so much time in making ready that the enemy got by, and at three o'clock
he reported the enemy was strongly intrenched in his front, and besides
his lines were so long that he had no mass of troops to move with. He
seemed to have forgotten that lines in rear of an army hold themselves
while their defenders are fighting in their front. Wright reconnoitred
some distance to his front: but the enemy finding Old Cold Harbor
already taken had halted and fortified some distance west.

By six o'clock in the afternoon Wright and Smith were ready to make an
assault. In front of both the ground was clear for several hundred
yards and then became wooded. Both charged across this open space and
into the wood, capturing and holding the first line of rifle-pits of the
enemy, and also capturing seven or eight hundred prisoners.

While this was going on, the enemy charged Warren three separate times
with vigor, but were repulsed each time with loss. There was no officer
more capable, nor one more prompt in acting, than Warren when the enemy
forced him to it. There was also an attack upon Hancock's and
Burnside's corps at the same time; but it was feeble and probably only
intended to relieve Anderson who was being pressed by Wright and Smith.

During the night the enemy made frequent attacks with the view of
dispossessing us of the important position we had gained, but without
effecting their object.

Hancock was moved from his place in line during the night and ordered to
the left of Wright. I expected to take the offensive on the morning of
the 2d, but the night was so dark, the heat and dust so excessive and
the roads so intricate and hard to keep, that the head of column only
reached Old Cold Harbor at six o'clock, but was in position at 7.30 A.M.