The Battle of Cold Harbor, now full-fledged trench warfare, continues in Virginia near Richmond. Battle clashes have been replaced with occasional shots from sharpshooters and the whine and explosion of lobbed artillery shells. Heat, dust and a lack of water, food and medical care in the trenches bodes ill for the soldiers in this new type of warfare. The standoff in the trenches will continue until the 12th of the month.
Meanwhile, eastward in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley a smaller but significant battle takes place, the Battle of Piedmont. Confederate General Robert E. Lee has been masterful in shuttling troops from one region in Virginia to another in an effort to keep Union forces from penetrating Virginia’s interior. Grant, in an effort to put a stop to Lee’s troop movements, issues orders that result in the Battle of Piedmont.
One of the heroes today is Private Thomas Evans, born in Wales in 1823 and a Baptist. One of three Union men whose brave actions will later be awarded with Congressional medals of honor, Evans, of Company D, 54th Pennsylvania Infantry, shoots a Confederate officer trying to rally the Confederates, battles the color bearer of the 45th Virginia (C.S.A.) and then captures the flag from the rebel soldier.
In the battle Union forces rout Confederates in a decisive victory that opens the way for the federals to advance toward Lynchburg, along the way pillaging Confederate military stores and private property.
Following the battle, Colonel J. M. Campbell, commander of the 54th Pennsylvania, writes of today’s successes, including Evans’ actions, in his report:
Lieut. R.P. Robison of Company B captured Colonel Browne, who commanded a Virginia brigade [sic]… Two colonels of regiments, with other field staff, and line officers, too numerous to mention were captured by different members of my regiment. Private Thomas Evans, of Company D, wrested the colors from a color bearer of a Tennessee regiment [sic], sending the color bearer to the rear. So numerous were the captures made of the enemy, that I was compelled to stop taking them to the rear, and simply disarm them and turn them out over the barricade to be taken charge of by the cavalry, who were in the open field on our right and rear.
Evans survives the war but dies shortly thereafter, in 1866. He is buried in the Bethel Baptist Cemetery of Edensburg, Pennsylvania, while the plaque commemorating his Congressional Medal of Honor is in Veteran’s Square in Piedmont, Virginia.
Sources: Battle of Cold Harbor (link) and (link) and (link); Battle of Piedmont (link); “Thomas Evans,” Find a Grave (link); “Thomas Evans,” Wikipedia (link);
