5 miles
During the Peninsula campaign the fighting for Richmond began at Fair Oaks. General Johnston was wounded during his attack on Union forces and was replaced by General Robert E. Lee.
Union General George Meade still believed that a "peninsula campaign" was the best way to assault Richmond. Meade did not press his ideas because of the 1862 failed Peninsula campaign of General George B. McClellan.
Union General George B. McClellan had plans for General Totten in the 1862 Peninsula campaign. Late in March of 1862, McClellan had requested that General Totten be made available to build fortifications on the peninsula leading to Richmond. He was an experienced engineer. McClellan understood that the experience of the Army's chief engineer, Totten would be invaluable in this campaign.
The battles referred to as the Seven Days were fought during Union General George McClellans Peninsula Campaign, and began June 25, 1862 and ended July 1. There would be six separate battles.
The Peninsula campaign was the work of the Union's General in Chief, George B. McClellan. As general in chief, McClellan submitted a brilliant plan to catch the Confederates off guard and instead of attacking Richmond with a march due south from Washington DC, he convinced President Lincoln that time and distance could be saved by launching the attack against Richmond from the peninsula that lay east of Richmond. Lincoln finally agreed with the plan but as McClellan was proceeding, Lincoln thought it best to remove McClellan as general in chief so that he could focus all his attention on Richmond and not be distracted with other military operations.
he did not give mcclellan enough troops
The Union's objective in the Peninsular Campaign was to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond and end the war. General McClellan had convinced President Lincoln that the plan Lincoln favored would take too long. Using the York and James River peninsula would be a shorter march to Richmond. Unfortunately, for the Union it was a failure. However looking at it from the Confederate point of view, the repulse of the Union army saved Richmond and at the same time brought in Confederate General Robert E. Lee to defend Virginia and Richmond.
On April 4, 1862, General McClellan decided that the best way to force the Confederates out of Yorktown, was to lay it to siege. This caused a serious delay in McClellan's advance westward towards Richmond.
When General Lee was called to replace the wounded Joseph Johnston to stop the Union's Peninsula campaign, he left General Gustavus W. Smith to defend Richmond. Smith was ready having recovered from an illness in early June 1862.
George McLellan
On May 21, 1862 Confederate President Jefferson Davis demanded the battle plans of Major General Joseph Johnston's defense of Richmond. Davis had realized that Johnston had no intentions of using the Peninsula as a base for his defensive operations against the Union forces on their way to assault Richmond. Finally, General Lee and Davis convinced Johnston to attack Union General McClellan's forces east of Richmond on the peninsula. Johnston's refusal, then reluctance to do so, would later become evident in the Atlanta campaign when Johnston would be replaced by John Bell Hood. Davis and Johnston would never get along with each other throughout the war.
General McClellan believed he had good reasons for his ideas that Washington DC was set about to damage his plans for the Peninsula campaign. He resented his battle plans being questioned, having his army reorganized against his will, and to read in newspapers about his removal from the general in chief title he had. From that point on, he began his campaign of blaming Washington DC for his failures in the Peninsula campaign.