.
One among the bloodiest Contests of the great war of the Sixties.
The sharp combat at Bethesda Church, on the afternoon of May 30th, 1864, was the beginning of the series of battles at Cold Harbor, which wound up by the decisive repulse of
Grant on June 3d.
Our loss on that occasion, except in
Pegram's brigade, was small, says
General Early in his report, which is found in Vol. 51, Part 1, Series 1, of the
War Records,
Serial Number 107.
He was at that time commanding
Ewell's corps.
Colonel Edward Willis,
1 of
Georgia, and
Col. J. B. Terrill, of the Thirteenth Virginia, had both been named as
Brigadier Generals, but were killed ere their commissions reached them.
Willis was a brilliant young officer of great promise and of distinguished service.
A West Pointer by training, he had won a name which will live in the annals of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Colonel J. B. Terrill was a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute; had commanded the Thirteenth Virginia with great courage and skill, succeeding James A. Walker and A. P. Hill as colonel of a regiment which had no superiority in the Confederate
