[Pistolshot]

The breakthrough came on the 2nd day, or June 1st if you will. It was thrown back. After that, the South had time to prepare defenses, especially with all the delays of renewed attacks by Grant. Those were not his fault, but that of the commanders in the field who went the wrong way or made a wrong turn at a crossroads. By the time they got into positions they had been on the march for most of the night and the attack didn't begin until the next morning.

That failed misrably, the firing so heavy, men in the field had to dig makeshift fox holes with bayonets and tin cups. Thousands more wounded died in those fields because the whithering fire was so intense they could not be recovered.

The South did not break at Cold Harbor after the 1st. Grant took 12,000 casualties there, the South 4,000 or so.

Little Mac was a newspaper general. One who wanted fame without fighting and when he did, he made excuses for losing. Grant was nothing like Little Mac.

Grant had good interior lines, the railroads to move men/material where he needed them, good communications with his commanders, who didn't have good comprehension. Grant didn't care what the newspapers said or how he was portrayed. He didn't look like a general officer, much less act like one. He knew how to fight, and that is all Lincoln wanted.

[wideawake]

The South did not break at Cold Harbor after the 1st.

I didn't say the Confederacy broke at Cold Harbor. It held at Cold Harbor and broke at Petersburg.

Grant was nothing like Little Mac.

Precisely. McClellan, like Grant, had excellent logistics and he had even more men. But he wasn't Grant, and that made all the difference.