In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

253 chapter twelve “He Has Acted Badly” McClellan reached Williamsburg shortly before 5 p.m. on August 18 and informed Halleck that the movement from Harrison’s Landing had been “a perfect success.” All but the Second and Third Corps, he reported, were “at Fort Monroe and Newport News, probably embarking now.” The following day, as Pope retreated behind the Rappahannock, Halleck reminded McClellan that “It is of vital importance that you send forward troops as rapidly as possible .” McClellan immediately replied that Sumner was at Williamsburg, while Keyes was between that place and Yorktown. Heintzelman’s and Franklin ’s corps were at Yorktown, McClellan reported, with the former under orders to “make use of every vessel that arrives at Yorktown, both during the night and day, to embark your troops.” While Heintzelman embarked, Franklin was to proceed to Newport News, where Porter was already “embarking as rapidly as possible” and, McClellan told Halleck, would be en route to Aquia by the morning of the twentieth.1 By noon on August 20, spurred by a telegram from McClellan telling him it was “a matter of life and death,” Porter’s lead elements had reached Aquia. As Heintzelman’s corps embarked at Yorktown, however, McClellan concluded that his heavy steamers could be unloaded quicker at Alexandria and suggested to Halleck that Heintzelman’s point of disembarkation be changed. He then directed Sumner to march to Newport News and Hampton to prepare for embarking . At the end of the day, he informed Halleck that he could expect all of Heintzelman’s corps to be off on the twenty-¤rst.2 By the afternoon of August 21, the redeployment of McClellan’s army was proceeding smoothly and ef¤ciently. John Reynolds’s division was already moving up the Rappahannock to reinforce Pope, while Porter had arrived at Aquia 254 mcclellan’s war and was on the march to Falmouth, the town across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg where Burnside was overseeing the movement of units to Pope, and the lead division of Heintzelman’s corps had reached Aquia. The question of whether it was to land there remained unresolved, although Halleck eventually delegated the decision to Burnside, who decided on August 22 to send them to Alexandria, from where they would proceed to Pope by rail. Meanwhile, Franklin was embarking at Fort Monroe and Sumner was expected to arrive there the next morning. The following day, all of Porter’s infantry arrived at Falmouth and began moving up the Rappahannock toward Kelly’s Ford. There, Porter was told, Pope had left Jesse Reno’s corps for him to link up with.3 As McClellan was pushing his army’s embarkation from the Peninsula, Lee was still looking for some way to strike a blow at Pope before the Federals became too strong. By the afternoon of August 21, he had determined that Pope’s position north of the Rappahannock was too strong to strike directly and deduced that, since reinforcements from the Peninsula were coming from that direction, the lower fords were probably too strongly held then for an attack against Pope’s left to succeed. Consequently, he decided to push Jackson’s wing of the army upriver in an attempt to turn Pope’s right. On August 22, as Jackson pushed Jubal Early’s brigade across the Rappahannock at White Sulphur Springs to establish a position from where the rest of his command could strike Pope’s ¶ank, Lee also approved a proposal by Jeb Stuart to take his cavalry and strike at Pope’s rear.4 Then, a massive thunderstorm hit the Rappahannock Valley and ¶ooded the river, trapping Early on the northern bank of the river. Pope immediately ordered Franz Sigel’s corps to march to the site of the Confederate crossing and attack “the enemy wherever you ¤nd him.” To support Sigel, Pope directed McDowell to move to Warrenton with Reynolds’s division and instructed Banks and Reno to move upriver. Unfortunately, Confederate diligence in constructing bridges across the river enabled Jackson to evacuate Early on the morning of August 24 before Sigel’s lead elements arrived.5 While Pope and Lee maneuvered along the Rappahannock, McClellan was¤nishing up the task of evacuating the Peninsula. The urgency with which McClellan pushed his command’s movements was manifest in injunctions to subordinates to “push off your troops without one minute’s delay” and “make use of every vessel . . . both during the night and day” and by the frustration he expressed...

Share