Download Jackson and Lee Strike Back (Ch. 15)

• 1862 McClellan plans flanking maneuver with Army of the
Potomac at Centreville
• Confederate commander Joseph E. Johnston spoiled the attack
by retreating 40 miles south to Culpeper
• Made Confederates in better position to protect Richmond in
every direction
• McClellan’s mistakes in war tactics and inaccurate exaggerations
involving the Confederate Army made the Republicans
suspicious of his loyalty to the Union especially with his
political status being democratic
• March 11th, Lincoln relieves McClellan as commander in chief
• McClellan takes on head of campaigning army
• Wants to transport the Potomac Army down the Chesapeake
Bay to the peninsula formed by the James and York River and
capture fort Monroe
• This would make McClellan’s army base close to Richmond and
convenient to get to with only two rivers to cross
• Lincoln did not like this because:
• It made Washington unprotected against attack from west to south
• Made Richmond more of the focus rather than the Southern Army
• Late march, General Irvin McDowell sent 35,000 men south to
assist McClellan in an attack on confederate defenses guarding
the lower peninsula.
• There was 25,000 men in Shenandoah valley under Nathaniel
Banks and 8,000 in West Virginia under John C. Fremont.
• McClellan:
• Left few regiments in Washington than had promised and nearly all of
them were new recruits
• Counted Fremont’s and Bank’s troops among the men he left behind to
protect Washington
• This angered Lincoln and concerned him more about the
Capital’s safety
• Lincoln’s fears lead him to send one of Bank’s divisions to
Manassas which is close to Washington.
• Believed Bank’s had more than enough men to tolerate
Stonewall Jackson’s defenses
• March 23rd Jackson uses talented tactics to defeat an army
that was twice as large as Kernstown.
• Losses came from Jackson having more men than previously
thought
• McClellan and supporters believed the Republicans did not want
McClellan to succeed due to his Democratic status
• April, McClellan had 70,000 men against 17,000 confederates
near Yorktown
• Instead of attacking, McClellan settled for a siege
• McClellan overestimates number of enemy troops holding the
Yorktown defenses
• Confederate Commander , General John B. Magruder paraded
around McClellan’s forces and shifted artillery around to give
the impression that he had more men than McClellan.
• Lincoln becomes humiliated and Disappointed that McClellan
could not battle the Yorktown defense before Johnston got most
of his army to the peninsula
• April 9th Lincoln warns McClellan by saying “ it is
indispensable to you that you strike a blow…I have never
written you, or spoken to you, in a greater kindness of
feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain
you….but you must act.”
• McClellan’s only action was to inch forward with his siege
• Meanwhile Johnston brought 40,000 more men to the peninsula.
• May, McClellan got his siege guns into position
• May 3rd Johnston evacuates and went back toward Richmond
• May 5th Several Union divisions attacked the Confederates
retreating by Williamsburg
• Confederates withdrew
• Rain came for a month which made sickness a major cause of
death and made roads, bridges, and land complicated to travel
on
• This resulted in little fighting
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Confederates retreat led to the evacuation at Norfolk
This opened up the James River to Union warships
Confederate government prepared to evacuate the capital
Union navy suffered a major defeat at Drewry’s Bluff
The “Monitor’s” guns could not be lifted high enough to hit the
confederate artillery on the bluff 100 Ft above
• Other Union boats were severely damaged
• Richmond could only be taken by McClellan’s men now
• May 20th Johnston creates a defensive line five miles from the
city
• 60,000 Confederates against 100,000 Union men
• McClellan estimated Johnston’s army at 150,000 and
demanded reinforcements before his attack
• Lincoln promised him 40,000 from McDowell who could march
towards Fredericksburg to assist McClellan and still be between
the Confederates and Washington
• Stonewall upset the federal campaign against Richmond
• Jackson withdraws up the valley
• Late April, Jackson recruited new troops and was assisted by
General Richard Ewelil’s division
• Jackson marched all his troops eastward across Blue Ridge, put
them on trains near Charlottesville, and took them back west to
Staunton ( supply base threatened by part of Fremont’s army)
• May 8th, Jackson drove two of Fremont’s brigades northward
after a sharp encounter in the mountains west of Staunton
• Rebel Guerrillas kept Fremont off balance
• Jackson turned east again and found that another division of
Banks’s joined McDowell’s for the expected meet with McClellan
• Jackson immediately attacked the union division to prevent
further progress for them
• Banks retreated down valley turnpike
• Jackson went east to meet up with Ewell’s division and marched
to Front Royal to overwhelm the Union garrison
• Jackson’s cavalry under Turner Ashby prevented Union cavalry
from getting close enough to knowing what Jackson was doing
• Rebel infantry marched so fast and far in the Campaign that
they became known as “Jackson’s foot cavalry.”
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Jackson’s Cavalry became weak and slow
May 25th, Jackson’s army attacked Banks at Winchester
Banks left northward toward the Potomac
Jackson’s army captured, wounded, and killed 3,000 of the
Union men
• Seized wagons, supplies, medicine, guns, and horses
• Jackson was believed to be marching on Washington with
40,000 men
• Lincoln suspends McDowell’s movement towards Richmond and
orders him to send 20,000 men to Strasburg to destroy
Jackson’s force
• Orders Fremont to send 15,000 men from the Alleghenies to the
valley turnpike at Harrisonburg
• Banks was ordered to reorganize and cross the Potomac to stop
Jackson from the north
• Lincolns plan fails due to his generals moving too slowly and not
coordinating their movements
• The Confederates burned the bridges and secured the last one
standing with their men (Port Republic)
• Shield’s men put up a fight against Jackson at Port Republic
which left Jackson’s men tired and bruised which stopped him
from attacking Fremont’s army as planned
• Stonewall Jackson becomes one of the most vital leaders for the
Confederates in the war
• His valley campaign is still studied at military schools to learn
about small armies using geography and mobility to succeed
against larger armies
• Period of one month Jackson’s army of 17,00 men marched
350 miles and fought and won 4 battles against 3 separate
armies
• Competing armies were twice the size of Jackson’s
• McDowell finally joined with McClellan’s forces in March, May,
and June
• Three other armies stayed in Shenandoah Valley to defend
against any other of Jackson’s feared attacks
• McClellan believed that if McDowell would have joined his
forces in May, they would have captured Richmond within a
week
• For the Confederates, Jackson’s campaign accomplished what
Lee and Davis had hoped it would
• Also gave a line of victories in Virginia that gave the
confederates an up rise over the union in level of confidence
• Armies on the peninsula were fighting 6 miles from Richmond
• McClellan’s troops were divided by the Chickahominy
• Orders did not get around to Southern army so attack on
McClellan during storm was not possible
• Sumner came with men and artillery to assist Union
• Confederates had no success on an attempted assault the next
day either
• Confederates were driven back to their starting point at the
road between Seven pines and fair oaks ( battle is called by
both names)
• Battle was uncoordinated and bloody – no strategic
consequences just an impact on commanders
• Most wounded soldiers and dead soldiers would sink in the
muddy, swamp – like, land
• McClellan states his sightings of mangled corpses around the
battlefield saying “ victory has no charms for me when
purchased at such a cost.”
• McClellan did not understand the purpose of soldiers which was
to fight, or die.
• Due to Johnston’s wounding during the battle, Robert E. Lee
takes his place
• South was not excited about Lee due to his lack of achievements
• McClellan described Lee as cautious and weak
• A southern officer states “ his name might be Audacity. He will
take more chances, and take them quicker than any other
general in this country.”
• Lee named his command Army of Northern Virginia
• Planned offensive tactics against McClellan’s larger numbers
• June 12th, he sent J.E.B. Stuart on a cavalry reconnaissance to
find McClellan’s Position
• Stuart succeeds and also rode around McClellan’s army of
100,000for 3 days with his 1,200 men and destroyed supplies
and other union cavalry
• McClellan’s right flank was determined unprotected and
vulnerable
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McClellan moves south of the Chickahominy
Fitz-John Porter’s corps of 30,000 was left on the north bank
Lee decides to attack
Lee took the risk of the 70,000 Federals south of the
Chickahominy taking the 25,000 confederates in front of them
• He took the risk knowing McClellan’s faults as a leader
• Third week of June Jackson moved his men in secrecy to a point
north of Richmond to assist Lee
• McClellan complains to Lincoln that he needs more men and
dislikes the lack of reinforcement he receives yet he was given a
total of 35,000 men used for reinforcements since that April
• June 20th, McClellan had 100,000 troops whereas Jackson and
Lee combined had fewer than 90,000
• McClellan delays battle claiming the South’s 90,000 is actually
200,000
• June 25th, McClellan finally begins an offense
• Next day Lee launches an attack across the Chickahominy
• Jackson effective foot cavalry never made it to the battlefield
on June 26th
• A.E Hill became impatient and forced an attack that afternoon
• Greatly attacked by federals in hiding
• Jackson heard shots but did not go to his aid
• Lee gave vague orders and his march to Mechanicsville was
complicated due to the burning of bridges and falling of trees
on the bad roads
• Days of Battle became known as Seven Days Battle
• Jackson’s drive was lessened due to fatigue
• McClellan decided to move his base to the James River for
more security
• Sends a dispatch to Secretary of War Stanton revealing his
feelings of the battle
• “ I have lost this battle because my force was too small…the
government must not and cannot hold me responsible for the
results… I have seen too many dead and wounded comrades to
feel otherwise than that this government has not sustained this
army…if I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I owe no
thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. You have
done your best to sacrifice this army.”
• July 1st, Lee sends infantry to attack the Union across Malvern
Hill
• Confederate General Daniel H. Hill says the battle was “not
war - it was murder.”
• Union artillery and cannons destroyed Lee’s men and was best
used during this battle than in any other battle of the war
• Malvern Hill was last battle of Seven Days Battle
• Union loss only one battle – Gaines’ Hill
• Confederates suffered 20,000 casualties compared to the
Union’s 16,500
• Seven Days Battle gave Lee a name for himself
• McClellan’s failure near Richmond caused conflict between the
Democrats and Lincoln
• Democrats call Lincoln out for not sustaining McClellan,
Republicans call Lincoln out for keeping him in command
• Lincoln arranges to have a 3 year volunteers and 300,000 men
on July 2nd to fight for God and Country
• 300,000 were slow to come forward
• August 4th, Secretary of War Scranton gave quotas to the states
demanding men to fight and if they failed to meet their quotas
there would be militia drafts in that state
• Many drafted men paid for subsitutes
• Lincoln names John Pope commander of new Army of Virginia
• Pope was against McClellan and won the support of radical
Republicans
• Pope became greatly hated in South due to his ideas of taking
over
• “Hard War” came about when civilians and counties were being
devastated by armies
• Waging war became a controversial topic
• Lincoln makes accusations that the War was changing into a
“hard war” to destroy “slave power”
• July 11th, Lincoln names Halleck from the West general in chief
of all the armies
• Called “old brains” Lincoln hoped that Halleck would plan new
bold offensives but it failed
• Halleck was no good
• Halleck was put to work to translate civilian directives into
military language for generals
• Lincoln and Halleck decided to take the Army of the Potomac
out from the Peninsula and send them to Pope up North
• McClellan disliked this
• Jackson defeats Banks on Cedar Mountain
• Lee drove federals back across the Rappahannock but did not
make an attack
• Lee splits his army making Jackson’s foot cavalry go more than
fifty miles to fall on a large Union supply depot at Manassas
and seized all Union supplies and burned the rest
• Considered one of the greatest marches of the war
• August 28th Jackson attacks Pope’s Army and the Union had to
fight off twice their numbers
• Half of Union army was bruised by Jackson’s corps and other
half stayed idle
• August 30th, Jackson and Pope fight again but Jackson’s needs
help due to lack of ammunition
• Longstreet makes a counter attack on Union that forces the
Union men back more than a mile
• Union stand on Henry House Hill halted the confederates
• Lee sends Jackson’s weakened men to march around Pope’s
right in a rainstorm
• September 1st, they run into two Union divisions who clashes in
the rainstorm
• Pope pulls the army back to the Washington defenses
• Union army suffers another embarrassing defeat by Manassas
• McClellan refused to send one of his corps out to assist Pope as
soon he could which was ordered by Halleck
• Lincoln describes his behavior as “unpardonable”
• McClellan became resented for his desire for Pope to be
defeated
• Lincoln retained him in command of the Army of the Potomac
which included the Army of the Virginia
• Pope was given an unimportant command in the Midwest
• Lincoln viewed as he had no choice due to the fact that the
army was demoralized and on edge of mutiny
• Lincoln knew McClellan was the only man who could reorganize
and restore the army’s morale
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9jxtXAHYZc&feature=rela
ted