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IX JUNE 2 Grant Midden an Opportunity "A jlow and wearisome march toward the right. " HANCOCK'S 2ND CORPS began leaving its Totopotomoy Creek defenses shortly after dark on June 1, intending to join Wright and Smith at Cold Harbor in time to renew the offensive early on the morning of June 2. Gibbon pulled out first, followed by Barlow and Birney. Breckinridge's pickets discovered the movement and aggressively probed Hancock's entrenchments to determine if the entire corps was involved. The Union commander left a skeleton force to cover his withdrawal, but Confederate skirmishers captured many rearguard troops, including a sizable contingent from the 86th and 124th New York under Lieutenant Charles Stewart. "The withdrawal will take some time," Hancock cautioned Meade, "as our line is very complicated and close to the enemy." Eleven o'clock saw Barlow and Gibbon tramping east along Atlee Station Road, not yet to Haw's Shop. Birney was not under way until near midnight.1 The 2nd Corps's march became a grueling ordeal reminiscent of Wright's trek the previous day. Surviving records do not clarify Hancock's intended route, but apparently he was to proceed east along Atlee Station Road, turn south at Haw's Shop, cross to Shady Grove Road by way of Mrs. Via's farm, continue to Old Church Road behind Bethesda Church, then cut over to Cold Harbor Road on a farm trace passing by Allen's Mill Pond, shaving three miles from the route that Wright had taken the previous day. Meade sent his topographical engineer, Captain William H. Paine, to guide Hancock and expedite his progress. A self-taught engineer and surveyor, the thirty-eightyear -old New Hampshire native numbered among the army's most capable scouts, mapmakers, and guides. He had led Meade to Gettysburg the night of 280 COLD HARBOR July 1, 1863, and more recently, at Spotsylvania, had ushered the 5th Corps on its night march to Lee's right flank on May 13-14.2 The 2nd Corps turned south, crossed Totopotomoy Creek at Mrs. Via's farm, and continued across Shady Grove Road to Old Church Road. Somewhere along the way, Paine led one of Hancock's divisions—probably Birney 's—down a path that he presumed would shorten the march. This time the capable guide's talents failed him. His diary indicates that he was sick, which might explain his mistake. The road narrowed, guns became wedged between trees, and Paine finally had to turn the troops around and double back. "In the darkness much confusion arose throughout the column, and the troops became mixed to a degree which made it difficult to straighten them out again," recollected Hancock's aide Francis Walker. "The night had been intensely hot and breathless, and the march through roads deep with dust, which rose in suffocating clouds as it was stirred by thousands of feet of men and horses and by the wheels of the artillery, had been exceedingly trying."3 Hancock's lead division, under Barlow, reached Cold Harbor at 6:00 A.M. The rest of the corps trailed back for several miles and would need "some time" to arrive, Hancock concluded. "There was a good deal of straggling," he reported to Meade, "owing to extreme fatigue of the men and the dusty roads." The aide Lyman was not surprised. "It was badly managed, or rather it was difficult to manage, like all those infernal night marches, and so part of the troops went fifteen miles instead of nine and there was any amount of straggling and exhaustion," he wrote home. "I consider fifteen miles by night equal to twenty-five by day, and you will remember our men have no longer the bodily strength they had a month before; indeed, why they are alive, I don't see."4 Grant had hoped to renew the offensive at Cold Harbor shortly after daylight . The schedule was manifestly impossible. Not only was Hancock in no condition to attack, but Smith was still complaining about deficiencies in manpower and ammunition. "I think my line perfectly indefensible without more troops," was Smith's bottom line. Meade had instructed Wright to give Smith ammunition, and until that happened, he felt obliged to direct Hancock to hold a division at Cold Harbor to assist the 18th Corps if necessary. "The attack ordered for this morning shall take place at 5:00 o'clock this afternoon ," Meade notified his corps commanders, bowing to the inevitable...

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