Cold Harbor • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • The Armies
“The Deadly Work of Sharpshooters” wayside marker is along the mile long hiking trail in Hanover County Park. (see map below)
Text from the marker:
Cold Harbor Battlefield Park Walking Trail
Hanover County Parks and Recreation
The Deadly Work of Sharpshooters
All the visible remains along the trail date from the June 1864, Battle of Cold Harbor, but this ground figured prominently in the Seven Days campaign of 1862 as well.
On June 27, 1862, General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederates advanced south through here during the final stages of the battle of Gaines’ Mill. Union artillery posted on a plateau half a mile to your right dropped shells among the Confederates every few seconds. After several hours of inconclusive fighting, Jackson’s men pushed beyond here and helped to drive the Union army across the Chickahominy River.
Another part of the Gaines’ Mill battlefield, one mile west of here, is preserved by the National Park Service.
From the caption to the drawing:
Confederate sharpshooter targeting his Union victim. Civil War rifles were surprisingly accurate, and successful “hits” were not uncommon at 1,000 yards.
Location of the marker
The marker is on the one mile walking trail in Hanover County Park. (37°35’06.7″N 77°16’43.6″W) The park is on the south side of Cold Harbor Road (Virginia Route 156) about 650 feet east of the National Cemetery and next to Gathright House.