The sun of May 31st rose red and torrid and the day proved to be terribly hot. Fortunately the exegencies of the campaign did not require any considerable activity, and the men had the privilege of "sweltering" in the breastworks or of "lolling" under their shelter tents, just back of the trenches. General Warren records of the day that the skirmishers were pushed forward about one mile, without opposition, beyond Bethesda Church. While there is the sound of cannonading on both the right and left, the last day of May, so far as our Regiment is concerned, is the safest seen since crossing the Rapidan. The day is the prelude to the opening of the Cold Harbor fight, one which will cover June 1-12, and it closes with the Union forces extending nearly North and South. White House on the Pamunkey has become the new base of supplies and here the Eighteenth Corps, under General W. F. Smith, landed on the 30th, and by forced marches will be able to take position between the Fifth and Sixth Corps on the 1st of June. The section now harried by the opposing armies was the scene of active warfare two years ago, for Fair Oaks began on the 31st of May and to-morrow's Cold Harbor will begin to repeat the horrors of the Seven Days' Fight.

The efforts of Generals Grant and Meade to find an unguarded point through which the Union Army might interpose itself between Richmond and the Confederate Army have thus far proved unavailing. Whether active at the head of his forces or weak and ailing, borne along his line in a carriage, General Lee is still untiring in his watchfulness and, loyally supported by such lieutenants as Ewell, Hill, Early, Anderson and others, there is always a firm gray wall confronting the determined line in blue. Attempts to force it had been unsuccessful at the North Anna and Totopotomy and now, on McClellan's old battle fields, another fierce assault is to be made on the enemy's works, though the brunt of the charge will not come on the Fifth Corps this day; rather will the story be told by those who fought in the ranks of the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps, which had gained their places, some portions thereof, late in the afternoon, and after desperate fighting carried certain of the Confederate defences. Turning again to the words of General Warren, we learn that there was a movement against the rebel position which was intrenched with a large space of clear ground in front, swept by artillery. The Corps suffers a loss of two hundred killed and wounded and the line is extended four to five miles; the Corps is attacked in several places, quite severely on the right just before dark.

Lieutenant Dusseault of Company H has the following account of the night of the 31st of May and the 1st of June, showing very well what a portion of the Thirty-ninth was doing:—

Though no part of the experience of the Fifth Corps, it is quite in place to state that the battle which was heard at the Union left was that of the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps in the beginning of the sanguinary contest which was to rage along the lines of blue and gray for almost two weeks and which, in these, the opening hours, marked the attempt of the above named bodies to dislodge the Confederate divisions of Hoke, Kershaw, Pickett and Field, reading from rebel right to left, resulting in partial success but at the cost of between two and three thousand men on our side. During the night of the 1st Hancock and his Second Corps were withdrawn from the Union right, and by dint of a very trying march were found at the extreme Union left in the morning of the 2d of June, yet not in time for the early charge which had been ordered for that day. The several corps are now in order from left to right, Second, Sixth, Eighteenth, Fifth and Ninth, with a considerable gap between the Eighteenth and Fifth, covered by a picket line only. Captain Porter of the Thirty-ninth, in a paper read in 1881 before the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, refers to this hiatus as an "interval over a most desolate piece of country, woody, rocky, and quite hilly." The great 3rd of June charge, that to which Grant in his Memoirs refers, saying, "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made," this bloody scene, also, was at the Union left, the brunt being borne by the Second Corps, and in less degree only by the men of the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps. Of the Fifth Corps, Porter says, "Warren, who occupied a front of nearly four miles, was altogether too much extended to allow of his having any available force to assault with, and he was content with carrying the enemy's skirmish line on his front." The Ninth Corps attacked the foe with some success, pushing its lines well to the right of the enemy's left.

At noon of the 3rd, owing to the opinion of the several corps commanders that further assaults would prove futile, General Grant issued an order to the effect that there should be a suspension of assaults until further notice. Then followed many days of digging, applied to parallels and approaches and the making of reconnoisances, thus keeping the enemy in a state of apprehension, lest he should detach a portion of his forces to assist in the effort to head off General Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley. General Warren's account of the period gives very little of interest save that on the 4th, owing to the withdrawal of the enemy from the front of the Ninth Corps, the latter was moved around the Fifth to the space between the Fifth and the Eighteenth Corps. On the 5th Warren made a reconnoisance on Shady Grove road, and in the night withdrew to the rear, and was on the road all night. The 6th he devoted to "putting things in order"; the 7th, he sent Griffin's and Cutler's divisions to picket the Chickahominy, and held Ayers and Crawford to support Burnside; 8th, 9th and 10th, remained in camp; 11th, with all his corps, except Griffin and Cutler, to Moody's, south of railroad, preparatory to further movement; 12th, June 3, '64 Generals Grant and Meade reached his headquarters at 5.30 p. m. Corps started at 6 p. m. Reached vicinity of Long Bridge before midnight.

The notes made at the time by men of the Thirty-ninth consist largely of statements of moving to the right or left and of coming back to positions formerly occupied; of picketing and of sundry incidents, some of which are appended, though, in the fighting for which the period has such a bloody record, the Thirty-ninth bore a very small part, yet it played its assigned rÔle well, at no time failing to do with alacrity whatever duty came in its way. While not actively engaged in the assault of the 3rd, as stated above, the men were all on the alert and anxiously expectant. On the 2nd General Lockwood, who had commanded the reorganized Second Division a few days, was relieved and ordered to Baltimore, there to await further orders. His methods were not to the liking of General Warren. The general trend of the army was towards the left, and in two installments the Corps marched on the 5th several miles, fetching up at midnight at Cold Harbor, near the fighting points of the 1st and 3rd days of the month, camping in the rear of the Second Corps. Here follow three days of relative peace and quiet, in which rations are drawn, cooked and consumed with relish and dispatch. "The quietest time since the 3rd of May" is the record of one observer, and another says, "It seems nice to be free from firing all the while, though the bugles keep us in touch with camp life." Baggage wagons get up on the 6th and officers, after picking out their valises are able to enjoy a change of linen and, on this day, is promulgated the order that our old brigade relations are changed and the whole organization is transferred to the Second Brigade of the Third Division, the latter being under the command of General S. W. Crawford while Colonel Lyle remains at the head of the Brigade. The day also marks a slicking up time, the camp being policed and the quartermaster deals out much needed wearing apparel. Our camp is not far from the headquarters of General Warren. Our change to the Third Division also changes the hue of our corps badge, the maltese cross, from white to blue.

On the 7th, B. H. Dow, the only man wounded at Mine Run, returns to his "C" Company. That an unusual degree of quiet prevailed in these days appears when, on the 9th, the wagons brought up a desk for the adjutant, the bands begin to play again, drilling is resumed and the Second Brigade has a dress parade, but the event of all which pleased the Thirty-ninth most was the return of Lieutenant Colonel Peirson, who had been absent after his wounding at Laurel Hill. One of the boys thus entered the incident in his diary: "We cheered him heartily; a brave man commands the respect of all; his patriotism cannot be questioned, when he has the privilege of a furlough of thirty days, but instead of taking it comes back to his Regiment."

In Charles E. Davis's history of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry, we may read an excellent statement of the soldiers' feelings toward General Grant:—

The 7th marks the departure from the corps of the Eighty-third New York, Ninth Militia of the Second Brigade, its terms of enlistment having expired, and it is to June 7, '64 offset the going home of regiments, through reaching their end of service, that great numbers of recruits are coming in constantly. In the case of the Eighty-third, so severe has been its losses, it takes away only one hundred and fifty men. The ninth day gives the men a new exhibition, that of a correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer being escorted through the army by a Provost Marshal's guard, bearing on his back, a board labelled, "Libeller of the Press," on account of certain libellous letters he had written to his paper. However sad the man may have been, through his punishment, his plight affords the observers a deal of amusement. During these days mails arrive and depart and, after the complete rest of a few days, to the survivors of the May experience, life really seems to be worth living. With the 11th is associated the memory of reveillÉ at four o'clock, breakfast at six, and then a march which takes us across the York and Richmond Railroad at about 11 a. m. and a mile or so south of it we halt for dinner. The march ends near Bottom's Bridge on the Chickahominy River, camps being pitched on the very ground occupied by McClellan's troops two years before. The 12th is Sunday and so long has been the interval since religious services were held, some men are glad of the chance to hear a Christian Commission man preach; and the Thirty-ninth is inspected by Colonel Lyle, brigade commander. At 7 p. m. the line of march is once more taken up and we proceed some miles towards the east, halting at eleven o'clock for a rest and supper.