledgment he had lost the battle. He and Lee traded notes across the lines from June 5 to 7 without coming to an agreement, and when Grant formally requested a two-hour cessation of hostilities, it was too late for most of the unfortunate wounded, who were now bloated corpses. Grant was widely criticized in the Northern press for this lapse of judgment.”

Pictures: 1864 General Western Gunboat, Wheeled Steamer; 1864 Grant's Overland Campaign May - June; 1863 Franklin, Tennessee Map in June; Lt Gen US Grant

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Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jun 7 at 2016 5:10 PM

LTC Stephen F. — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 17:10:45 -0400

One of the best historical sources for civil war information continues to be letters and journal entries from combatants and civilians.
Wednesday, June 4, 1862: “Gen. Fremont and Gen. Shields continue their parallel pursuit of [CSA Maj Gen Thomas Stonewall] Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, in the race south, but find their efforts to cut him off frustrated by newly promoted [CS Brig Gen] Ashby’s cavalry, heavy rains, high waters, and burnt bridges. Jackson evades contact at every turn.”
Wednesday, June 4, 1862: LT Stephen Minot Weld, of the 18th Massachusetts Infantry, writes home from Camp near New Bridge to his father: “Dear Father, — Here we are still and here we shall probably stay for a few days, until the rain has exhausted itself, and the banks of the Chickahominy have peeped above the surrounding waters. I begin to think we shall have to get an ark built if the rain continues. Every night regularly we have terrible thunder-storms, which last the whole night, and at morning it clears up again. This has happened for four successive nights, and last night it culminated in an easterly storm, which bids fair to last some time. My tent resembles Fortress Monroe in one respect. It has a deep ditch of water all around it, which has lately been pretty full. In one respect this rain is peculiarly unfortunate. It delays our advance to Richmond, where we should have been two days ago, were it not for this dirty little stream of a Chickahominy which the rain swells up so as to make it impassable. The roads to the river are streams of mud and water which no corduroying can remedy, and which dry weather and the sun can alone make passable. . . . The roads here are in a shocking condition. I went out yesterday in a light wagon, foraging, and rode some twelve miles. In many places the horses were up to their bellies in mud, and at times down we would go in the quicksand or in some deceptive hole, covered with water. I got, however, some fresh butter, chickens, strawberries, cherries, onions, lettuce, and eggs. We manage to get on very well in the eating line.”
Wednesday, June 4, 1862: Private Lewis Warlick, Company B, 11th Regiment North Carolina Troops, stationed near Wilmington, NC, writes home from Camp Davis near Wilmington to Laura Cornelia McGimsey, his fiancée: “Dearest Cornelia; Yours of the 25th Inst. came to hand yesterday which is gladly received and now am about to respond but feel incapable of doing so. You say this is the first time in your life you ever experienced a sad disappointment and was done by one who you thought would give you the least trouble, that I came off without telling you bye or even tell you I was not going back; now you seem to think that it was intentional on my part that I knew very well when I left you that I did not expect to go back home but to remain.
I did not for a moment suppose that you would even sinuate, muchless to say I had treated you badly; did I not explain to you in my last why it was that I did stay? I think I did. You say I ought to go home and hire a substitute, that I guess would be a hard job for men are so scarce at home I would not know where to get one that would be received in my place, and further more I would not get one if I could from the fact that it shall not be thrown up to my relations in future years that you had an uncle, brother, or that your father or perhaps grandfather would not go into the service when he was called to struggle for independence – was too cowardly, afraid of the Yankees & but hired a substitute to be shot at in my stead never never shall it be said of me or any descendants; death before dishonor. Dear Corrie you very well know that it is hard for me to leave you but I must consider I am doing rightly. I think my first duties are to my country and then to you. I hope I may be spared to see the end of the war and then you and I will marry and try to live a happy life in the future. I pray do not sensure me for treating you badly if I have done so it was not indented and makes me feel badly to think that you blame me for every thing I do that is not according to your views. I have wanted to go into the service ever since last winter but you have refused to let me come. I could have come against your remonstrances but did not want to do any thing to wound your feelings, which I have never done on purpose to my knowledge, but yet you say I have. . . . . I will send the first opportunity, in this I’ll send some stamps. Jackson has been doing good service don’t you think so? I hope he is in Baltimore this morning and then right about march and come on Washington in the rear and burn it up and captured old Abe that would be too good.
This is so badly written I don’t know whether you can read it or not. Write often to you devoted lover.
Lewis, Give my kindest regards to Puss and all my friends.”
Wednesday, June 4, 1862 --- Mary Boykin Chestnut of South Carolina records these observations—among others—in her diary: “A battle is said to be raging around Richmond. . . . J.C. [her husband] went off suddenly to Richmond, on business of the military department. . . . Wade Hampton shot in the foot and Johnston Pettigrew killed! . . . Each army burying its dead. That looks like a drawn battle. . . .
Telegrams from Richmond, ordering troops from Charleston. Cannot be sent, for they are attacking Charleston, too—doubtless for this very reason, to prevent reinforcements from being sent from there.
Sat down at my window—beautiful moonlight. Tried hard for pleasant thoughts.
A man began to play on the flute, with piano accompaniment. First "Ever of Thee I Am Fondly Dreaming," then "Long, Long, Weary Day." At first I found it but a complement to the beautiful scene, and it was soothing to my wrought-up nerves.
But von Weber’s last waltz was too much. Suddenly I broke down. Heavens, what a bitter cry. Such floods of tears. The wonder is, there was any of me left. . . .
Lewis Young, Johnston Pettigrew’s A.D.C., says he left his chief mortally wound3ed on the battlefield. Left him? . . . I fancy him—left dying! I wonder what they feel—those who are deserted and left do die of their wounds on the battlefield. Hard lines. . . .
Battles near Richmond. . . . "As a general rule," says Mrs. Gibson, "government people are sanguine, but the son of one high functionary whispered to Mary G . . . ‘Richmond is bound to go up.’ Do you know, only one doctor in Richmond will take pay from wounded soldiers. Oh, the idea now is that we are to be starved out. Shut us in—prolong the agony. It can then have but one end." In her rage she says, "The baboon’s commissary general."
"Who is the baboon? Lincoln?" "Oh, yes. One gets very bitter, with one’s eldest son under his guns. His best friends say the Yankee president is just the ugliest, most uncouth—the nastiest jokes". . . “
Wednesday, June 4, 1862 --- Sarah Morgan writes in her journal about the difficulties they face with the Yankee occupation and not being able to find a place to stay, besides Greenwell, their country home outside of Baton Rouge: “. . . Starvation at Greenwell, fever and bullets here, will put an end to us soon enough. There is no refuge for us, no one to consult. Brother, whose judgment we rely on as implicitly as we did on father’s, we hear has gone to New York; there is no one to advise or direct us, for, if he is gone, there is no man in Louisiana whose decision I would blindly abide by. Let us stay and die. We can only die once; we can suffer a thousand deaths with suspense and uncertainty; the shortest is the best. Do you think the few words here can give an idea of our agony and despair? Nothing can express it. I feel a thousand years old to-day. I have shed the bitterest tears to-day that I have shed since father died. I can’t stand it much longer; I’ll give way presently, and I know my heart will break. Shame! Where is God? A fig for your religion, if it only lasts while the sun shines! "Better days are coming" — I can’t!
Troops are constantly passing and repassing. They have scoured the country for ten miles out, in search of guerrillas. We are here without servants, clothing, or the bare necessaries of life: suppose they should seize them on the way! . . .”
Thursday, June 4, 1863: Lt. Stephen Minot Weld, of Massachusetts, writes home to his father about life in the Army of the Potomac along the Rappahannock: “We are under orders to march at any moment, probably to resist any attempt the enemy may make to cross the river. The rascals are up to something, and I think it may be that they will try to cross the river above, and attack us. I think that we are waiting here simply to prevent the rebels opposite from going to Vicksburg.”

Pictures: 1864 Gilbert Gaul (American, 1855–1919), 'Battery H 1st Ohio Volunteers; 1862 LT Stephen Minot Weld; 1864 The Atlanta and Savannah campaign May – July; Journal writer Sarah Morgan;
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
A. Thursday, June 4, 1863: Action (Cavalry) in Franklin, Tennessee. Col. John P. Baird and the 85th Indiana Infantry arrived at Franklin and was attacked at 3 p.m. coming by Brig. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest and his Confederate cavalry and mounted infantry who were approaching from the south. By the aid of the siege guns in the fortification, Col. Baird was able to hold them at bay until cavalry reinforcements under the command of Col. Ferdinand Van Derveer were sent from Triune came up and drove them off. The Union loss was 3 killed and 4 wounded. The Confederates lost l5 killed or wounded, and 15 taken prisoners.
B. Saturday, June 4, 1864: Guerrilla warfare on the rivers in Kansas. On the 4th day of June, 1864, the steamer Prairie Rose, William Eads, master, was fired into by guerrillas near Waverly. The pilot house was struck with navy balls. The engineers were also fired at, but the bulkheads proved a sufficient protection. Number of guerrillas not known. No one hurt. This morning the steamer Sunshine, M. E. Dill, master, was fired into by guerrillas at Wellington. Four guerrillas were seen. Others supposed to be near. No one hurt. Several women of ill fame have been banished from this country, and we have completed our labors this evening by capturing the whisky and bar fixtures on a steamer and arresting the barkeeper of same boat and confining him in the guard-house for further action. The liquors will be properly reported. John Ballinger, Capt. Co. G First Cavalry, Mo State Mil., Comdg. Post (WR XLVI 238).
C. Saturday, June 4, 1864: Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia. Day 4: The fighting died down into trench warfare, as it had at Spotsylvania, except that the soldiers on both sides had become much better at designing and building trench systems built to last. Union troops are far forward of their supply trains, and so resort to using their hands and their bayonets to dig and build up earthworks. Lt. Gen U.S. Grant tightened his lines by moving Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's IX corps s behind Matadequin Creek as a reserve and moving Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren’s V Corps leftward to connect with Maj. Gen. William F. ‘Baldy’ Smith’s XVIII Corps, shortening his lines about 3 miles (4.8 km).
Because the attacks by snipers are deadly and constant on both sides, supplies have trouble moving up to the front lines. The soldiers suffer terribly from thirst and hunger, and no relief from the filth of mud and dismembered bodies rotting in the sun. The wounded suffer the most, since the armies cannot go forward to retrieve them.
D. Saturday, June 4, 1864: Atlanta, Georgia Campaign: From poor calculations, CSA Gen. Mansfield Lovell tells his commander, Gen Joseph Johnston, that the Federals under Maj Jen William T. Sherman’s command have lost as many as 45,000 casualties since they launched the campaign into northern Georgia. In fact, the figures come closer to only 10,000 Union casualties, but Johnston nevertheless becomes convinced that he is prevailing, and that he need only follow the same resist-and-fall-back delaying strategy to eventually stop Sherman. As the Federals regain control of Allatoona and the railroad, thus securing their line of supply, the Confederates warily pull back about ten miles, with their backs up against Kennesaw Mountain, the most dominant eminence in the area, from whose peak one could easily see Atlanta. Kennesaw is the key to everything: most of the roads of any consequence meet there, and the railroad curves around the mountain’s eastern shoulder. Sherman sets his sights on Marietta, which lies beyond Kennesaw. In the maneuvering of the two armies, small fights erupt at Big Shanty and Acworth.
1. Wednesday, June 4, 1862 --- Gen. Fremont and Gen. Shields continue their parallel pursuit of Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, in the race south, but find their efforts to cut him off frustrated by Ashby’s cavalry, heavy rains, high waters, and burnt bridges. Jackson evades contact at every turn.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1862
2. Wednesday, June 4, 1862 --- LT Stephen Minot Weld, of the 18th Massachusetts Infantry, writes home from Camp near New Bridge to his father: “Dear Father, — Here we are still and here we shall probably stay for a few days, until the rain has exhausted itself, and the banks of the Chickahominy have peeped above the surrounding waters. I begin to think we shall have to get an ark built if the rain continues. Every night regularly we have terrible thunder-storms, which last the whole night, and at morning it clears up again. This has happened for four successive nights, and last night it culminated in an easterly storm, which bids fair to last some time. My tent resembles Fortress Monroe in one respect. It has a deep ditch of water all around it, which has lately been pretty full. In one respect this rain is peculiarly unfortunate. It delays our advance to Richmond, where we should have been two days ago, were it not for this dirty little stream of a Chickahominy which the rain swells up so as to make it impassable. The roads to the river are streams of mud and water which no corduroying can remedy, and which dry weather and the sun can alone make passable. . . . The roads here are in a shocking condition. I went out yesterday in a light wagon, foraging, and rode some twelve miles. In many places the horses were up to their bellies in mud, and at times down we would go in the quicksand or in some deceptive hole, covered with water. I got, however, some fresh butter, chickens, strawberries, cherries, onions, lettuce, and eggs. We manage to get on very well in the eating line.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1862
3. Wednesday, June 4, 1862 --- Private Lewis Warlick, Company B, 11th Regiment North Carolina Troops, stationed near Wilmington, NC, writes home from Camp Davis near Wilmington to Laura Cornelia McGimsey, his fiancée: “Dearest Cornelia; Yours of the 25th Inst. came to hand yesterday which is gladly received and now am about to respond but feel incapable of doing so. You say this is the first time in your life you ever experienced a sad disappointment and was done by one who you thought would give you the least trouble, that I came off without telling you bye or even tell you I was not going back; now you seem to think that it was intentional on my part that I knew very well when I left you that I did not expect to go back home but to remain.
I did not for a moment suppose that you would even sinuate, muchless to say I had treated you badly; did I not explain to you in my last why it was that I did stay? I think I did. You say I ought to go home and hire a substitute, that I guess would be a hard job for men are so scarce at home I would not know where to get one that would be received in my place, and further more I would not get one if I could from the fact that it shall not be thrown up to my relations in future years that you had an uncle, brother, or that your father or perhaps grandfather would not go into the service when he was called to struggle for independence – was too cowardly, afraid of the Yankees & but hired a substitute to be shot at in my stead never never shall it be said of me or any descendants; death before dishonor. Dear Corrie you very well know that it is hard for me to leave you but I must consider I am doing rightly. I think my first duties are to my country and then to you. I hope I may be spared to see the end of the war and then you and I will marry and try to live a happy life in the future. I pray do not sensure me for treating you badly if I have done so it was not indented and makes me feel badly to think that you blame me for every thing I do that is not according to your views. I have wanted to go into the service ever since last winter but you have refused to let me come. I could have come against your remonstrances but did not want to do any thing to wound your feelings, which I have never done on purpose to my knowledge, but yet you say I have. . . . . I will send the first opportunity, in this I’ll send some stamps. Jackson has been doing good service don’t you think so? I hope he is in Baltimore this morning and then right about march and come on Washington in the rear and burn it up and captured old Abe that would be too good.
This is so badly written I don’t know whether you can read it or not. Write often to you devoted lover.
Lewis, Give my kindest regards to Puss and all my friends.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1862
4. Wednesday, June 4, 1862 --- Mary Boykin Chestnut of South Carolina records these observations—among others—in her diary: “A battle is said to be raging around Richmond. . . . J.C. [her husband] went off suddenly to Richmond, on business of the military department. . . . Wade Hampton shot in the foot and Johnston Pettigrew killed! . . . Each army burying its dead. That looks like a drawn battle. . . .
Telegrams from Richmond, ordering troops from Charleston. Cannot be sent, for they are attacking Charleston, too—doubtless for this very reason, to prevent reinforcements from being sent from there.
Sat down at my window—beautiful moonlight. Tried hard for pleasant thoughts.
A man began to play on the flute, with piano accompaniment. First "Ever of Thee I Am Fondly Dreaming," then "Long, Long, Weary Day." At first I found it but a complement to the beautiful scene, and it was soothing to my wrought-up nerves.
But von Weber’s last waltz was too much. Suddenly I broke down. Heavens, what a bitter cry. Such floods of tears. The wonder is, there was any of me left. . . .
Lewis Young, Johnston Pettigrew’s A.D.C., says he left his chief mortally wound3ed on the battlefield. Left him? . . . I fancy him—left dying! I wonder what they feel—those who are deserted and left do die of their wounds on the battlefield. Hard lines. . . .
Battles near Richmond. . . . "As a general rule," says Mrs. Gibson, "government people are sanguine, but the son of one high functionary whispered to Mary G . . . ‘Richmond is bound to go up.’ Do you know, only one doctor in Richmond will take pay from wounded soldiers. Oh, the idea now is that we are to be starved out. Shut us in—prolong the agony. It can then have but one end." In her rage she says, "The baboon’s commissary general."
"Who is the baboon? Lincoln?" "Oh, yes. One gets very bitter, with one’s eldest son under his guns. His best friends say the Yankee president is just the ugliest, most uncouth—the nastiest jokes."
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1862
5. Wednesday, June 4, 1862 --- Sarah Morgan writes in her journal about the difficulties they face with the Yankee occupation and not being able to find a place to stay, besides Greenwell, their country home outside of Baton Rouge: “. . . Starvation at Greenwell, fever and bullets here, will put an end to us soon enough. There is no refuge for us, no one to consult. Brother, whose judgment we rely on as implicitly as we did on father’s, we hear has gone to New York; there is no one to advise or direct us, for, if he is gone, there is no man in Louisiana whose decision I would blindly abide by. Let us stay and die. We can only die once; we can suffer a thousand deaths with suspense and uncertainty; the shortest is the best. Do you think the few words here can give an idea of our agony and despair? Nothing can express it. I feel a thousand years old to-day. I have shed the bitterest tears to-day that I have shed since father died. I can’t stand it much longer; I’ll give way presently, and I know my heart will break. Shame! Where is God? A fig for your religion, if it only lasts while the sun shines! "Better days are coming" — I can’t!
Troops are constantly passing and repassing. They have scoured the country for ten miles out, in search of guerrillas. We are here without servants, clothing, or the bare necessaries of life: suppose they should seize them on the way! . . .”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1862
6. Thursday, June 4, 1863 --- Siege of Vicksburg, Day 13
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1863
7. Thursday, June 4, 1863 --- Siege of Port Hudson, Day 8
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1863
8. Thursday, June 4, 1863 --- Lt. Stephen Minot Weld, of Massachusetts, writes home to his father about life in the Army of the Potomac along the Rappahannock: “We are under orders to march at any moment, probably to resist any attempt the enemy may make to cross the river. The rascals are up to something, and I think it may be that they will try to cross the river above, and attack us. I think that we are waiting here simply to prevent the rebels opposite from going to Vicksburg.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1863

A Thursday, June 4, 1863: in Franklin, Tennessee - On June 4, Col. John P. Baird and the 85th Indiana Infantry arrived at Franklin and was attacked by Brig. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest and his Confederate cavalry and mounted infantry. While the two sides were fighting each other, Baird was reinforced by Col. Ferdinand Van Derveer and some more cavalry. The Confederates were soon forced to flee the area.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1863s.html
A+ Thursday, June 4, 1863: Action (Cavalry) in Franklin, TN – June 4th, 1863. U.S. Troops under Col. J. P. Baird. The Confederates in considerable force under Gen. N. B. Forrest attacked the Union post, Col. Baird commanding, at Franklin at 3 p.m. coming from the south. By the aid of the siege guns in the fortification Baird was able to hold them at bay until reinforcements sent from Triune came up and drove them off. The Union loss was 3 killed and 4 wounded. The Confederates lost l5 killed or wounded, and 15 taken prisoners.
https://civilwargazette.wordpress.com/2007/06/04/action-cavalry-in-franklin-tn-june-4th-1863/
B Saturday, June 4, 1864: On the 4th day of June, 1864, the steamer Prairie Rose, William Eads, master, was fired into by guerrillas near Waverly. The pilot house was struck with navy balls. The engineers were also fired at, but the bulkheads proved a sufficient protection. Number of guerrillas not known. No one hurt. This morning the steamer Sunshine, M. E. Dill, master, was fired into by guerrillas at Wellington. Four guerrillas were seen. Others supposed to be near. No one hurt. Several women of ill fame have been banished from this country, and we have completed our labors this evening by capturing the whisky and bar fixtures on the steamer Sunshine and arresting the barkeeper of same boat and confining him in the guard-house for further action. The liquors will be properly reported. John Ballinger, Capt. Co. G First Cavalry, Mo State Mil., Comdg. Post (WR XLVI 238).
http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~firstmsmcavalry/missouricavalry/1864.htm
B+ Saturday, June 4, 1864: near Waverly, Kansas - On June 4, the USS Prairie Rose, commanded by Capt. William Eads, was near Waverly when it came under fire from Confederate guerrillas on the riverbank. Eads turned his ship around and fled downriver. The pilothouse was riddled with bullets and no one was hurt.
http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/1864s.html
C Saturday, June 4, 1864 --- Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia [May 31-June 12, 1864]
Day 4: The fighting dies down into trench warfare, as it had at Spotsylvania, except that the soldiers on both sides had become much better at designing and building trench systems built to last. Union troops are far forward of their supply trains, and so resort to using their hands and their bayonets to dig and build up earthworks.
Because the attacks by snipers are deadly and constant on both sides, supplies have trouble moving up to the front lines. The soldiers suffer terribly from thirst and hunger, and no relief from the filth of mud and dismembered bodies rotting in the sun. The wounded suffer the most, since the armies cannot go forward to retrieve them.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1864
C+ Saturday, June 4, 1864: Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia. Grant and Meade launched no more attacks on the Confederate defenses at Cold Harbor. Although Grant wired Washington that he had "gained no decisive advantage" and that his "losses were not severe," he wrote in his Personal Memoirs that he “regretted for the rest of his life the decision to send in his men. The two opposing armies faced each other for nine days of trench warfare, in some places only yards apart. Sharpshooters worked continuously, killing many. Union artillery bombarded the Confederates with a battery of eight Coehorn mortars; the Confederates responded by depressing the trail of a 24-pound howitzer and lobbing shells over the Union positions. Although there were no more large-scale attacks, casualty figures for the entire battle were twice as large as from the June 3 assault alone.
Every corpse I saw was as black as coal. It was not possible to remove them. They were buried where they fell. ... I saw no live man lying on this ground. The wounded must have suffered horribly before death relieved them, lying there exposed to the blazing southern sun o' days, and being eaten alive by beetles o' nights.
The trenches were hot, dusty, and miserable, but conditions were worse between the lines, where thousands of wounded Federal soldiers suffered horribly without food, water, or medical assistance. Grant was reluctant to ask for a formal truce that would allow him to recover his wounded because that would be an acknowledgment he had lost the battle. He and Lee traded notes across the lines from June 5 to 7 without coming to an agreement, and when Grant formally requested a two-hour cessation of hostilities, it was too late for most of the unfortunate wounded, who were now bloated corpses. Grant was widely criticized in the Northern press for this lapse of judgment.”
On June 4 Grant tightened his lines by moving Burnside's corps behind Matadequin Creek as a reserve and moving Warren leftward to connect with Smith, shortening his lines about 3 miles (4.8 km).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cold_Harbor
D Saturday, June 4, 1864 --- Georgia: From poor calculations, Gen. Mansfield Lovell tells his commander, Joseph Johnston, that the Federals under Sherman’s command have lost as many as 45,000 casualties since they launched the campaign into northern Georgia. In fact, the figures come closer to only 10,000 Union casualties, but Johnston nevertheless becomes convinced that he is prevailing, and that he need only follow the same resist-and-fall-back delaying strategy to eventually stop Sherman. As the Federals regain control of Allatoona and the railroad, thus securing their line of supply, the Confederates warily pull back about ten miles, with their backs up against Kennesaw Mountain, the most dominant eminence in the area, from whose peak one could easily see Atlanta. Kennesaw is the key to everything: most of the roads of any consequence meet there, and the railroad curves around the mountain’s eastern shoulder. Sherman sets his sights on Marietta, which lies beyond Kennesaw. In the maneuvering of the two armies, small fights erupt at Big Shanty and Acworth.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=June+4%2C+1864
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The American Civil War 150 Years Ago Today: Search results for June 4, 1862

A no-frills day-by-day account of what was happening 150 years ago, this blog is intended to be a way that we can experience or remember the Civil War with more immediacy, in addition to understanding the flow of time as we live in it.

What was the most significant event on June 4 during the U.S. Civil War?

What was the most significant event on June 4 during the U.S. Civil War?

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jun 7 at 2016 5:10 PM

Response by SSG Leo Bell made Jun 8 at 2016 1:09 AM

Response by SSgt David M. made Jun 3 at 2022 12:52 PM

Response by LTC Trent Klug made Jun 4 at 2022 2:38 PM