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On June 1, 1864, following the battles at Spotsylvania, General Grant launched a fierce assault at Cold Harbor, Virginia, against the well entrenched and fortified Confederate forces under General Lee. From June 1 - 3 the Union forces repeatedly assaulted the enemy in an action Grant later admitted was an ill-advised offensive that cost him 13,000 casualties as compared to only 1,700 enemy casualties. On the first day of the battle at Cold Harbor a colonel of the 8th New York Heavy Artillery was killed on the battlefield. Sergeant Leroy Williams voluntarily braved the fire of enemy sharpshooters to scour the field of battle until he located his colonel's body, lying close to the enemy's lines. When night fell, under of cover of darkness and with the assistance of four comrades, he recovered the colonel's body and brought it back within the Union lines, having been forced to recover it from a point within only a few feet of the Confederate pickets. He was one of eight men awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism on the first day of battle. |
Photo Contributed by William Stark
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