Pressing on with his Overland Campaign after confrontations at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and North Anna, Lieutenant General Ulysses S.
Grant again moved around Confederate General Robert E. Lee's right in an effort to capture Richmond. Crossing the Pamunkey River, Grant's men fought skirmishes at Haw's Shop, Totopotomoy Creek, and Old Church. Pushing his cavalry forward towards the crossroads at Old Cold Harbor, Grant also ordered Major General William "Baldy" Smith's XVIII Corps to move from Bermuda Hundred to join the main army.
Recently reinforced, Lee anticipated Grant's designs on Old Cold Harbor and dispatched cavalry under Brigadier Generals Matthew Butler and Fitzhugh Lee to the scene. Arriving they encountered elements of Major General Philip H. Sheridan's cavalry corps. As the two forces skirmished on May 31, Lee sent Major General Robert Hoke's division as well as Major General Richard Anderson's First Corps to Old Cold Harbor. Around 4:00 PM, Union cavalry under Brigadier General Alfred Torbert and David Gregg succeeded in driving the Confederates from the crossroads.
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