Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston orders his army to cross the Chickahominy River and retreat to the Richmond defensive fortifications. Union general George B. McClellan follows with about half his army over the next week. Johnston takes advantage of a flooding Chickahominy River and attacks a split Union army under George B.
Only stubborn fighting and timely reinforcements save McClellan from disaster. Johnston is severely wounded in the fighting. June 12, Confederate general J. Stuart launches his famous "Ride around McClellan," leaving Richmond with 1, troopers and circling the Union Army of the Potomac in a three-day raid that supplies Robert E. Lee with critical intelligence. June 25, Union general George B. The fighting ends with little tangible result.
June 26, Confederate general Robert E. Confederate forces under Thomas J. June 27, After a series of assaults during the afternoon, Confederate forces under Robert E. McClellan starts his retreat to the James River. June 29, After a day of confusion, Confederate general John B. Magruder attacks Union general George B. McClellan's rear guard at Savage's Station but is stopped.
June 30, Confederate general Robert E. Lee's best chance to severely hurt Union general George B. McClellan is thwarted at Glendale by a combination of hard Union fighting and Confederate failures of command. July 1, Several assaults on the Union position at Malvern Hill are bloodily repulsed because of Confederate command failures. Nevertheless, Union general George B. McClellan begins his final retreat to the James River during the night.
July 4, Confederate general Robert E. McClellan belatedly occupies the bluff overlooking his base. July 9, Confederate general Robert E. Lee withdraws part of his army in preparation for a move north to confront Union general John Pope's newly formed Army of Virginia. August Confederate general Robert E.
Lee, hearing of plans to withdraw Union general George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula, moves the rest of his army northward. August Union general George B. August 26, The last of Union general George B.
Gallagher, Gary W. Miller, William J. Campbell, California: Savas Publishing, , , Newton, Steven H. This was partly because he had expected General Magruder to copy the British and fortify the town. Faulty information was partly to blame. The Union army began its march up the Peninsula on 4 April. The next day advanced units of the army found the Confederate defences along the Warwick River, and the advance came to a sudden halt.
At this point, Magruder had around 10, men and McClellan over 50, Inside the Confederate lines an immediate assault was expected, but none came.
Instead, McClellan settled down for a regular siege. He examined the Confederate lines, and decided that they were too strong to risk an assault. After that, McClellan concentrated on building up his siege guns. The Confederates were not idle. Magruder was soon reinforced, until he was confident that he could withstand any assault. With the reinforcements came more senior officers. As units from his army moved to block the Union advance, General Joseph Johnston took command of the forces defending Richmond.
As McClellan built up in preparation for his bombardment, Johnston prepared to fall back towards Richmond. On 4 May, just as he was about to begin his bombardment, McClellan found that the Confederate defenders of Yorktown were gone.
Map of Battle of Williamsburg. It took the rest of that day for the Union pursuit to catch up with the retreating Confederates. The next day a battle developed at Williamsburg 5 May Although the Confederate position looked appalling, in fact the initiative was about to pass into their hands. This was partly due to their own efforts, but McClellan was also much to blame. In the aftermath of Williamsburg, the Union army was concentrated on the northern side of the Peninsula, near the York River, with its base at White House Landing.
The idea that no plans had been made for the final approach to Richmond at this late a stage in the campaign is staggering, and if true would reflect very poorly on McClellan. He had two choices. One was to relocate to the James River, and approach Richmond along the south bank of that river. The other was to move west from White House Landing, cross the upper Chickahominy River and attack Richmond from the east. The reason for this is quite simple. Although the C. Virginia had been prevented from destroying the Union fleet, she still lurked in the James River, effectively blocking that river to Union forces, and preventing McClellan from using that route.
It was only on 11 May that the Virginia was destroyed by her own crew after the loss of Norfolk, opening the James River to Union ships. McClellan can only have seriously considered moving to the James after this date, nearly a week after the battle of Williamsburg had allowed him to move to the James.
McClellan later blamed the administration for the failure of his campaign. Ironically, it was his own constant call for reinforcements that led to the events that he was to use to defend that failure. It was this choice of route that he blamed for the failure of the entire expedition.
Thomas Jackson had command of the second major Confederate army in Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. On 8 May he inflicted the first of a series of defeats on the Union forces in the valley Battle of McDowell.
On 23 May he won his second victory Battle of Front Royal , and it began to look like he might be able to threaten Maryland and Washington. The following day, McDowell was about to move south when he received orders to move west instead. Although McDowell protested vigorously about this decision, McClellan became convinced that McDowell was yet another of his enemies.
Wet spring weather meant that the river was running unusually high, making it hard to bridge. The next day correct information about McDowell arrived, and the Confederate plan changed. Now Johnston intended to launch his attack on the two isolated Federal corps instead.
The battle was badly handled on both sides, but especially on the Confederate side. Despite some success on 31 May, the isolated federal corps were not destroyed, and on 1 June McClellan had the best of the fighting.
Federal losses were killed, 3, wounded and captured total 5, Confederate losses were killed, 4, wounded and missing total 6, Amongst the Confederate wounded was General Johnston. This gave President Davis a chance to replace him with his military advisor, Robert E. While McClellan sat back in his positions around the Chickahominy, calling for reinforcements and waiting for the exact right weather to launch his attack, Lee began to prepare to launch his first great offensive.
Jackson had completed his valley campaign at Port Republic 9 June , and was now on his way to join Lee at Richmond. Accordingly, plans were put in place for a joint offensive once Jackson reached Richmond. Things did not go entirely as Lee had planned. When A. Hill finally launched an attack late in the day, Jackson was within a few miles, but failed to send any help, and the attack was repelled with ease.
Convinced that he was now massively outnumbered, McClellan continued his retreat to the James. He made three more attempts to attack the retreating Federal army, but each ended in failure.
Finally, on 1 July, Lee launched an almost entirely futile assault on a very strong Federal position at Malvern Hill. Lee seems to have been convinced that the Federal army was demoralised and almost close to collapse. The siege continued another two weeks even though Johnston counseled retreat. Johnston advised that "the fight for Yorktown must be one of artillery, in which we cannot win. The result is certain; the time only doubtful. McClellan was surprised by the Confederate withdrawal.
The result was the bloody, indecisive May 5 Battle of Williamsburg. The battle was fought along the Williamsburg Line, a series of 14 redoubts built between Queens and College creeks. Fighting raged in front of Fort Magruder Redoubt 6 all day. The Confederates repelled the first Union assaults and then pressed the Federals back down the Hampton Road.
By mid-afternoon the Union lines were in disarray when Brigadier General Philip Kearny personally led his command into the fray shouting, "I am a one-armed Jersey Sonof- a-Gun, follow me! The Battle of Williamsburg, called by McClellan "an accident caused by too rapid a pursuit," was an opportunity to destroy Johnston's army before it could reach the Confederate capital; however, success slipped away from the Army of the Potomac.
The Union victory at Williamsburg was marred by the Federal command's inability to aggressively grasp the tactical opportunities made available by the Confederate retreat.
McClellan did not arrive on the Williamsburg battlefield until dark, when the engagement was ending. Franklin's move up the York River, which threatened to block Johnston's withdrawal to Richmond. Although able to secure a beachhead at Eltham's Landing on May 6, Franklin's timid move inland on the next day was halted by elements of G.
Smith's command led by William C. Whiting and John Bell Hood. Lincoln, disenchanted with what he deemed McClellan's general lack of initiative, arrived at Fort Monroe May 6. Since the Confederate army was now in retreat toward Richmond, Lincoln sought to open the James River to the Union's use. The only obstacle was the C. The Confederate retreat from the lower Peninsula exposed the port city of Norfolk to Union capture.
Lincoln directed Flag Officer Louis N. Goldsborough and Major General John E. Wool to end the Virginia's control of Hampton Roads by occupying its base. Major General Benjamin Huger, threatened by the Union advance, was forced to abandon the port city on May 9.
Without its base, the ironclad's deep draught made the vessel unable to steam up the James to Richmond. Consequently, the Virginia was destroyed by its crew off Craney Island on May 11, The door to the Confederate capital via the James River now lay open.
A Union fleet, including the ironclads Galena and Monitor; slowly moved up the river to within seven miles of Richmond.
On May 15, , hastily constructed Confederate batteries perched atop Drewry's Bluff repelled the Union naval advance. Obstructions limited the mobility of Federal vessels as plunging shot from Confederate cannons severely damaged the Galena.
Despite the repulse given to the Federal fleet's thrust up the James River, McClellan's army neared the outskirts of the Confederate capital by the end of May.
McClellan had established a major supply base near West Point and appeared ready to invest Richmond with his siege artillery. However, his delays on the lower Peninsula once again altered his plans. Thomas J. McClellan, extending his right flank to meet the expected reinforcements, found his army divided by the swampy Chickahominy River.
The poorly coordinated assaults on May 31 failed to destroy the exposed Union corps. Johnston was seriously wounded riding across the battlefield. The next day, June 1, , Robert E.
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