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2 Apprenticeship The Peninsula and Maryland Campaigns
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28 2 Apprenticeship T h e Pen i nsu l a a n d M a ry l a n d Ca m pa igns Soon after assembling the army into corps, McClellan moved his forces to Fort Monroe. A Union-controlled stronghold on the Virginia Peninsula , Fort Monroe served as the starting point for a Federal offensive to capture Richmond. McClellan planned to push his 89,000 men inland (westward) the roughly fifty miles to the Confederate capital. Supply lines secured by the Union navy along the bordering York and James Rivers would facilitate the Federal offensive. If all went well, Richmond would fall by midsummer from either siege or climactic battle.1 That hopeful outlook, however, was lost for the moment on Sumner’s men. The ships were crowded and the seas were rough, leaving soldiers foultempered and seasick. The only entertainment came at the very end of the several-day voyage, when the gathering Federal fleet hove into view. Thelightsmarkingeachshipappeared“asthickasstarsonaclearnight” and made a “sight not soon forgotten.”2 Fighting for Richmond Union forces struck out from Fort Monroe in early April, only to make slow progress. McClellan settled the army into a three-week siege outsideYorktown ,believingthe15,000Confederatedefenderstobepresent in far greater numbers than that.3 When the Confederates abandoned the historic town and retreated back toward Richmond in early May, Sumner’s men were euphoric. Believing that the Confederates had only so much space to trade, they gloated that the “Rebs are getting in a tight place” and “Richmond will be ours.” Soldiers believed ultimate Apprenticeship 29 Union victory all the nearer after reaching the Chickahominy River in late May. The sluggishly flowing river formed the last natural defensive barrier before reaching Richmond, only a few miles distant. The Federals could force a “final battle” before Richmond, or they could follow anotherConfederateretreat.Thelattermightdelaytheendofthewarby some weeks, if not months. Major Joseph Dimock explained to his wife that she should not get “down hearted” if the Confederates temporarily prolonged the fighting by abandoning Richmond. He might not be home by the Fourth of July, but certainly by Christmas.4 The politics of command came into play before a final Union push began, when all of the Army of the Potomac but for the Second Corps underwent a major restructuring. McClellan used two divisions recently received from the defense of Washington to create the Fifth Corps and Sixth Corps in mid-May. To fill the two new command openings, McClellan appointed Brigadier General Fitz John Porter and Brigadier GeneralWilliamFranklin.McClellanhadfavoritesinPorterandFranklin , who were both close confidants and good Democrats. McClellan simultaneouslyreducedtheinfluenceofHeintzelmanandKeyeswithin the Federal high command by transferring one division from each of their commands to Porter and Franklin. This was less of an issue for Sumner, since the Second Corps already had lost a third division that winter.5 The only dark cloud for Sumner’s men was found in the deploymentofthearmy .McClellanpushedtheThirdCorpsandFourthCorps south across the Chickahominy, and placed the Second Corps in the center of the remaining Union forces. Noting the presence of Federal troops to the front and to either side, soldiers worried that they would play little role in the capture of Richmond.6 SoundsofbattlecomingfromacrosstheChickahominyRiverinterrupted the reveries enjoyed by Sumner’s men. Confederate General Joseph Johnston had launched a counterattack on the early afternoon of May 31, with most of his now 56,000 soldiers. Johnston hoped to crush the Union forces already across the rain-swollen Chickahominy River before help arrived. He was close by later in the day, with a series of Confederate attacks pushing back and threatening to overwhelm the Union defensive lines.7 [54.221.43.155] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:46 GMT) 30 defeating lee Sedgwick’s men crossing the Grapevine Bridge at Fair Oaks on May 31, 1862. Soldiers later claimed that their timely arrival played a major role in the Union’s triumph during the two-day battle. Reprinted from Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 2, 246. Coming to the aid of the embattled Union forces proved no easy task, and here Sumner experienced his finest moment of the war. Sumner had alertly readied his men to march when he first had heard sounds ofbattle,savingvaluabletimewhentheordercamefromMcClellan.The previousnight’sstormhadwashedawayallbuttheGrapevineBridge,to the front of Sedgwick’s men. A nearby engineering officer warned Sumner not to attempt to cross the structure, lest it collapse from the muddy currents already overlapping the causeway. Sumner was in no mood to argue, determined to reach the sound of the guns...