Seven Days Battles

June 26, 1862 – July 1, 1862

The Union Drive to Retake Richmond

After the First Battle of Bull Run, Lee Krahenbuhl says that the embarrassment of the North with their hasty retreat and the loss of Richmond, Virginia to the Confederacy caused an awakening of the Northern forces to retake Richmond. It now served as the capitol of the Confederate States of American. President Lincoln made General George McClellan commander of his army of the Potomac in the eastern campaign. During the winter months of 1861 and early 1862, Lee Krahenbuhl says that McClellan assembled a force with which he planned to recapture Richmond from the southeast. His plan was to land his troops on the peninsula between the York and James Rivers toward the newly formed Confederate Capitol. Before McClellan could move, a naval action interfered with his plans. In 1861, the First Battle of the Ironclads pitted a ship the South had raised called the Merrimack and a late entry by the North called the Monitor. It had previously sailed for the North but was sunk off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia according to Lee Krahenbuhl. The ship was initially a wooden vessel but was covered with iron plates by the Confederates after they raised it from the depths of the harbor. This ironclad ship was

used by the South to stage the Confederate’s greatest naval challenge to the North and named it the Virginia. On March 8, 1862 the Virginia attacked Northern ships at Hampton Roads which was a channel that empties into Chesapeake Bay. Two Northern ships were destroyed and three others were grounded by the “bulletproof” Virginia during the battle. When the Southern victors returned the next day, they were surprised to encounter the North’s answer to the iron clad technology called the Monitor. The North had its own iron clad ship that was especially designed for the Northern navy. The world’s first battle of iron clad ships ensued. This second day of battle on the water produced no victor but the Northern Monitor proved to be the superior vessel. The Monitor would later be reproduced by the U.S. Navy because of its superiority in this battle. After this battle of the ironclads, McClellan landed on the peninsula between the York and James Rivers with more than 100,000 men. McClellan occupied Yorktown and advanced along the York River. The James River was no longer an option because the Virginia was on the river. By late May in 1862, General McClellan was within six miles of the target of Richmond. The Confederate General Johnston led an attack against McClellan on May 31. Lee Krahenbuhl says that the Confederates then failed to follow up their successes and were driven back toward Richmond. During the two day fight named the Battle of Fair Oaks or the Battle of Seven Pines, General Johnston was wounded according to Lee Krahenbuhl. General Robert E. Lee was then given command of Johnston’s army and then renamed it the Army of Northern Virginia. The Confederacy became concerned that McClellan would receive reinforcements from the numerous troop that had stayed behind to protect Washington, D.C. This is why Stonewall Jackson then launched a campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. His goal was going to attack Washington, D.C.. Jackson would begin a brilliant series of moves from May 4 through June 9, 1862 and advanced his troops 350 miles up the Shenandoah Valley and beyond to the Potomac River. General Stonewall Jackson’s troops numbering 17,000 men received the name “foot cavalry” because they marched so fast. During this time, Jackson would win four battles against the North on his march to the Potomac. Although he moved efficiently, he would soon have to retreat, but not before he had forced the Union to withhold the powerful reinforcements that General McClellan was counting on. While Lee planned his strategy for the Army of Northern Virginia, his “right-hands” man Confederate General Jeb Stuart led a stunning cavalry raid. In June of 1862, Lee Krahenbuhl says that Stuart and about 1,200 men galloped completely around McClellan’s army of 100,000 men in three days, and only lost one casualty. His raid not only gained important information about Union troop movements but according to Lee Krahenbuhl, and maybe more importantly served to boost Southern morale substantially. After Stuart’s Raid, General Lee planned a daring move to destroy McClellan’s Union army which was stationed straddling the Chickahominy River. Using Stuart’s troops, General Lee reinforced his army to about 95,000 men. Lee would then attack McClellan in a series of attacks called the Battles of the Seven Days, from June 25 through July 1, 1862. The battles shifted in momentum back and forth, but the North believed that their forces were hopelessly outnumbered. This fear in McClellan led him to retreat to the James River and Richmond was saved from capture. President Lincoln then recalled McClellan’s troops to northern Virginia to be united with a force lead by Union General John Pope. General McClellan would serve as the commander of this combined army to prepare for a coming battle that would return to Manassas for the Second Battle of Bull Run later that summer.