On March 17,1862 the Army of the Potomac was moved from the line of the River Rapahannock and transported by ships to Fort Monroe, landing in the Virginian Peninsula between the mouths of James and York Rivers. The seaborne operations was followed by the Peninsular Campaign, which started in April 1862 and lasted until July, a series of offensives aiming to capture Richmond. That campaign was a failure, because McClellan, in spite of his great superiority in numbers and means was not able to reach his objective.
George McClellan
West
west
He was fired after the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln decided McClellan was too slow to attack the enemy and he let General Lee slip away after the big battle. McClellan did prove to be a great organizer of the army and established some good principal on training.
George McClellan was the general before Grant. After the battle of Richmond, Lincoln accused him of having the slows due to the fact that he was overly conservative and cautious. He did not pursue the southern retreat after the battle, a move which was considered by many a prolonging of the war. His decisions caused him to loose his position as general to Grant, a drunkard who was willing to take "necessary risks".
By February of 1862, the Union's general in chief, George B. McClellan had amassed a huge army that endangered Confederate Joseph Johnston's army in northern Virginia. McClellan's Army of the Potomac was estimated to have over 150,000 troops. Johnston's army was only one third of McClellan's. Johnston therefore ordered his forces south and to consolidate on the line of the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers.
Despite the exhortation expressed to him by Lincoln on October 1, 1862, during the visit the President paid to his headquarters, McClellan started to move his troops across the Potomac only on October 26th.
Prodded by President Lincoln, Major General George B. McClellan finally made a move into Virginia. On October 30, 1862, McClellan crossed the Potomac River and moved southwards in the general direction of Gordonsville. There the railroads of the Orange and Alexandria connected with the Virginia Central. McClellan planned to cut Lee's communication lines with Richmond.
George McClellan
General Robert E. Lee viewed Union General John Pope's army in northern Virginia to be a threat to the Virginia Central Railroad. This was an important line of supply and communications between Richmond and the Shenandoah Valley. While General McClellan was slow to move his troops out of the Peninsula, Lee decided to focus his attention on Pope and prepare an assault on his Union army.
Although General in Chief McClellan proved to be lacking as a battlefield commander, few can doubt that he was a brilliant strategist. He wanted to take Texas out of the Confederacy as soon as possible. McClellan planned to have the new commander in the Department of Kansas to play a major role in attacking Texas. He had placed Major General David Hunter in charge of the new department. McClellan's plans called for Hunter to move into the Indian Territory west of Arkansas and from there move into northern Texas. This would be a two pronged attack in conjunction with an offensive against Texas from the Gulf of Mexico. General Hunter was willing to execute such a plan but advised his new superior officer that he would need at least 20,000 troops to begin any actions against Texas. This plan was placed on hold as McClellan was distracted with important plans for Virginia.
George McClellan
US President Lincoln and General in Chief Henry Wager Halleck were critical of General McClellan for not moving immediately against the Army of Northern Virginia after the Battle of Antietam. It can be debated that McClellan had difficulties in resupplying his army, which was huge and reequipping it was a time costly task. This was the reason he believed that an immediate advance against Lee's army was not the correct move. His view is confirmed as General Robert E. Lee saw the strategic situation in the same way. McClellan realized that Lee's two-sided base was a threat to his army in Virginia. Lee's home base had support. Richmond and the vital Virginia Central railroad. Good roads and a rail link to the Shenandoah Valley was Lee's base to the West. It was also rich in food supplies. From Lee's Valley base he would threaten the flank and rear of any Union army moving south to Richmond. And attacking Lee's army directly in Virginia, without resupplying would not be a good move by McClellan. President Lincoln did not see the value of McClellan's hesitation. But if Lincoln knew Lee agreed with McClellan, his attitude might have been different.
General in chief George B. McClellan had convinced US President Lincoln that an assault on Richmond from Alexandria, Virginia would not be as effective as his plans to attack Richmond from the Chesapeake Bay. His plans, however, were disrupted by the Battle of Hampton Roads and the movement of Confederate General Joseph Johnston south of his position at Manassas. By landing at Urbana, Virginia, McClellan planned to move west and place his army between Johnston's forces and Richmond. As part of a "plan B" he settled on the Union Fort Monroe from which to launch his army east to the mainland of Virginia.
Halleck came to the conclusion that even if McClellan did, his planned turning movement would result in becoming an exterior line of operation to General Lee's advantage. Confederate General Robert E. Lee was situated between the armies of Pope and McClellan and could thus form a concentration against either army and result in a major Union defeat. The exterior line situation that the Union had created was a potential disaster. The best move was to evacuate the Peninsula and join Pope in Northern Virginia.
Without a doubt, General McClellan posed a serious threat to the security of the South's capital of Richmond in 1862. General Robert E. Lee was acting as Jefferson Davis's advisor in military operations in Virginia. Lee believed that unless McClellan could be driven out of his entrenchments, he could move under the cover of his artillery batteries, and place additional heavy cannons within shelling distance of Richmond. This situation displayed Lee's respect for McClellan in this part of the war.
Based on his precarious position it was a wise move by General McClellan to retreat south to the James River. The South benefited by this in that McClellan had to leave behind major supplies of foodstuffs.