For seven months McClellan's large army lay inactive around Washington.
Finally Lincoln, his patience exhausted, ordered McClellan to advance
into Virginia. McClellan dismissed the dangerous overland route to
Richmond. Rather, he proposed to transport his forces by water to Fort
Monroe. Thence he would advance westward on Richmond by way of the same
peninsula where Butler had met defeat the preceding year. This was the
framework of the Peninsular Campaign.
[Illustration: The creation of the Army of the Potomac was the work
largely of George B. McClellan. In 1864 he ran unsuccessfully as
Democratic candidate for President.]
Lincoln finally agreed to the plan. To protect Washington, however, he
ordered McDowell's corps of 37,000 soldiers to remain in the
Fredericksburg-Manassas area.
By April McClellan was on the Virginia peninsula with 105,000 men. In
the meantime, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate forces
in Virginia, had concentrated his small army on the peninsula between
McClellan and Richmond. McClellan slowly advanced westward; Johnston,
with only 60,000 men, had no choice but to fall back and fight delaying
actions. Driving rains turned the country into a vast sea of mud. By the
end of May McClellan's army had reached Seven Pines. The spires of
Richmond were visible, nine miles away.
But Seven Pines was as close as McClellan ever got to the Confederate
capital. Johnston noticed that the Federal army had been divided into
two parts by the flooded Chickahominy River. He then launched attacks
against McClellan's left (southern) flank. The muddy battles of Seven
Pines and Fair Oaks (May 31-June 1) permanently halted McClellan's
advance. Johnston was seriously wounded in the fighting, and Gen. Robert
E. Lee assumed command of the Confederate forces on the Peninsula.
Elsewhere in Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, Gen. "Stonewall"
Jackson was performing brilliantly in what became known as the Valley
Campaign. Control of the Valley was vital to both sides. This narrow
slit of land between two ranges of mountains is a direct avenue into
both North and South. Neither side could move safely between the
mountains and the seacoast unless the Valley's northern door--the region
around Winchester--was shut.
[Illustration: Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was a man of both
military genius and peculiar habits. Known as "Old Jack" to his men,
he was probably one of the most devout soldiers of the war.]
When McClellan moved up the Peninsula, Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks and
another Federal army advanced southward into the Valley. Jackson had
only 8,500 men at his command. Yet he was determined to hold Banks at
Winchester and McDowell at Fredericksburg so as to prevent them from
reinforcing McClellan. On March 23 Jackson attacked part of Banks's army
at Kernstown. The wily Confederate was repulsed, but his daring
prevented Banks and McDowell from marching to the aid of McClellan.
Soon three separate Federal armies entered the Valley for the sole
purpose of destroying Jackson. Reinforced by Gen. Richard S. Ewell's
division, Jackson and his "foot cavalry" then swung into high gear. The
full impact of "Stonewall's" successes in the Valley Campaign can be
seen from statistics. Between March 22 and June 9 the Confederates
marched 630 miles, fought 4 major battles and numerous skirmishes,
defeated 3 Federal armies totaling over 60,000 troops, inflicted 7,000
casualties, and captured 10,000 muskets and 9 cannon. Jackson's army,
never exceeding 17,000 men, accomplished all this at a cost of 3 cannon
and 3,100 casualties. And all the while, Jackson kept Washington under
threat of attack.
After a week of rest, Jackson moved rapidly to Richmond to assist Lee in
a new campaign against McClellan. By then Lee had verified that
McClellan's army was still dangerously astride the swollen Chickahominy.
The Confederate commander obtained this information from his colorful
cavalry chief, Gen. J. E. B. "Jeb" Stuart, who in mid-June boldly rode
all the way around McClellan's huge army. On the basis of Stuart's
report, Lee attacked McClellan's exposed right flank north of the river
in the first of a series of battles known as the Seven Days Campaign.
[Illustration: A full beard concealed the fact that "Jeb" Stuart at
the time of the Peninsular Campaign was only twenty-nine years old.]
On June 26 the Confederates launched their offensive at Mechanicsville,
northeast of Richmond. They suffered defeat from Federal troops under
Gen. FitzJohn Porter. Lee struck again on June 27 and finally broke the
Federal lines at Gaines's Mill after an all-day fight. McClellan then
ordered his army to retire to Harrison's Landing, the Federal supply
base on the James River. Lee's troops tried again and again to destroy
the Federal army. But after hard fighting at Savage Station (June 29),
Frayser's Farm (June 30), White Oak Swamp (June 30), and Malvern Hill
(July 1), McClellan safely reached Harrison's Landing and the protection
of a Federal river fleet. His dream of capturing Richmond had ended.
In a few weeks another Federal threat confronted Lee. Gen. John Pope
moved overland from Washington with a newly formed army. His target was
also Richmond. Lee shifted his army northward to block the advance. On
August 9 Jackson checked Pope's lead elements at Cedar Run, a few miles
south of Culpeper. Then, while Pope warily eyed Lee's main force,
Jackson's men swept around the Federal right flank and captured Pope's
all-important supply base at Manassas. An angry Pope turned around and
started in pursuit of Jackson.
Pope soon found Jackson. But Gen. James Longstreet, commanding the other
half of Lee's army, found Pope. The August 28-30 campaign of Second
Manassas--or Second Bull Run--resulted. As in the first battle in that
area, the Federals met defeat. Pope managed to check a thrust by Lee at
Chantilly (September 1), then retired to Washington.
Virginia was now clear of Federal forces. The time was ripe, Lee
thought, to invade the North. Success might secure Maryland for the
Confederacy and bring official recognition to the Southern nation from
England and France. Then both foreign powers would send supplies, and
possibly troops, to aid the Southern cause.
Lee's grayclad regiments waded across the Potomac River on September 5,
1862. At Frederick, Md., Lee divided his army. Jackson marched southward
to capture Harpers Ferry and keep the Valley avenue open, while Lee
proceeded westward to Sharpsburg.
[Illustration: Harpers Ferry first gained prominence in history with
John Brown's 1859 raid. During the Civil War it was a key point in
Eastern military operations.]
Meanwhile, Lincoln assigned what was left of Pope's force to McClellan
and sent "Little Mac" in pursuit of the Confederate invaders. On
September 14 McClellan fought his way through the passes of South
Mountain, Maryland. The next day, as McClellan's troops converged on
Lee, Jackson seized Harpers Ferry. Jackson then hastened northward and
rejoined Lee at Sharpsburg late on September 16.
Wednesday, September 17, produced the largest one-day bloodbath on
American soil. From sunrise until dusk Federal units made repeated
assaults on Lee's lines. Had McClellan thrown his entire army against
Lee's position, the weight of numbers probably would have destroyed the
Army of Northern Virginia. Instead, the Federal commander shifted his
attacks from one sector to another. Casualties mounted frightfully in
such areas as the East Wood, West Wood, Dunker Church, Sunken Road, and
around Burnside's Bridge. By nightfall Lee's battered army still held
its position. McClellan had lost 12,000 men, the Confederates 9,000.
The battle of Antietam Creek ended Lee's invasion, and he retired to
Virginia. Five days after the engagement, Lincoln issued his preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation. This document promised freedom to all slaves
in Confederate-held territory after January 1, 1863. As such, it
converted the war into a struggle for human freedom and deterred
European nations from granting aid or recognition to the Confederacy.
Many historians therefore maintain that Antietam Creek and its aftermath
were the turning points of the Civil War.
For six weeks after Antietam, McClellan seemed to make little effort to
resume the campaign against Lee. Lincoln tired of waiting; on November 5
he replaced McClellan with Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside.
[Illustration: Fredericksburg, viewed from Federal gun emplacements
north of the city. The battle occurred on the heights in the left
background.]
"I am not competent to command such a large army," Burnside stated. He
demonstrated this truth in his one battle at the head of the Army of the
Potomac. On December 13, a freezing Saturday, Burnside ordered six grand
assaults against Lee's entrenched army on the heights overlooking
Fredericksburg, Va. The result was a useless slaughter, and a defeated
Burnside wept over the killing and wounding of 10,000 of his men.
Confederate losses were less than half that number.
A few weeks later Burnside attempted a secret march around Lee's left
(western) flank. The Federal army bogged down in winter mud and made
barely a mile a day. This "Mud March" finished Burnside. He soon
relinquished command to Gen. Joseph Hooker, a strong-willed officer
known to the soldiers as "Fighting Joe."