Civil%20War:%20Peninsula%20Campaign,%20Shenandoah%20Valley%20Campaign,%20Antietam

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Civil War Peninsula Campaign, Shenandoah Valley
Campaign, Antietam

• Lesson 8

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Peninsula Campaign

• George McClellan
• Among the Armys best educated officers the
  Young Napoleon
• Excellent organizer and administrator
• Extremely cautious always wants more troops and
  more time to prepare
• Prone to believe enemy is stronger than he really
  is
• Mutual distrust with Lincoln
• McClellans failure to make Lincoln confident of
  Washingtons security will come back to haunt him

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Joe Johnston

• Highest ranking officer to leave the US Army for
  the Confederacy
• Difficult relationship with Davis
• Defensive-minded

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Peninsula Campaign

• McClellan near Washington with 100,000 men
• Johnston near Centreville with 40,000
• Pinkerton estimated Johnston had 150,000
• McClellan prefers an amphibious operation to an
  overland one in order to avoid Johnston
• Urbanna Plan developed in Dec

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Peninsula Campaign

• Johnston withdraws behind the Rappahannock River
• Effectively negates the Urbanna Plan
• McClellan shifts landing site to Fort Monroe
• Lincoln removes McClellan from general in chief
  duties on eve of campaign

When Federal forces inspect the abandoned
Confederate works at Centreville they find many
of the suspected defenses were merely Quaker
guns
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Peninsula Campaign
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Peninsula Campaign

• Amphibious movement begins March 17
• 121,500 men, 14,492 animals, 1,224 wagons, 200
  cannon
• the stride of a giant
• Advance inland begins April 4
• McClellan stops within 24 hours and begins siege
  operations
• Nobody but McClellan would have hesitated to
  attack. (Joe Johnston)
• Lincoln withholds I Corps to defend Washington

Mortars used in the Federal siege of Yorktown
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Peninsula Campaign

• Johnston withdraws May 3
• Opens up the York and James River to Federal
  gunboats
• Forces abandonment of Gosport Naval Yard and
  scuttling of the Merrimac which opens up the
  James River to the Federals
• Federal gunboat advance blocked at Drewrys Bluff
  15 May

The Monitor and the Merrimac fought the Battle of
Hampton Roads March 8 and 9
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Peninsula Campaign Seven Pines

• McClellans army divided by Chickahominy River
• Johnston tries to crush southern wing in Battle
  of Seven Pines May 31
• Mismanages battle, issues vague orders, and is
  wounded
• Robert E. Lee replaces Johnston
• Effects a reconcentration of forces and goes on
  the offensive

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Robert E. Lee

• Even Johnston admits, The shot that struck me
  down is the very best that has been fired in the
  Confederate cause yet.
• Lee previously was serving as Davis military
  advisor
• Extremely audacious
• Makes excellent use of intelligence and cavalry
• Strong advocate of the turning movement

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Jacksons Valley Campaign

• Shenandoah Valley
• Agricultural support for Confederacy
• Controlled Baltimore Ohio Railroad
• Avenue of approach into Maryland and Pennsylvania
• Originally Jackson faced 38,000 Federals with
  only 4,500 of his own men
• Federal force grew to nearly 60,000 tied up by
  Jackson (and therefore not threatening Lee)

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Jacksons Valley Campaign

• Jomini (1779-1869) Swiss military theorist who
  influenced many Civil War generals through his
  Summary of the Art of War
• Very geometrical and scientific approach to war
• Stressed interior lines

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Jacksons Valley Campaign

• Jackson neutralized Federal forces three times
  larger than his own.
• Fought six battles between March 23 and June 9
  Kernstown, McDowell, Front Royal, Winchester,
  Cross Keys, and Port Republic.
• Jacksons foot cavalry
• 676 miles in 48 marching days an average of 14
  miles a day

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Jacksons Marches

•  22 March Mount Jackson-Strasburg
  22
•  23 March Strasburg-Kernstown-Newtown
  18
•  24-26 March Newtown-Mount Jackson
  35
•  17-19 April Mount Jackson-Elk Run Valley
  50
•  30 April-3 May Elk Run Valley-Mechums
  River Stn. 60
•  7-8 May Staunton-Shenandoah Mount
  32
•  9-11 May Bull Pasture Mount-Franklin
  30
•  12-15 May Franklin-Lebanon Springs
  40
•  17 May Lebanon Springs-Bridgewater
  18
•  19-20 May Bridgewater-New Market
  24
•  21 May New Market-Luray
  12
•  22 May Luray-Milford
  12
•  23 May Milford-Front
  Royal-Cedarville 22
•  24 May Cedarville-Abrahams Creek
  22

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Jacksons Marches

•  25 May Abrahams Creek-Stevensons
  7
•  28 May Stevensons-Charlestown
  15
•  29 May Charlestown-Halltown
  5
•  30 May Halltown-Winchester
  25
•  31 May Winchester-Strasburg
  18
•  1 June Strasburg-Woodstock
  12
•  2 June Woodstock-Mount Jackson
  12
•  3 June Mount Jackson-New Market
  7
•  4-5 June New Market-Port Republic
  30
•  8 June Port Republic-Cross Keys
  5
•  9 June Cross Keys-Browns Gap
  16
•  12 June Browns Gap-Mount Meridian
  10
•  17-25 June Mount Meridian-Ashland
  Station 120
•  (one rest day)

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Jacksons Marching RulesIssued May 13, 1862

• Instructions on filling canteens which would
  prevent straggling for this purpose,
• Hourly rest breaks of ten minutes in duration,
• Mess times,
• Location of commanders during the march,
• Procedures for safeguarding weapons,
• Personnel accountability procedures,
• Guidance for transporting baggage, and
• Medical and ambulance support procedures.

Frank Vandiver, Mighty Stonewall, McGraw-Hill
NY, 1957, p. 232-233.
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Soldiers Load

• As a general rule, commanders should limit a
  soldiers load to an amount equal to 45 of his
  body weight in order to retain agility, stamina,
  alertness, and mobility.
• For the average soldier this is 72 pounds.

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Soldiers Load

• In the interest of being able to move rapidly,
  Jackson kept his soldiers load to the minimum.
• Jacksons men did not carry extra clothing,
  overcoats, or knapsacks.
• They marched with their rifles, ammunition, and
  just enough food to keep going.
• Each man carried one blanket or rubber sheet and
  slept with a comrade for extra warmth.
• The cooking was done at a common mess so that not
  everyone had to carry individual frying pans and
  skillets. Even the skillet handle had been
  spiked so that on the march it could be stuck in
  a rifle barrel.

Marshall, S. L. A. The Soldiers Load and the
Mobility of a Nation, The Marine Corps
Association Quantico, 1980, p. 25
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A. P. Hills Light Division

• One soldiers explanation of how Hill picked the
  name
• Why it was called the Light Division I did not
  learn but I know that the name was applicable,
  for we often marched without coats, blankets,
  knapsacks, or any other burdens except our arms
  and haversacks, which were never heavy and
  sometimes empty.
• W. F. Dunaway quoted in William Hassler, A. P.
  Hill Lees Forgotten General, Garrett and
  Massie Richmond, 1962.

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Seven Days

• Jacksons success allows Lee to concentrate his
  forces against McClellan
• Lee will defend Richmond with 20,000 and use
  60,000 to attack
• Plan depended on the timely arrival of Jackson
  who was to attack Porter from the flank and rear
• Jackson was inexplicably late
• Result was Mechanicsville (June 26) turned out to
  be an unsupported frontal attack rather than an
  envelopment

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Seven Days

• Gainess Mill (June 27)
• Another poor performance by Jackson limits
  Confederate victory, but Lee succeeds in causing
  McClellan to go on the defensive
• Savage Station (June 29)
• Fraysers Farm (June 30)
• Malvern Hill (July 1)
• Federal artillery defeats Confederate frontal
  assault
• McClellan withdraws to Harrison Landing under
  protection of Federal gunboats on the James River

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Seven Days
It would be 1864 before the Federal army again
got as close to Richmond as it did during the
Seven Days
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The End of Conciliation

• Many Federal generals had sought to wage war
  consistent with Winfield Scotts limited approach
  in Mexico
• The idea was to practice a conciliatory policy
  that held that mild treatment of Southerners,
  their property, and their institutions would
  ultimately result in their returning their
  allegiance to the US
• McClellan argued for this practice in a letter he
  gave Lincoln on July 8 stating A declaration of
  radical views, especially upon slavery, will
  rapidly disintegrate our present armies.

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Moves toward Emancipation

• A few generals such as Ben Butler, John Fremont,
  and David Hunter however were pushing for
  emancipation
• Lincoln too was beginning to move in that
  direction and on July 22, 1862 he showed his
  cabinet a preliminary draft of the Emancipation
  Proclamation
• Now Lincoln needed a battlefield victory to give
  him an opportunity to make the Proclamation public

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Second Manassas

• John Pope replaced McClellan as Federal commander
  and was decisively defeated at Second Manassas in
  August
• Lee seizes the opportunity to take the war into
  Maryland

As Pope attacked Jackson on the Confederate left,
Longstreet enveloped the Federals from the right
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Antietam

• In desperation, Lincoln restores McClellan to
  command
• As Lee marched into Maryland he expected the
  Federals to abandon their 12,000-man garrison at
  Harpers Ferry
• When they didnt, Lee was forced to divide his
  army in order to deal with this threat to his rear

Harpers Ferry sits at the confluence of the
Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers
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Antietam

• Lee divides his army into four parts
• Three of them under Jackson head toward Harpers
  Ferry
• A fourth under Longstreet heads for Boonsboro

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Antietam

• Lees army is now scattered and McClellan has
  time to organize his forces
• Hes aided by finding a copy of Lees plan
• Still McClellan lacks the killer instinct
  necessary to take full advantage of the situation

The Lost Order
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Antietam

• In the actual battle, Mclellan commits his forces
  piecemeal which allows Lee to shift his
  outnumbered forces from one threatened point to
  another

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Antietam

• The battle is the bloodiest single day of the war
• The Confederates suffer 13,700 casualties out of
  40,000 engaged
• The Federals lose 12,350 out of 87,000
• Lee is forced to withdraw back to Virginia
• It is enough of a victory for Lincoln to issue
  his Emancipation Proclamation

Confederate dead in the Bloody Lane
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Emancipation Proclamation

• Issued September 22, 1862
• That on the first day of January, in the year of
  our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
  sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within
  any State or designated part of a State, the
  people whereof shall then be in rebellion against
  the United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
  and forever free

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Emancipation Proclamation

• The Emancipation Proclamation changed the very
  nature of the war, giving it a completely new
  objective
• Conciliation was no longer an option
• Represented a move toward total war
• The North was now not merely fighting to restore
  a union it thought was never legitimately
  separated. It was fighting for freedom of a
  race.
• The South was no longer fighting merely for
  independence. It was fighting for survival of
  its way of life.

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Diplomatic Impact

• The South had longed hoped for European
  recognition and intervention
• The Emancipation Proclamation made that virtually
  impossible because England had abolished slavery
  in 1833 and France in 1848

John Slidell represented the Confederacy in France
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Impact of Emancipation Proclamation on
Confederate Diplomatic Efforts

• the feeling against slavery in England is so
  strong that no public man there dares extend a
  hand to help us There is no government in Europe
  that dares help us in a struggle which can be
  suspected of having for its result, directly or
  indirectly, the fortification or perpetuation of
  slavery. Of that I am certain
• William Yancey, Confederate politician

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