Editing Battle of Cold Harbor (section)

==Location==
[[File:Service-pnp-cwpb-00300-00348v.jpg|thumb|Grant Council of war (by [[Timothy H. O'Sullivan]], May 31, 1864)]]
[[File:Cold Harbor Burnett Inn.jpg|thumb|The Burnett Inn at Old Cold Harbor (by [[Timothy H. O'Sullivan]], June 4, 1864)]]
The battle was fought in central Virginia, in what is now [[Mechanicsville, Virginia|Mechanicsville]], over the same ground as the [[Battle of Gaines's Mill]] during the [[Seven Days Battles]] of 1862. Some accounts refer to the 1862 battle as the First Battle of Cold Harbor, and the 1864 battle as the Second Battle of Cold Harbor. Union soldiers were disturbed to discover skeletal remains from the first battle while entrenching. Cold Harbor was not a port city, despite its name. Rather, it described two rural crossroads named for the Cold Harbor Tavern (owned by the Isaac Burnett family) which provided shelter (harbor) but no hot meals. Old Cold Harbor stood two miles east of Gaines's Mill, and New Cold Harbor a mile southeast. Both were approximately {{convert|10|mi|km}} northeast of [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], capital of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. From these crossroads, the [[Union army]] was positioned to receive reinforcements sailing up the [[Pamunkey River]], and could attack either the Confederate capital or its [[Army of Northern Virginia]].<ref>For an example reference to the First Battle of Cold Harbor, see [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/125061/battles-of-Cold-Harbor "battles of Cold Harbor"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' online, accessed May 30, 2012; McPherson, p. 733; Foote, p. 281; Kennedy, p. 291; Eicher, p. 685.</ref>