potomac river
potomac river
This campaign is called the Peninsular (peninsula) Campaign because the action was fought on the peninsula of land bounded on the north by the York River, the south by the James River and extending out to Chesapeake Bay. The Battles of Yorktown (which was not a battle but a siege that produced next to no results for McClellan) Williamsburg, Hanover Court House, Seven Pines, and the battles of The Seven Days were all fought during this expedition. The thrust of the campaign was the capture of the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia but it ended in failure.
Yorktown is located on the northern shore of a Virginia peninsula extending into Chesapeake Bay, bounded by the York River on the north and the James River on the south. These are wide tidal rivers at this point.However I have never heard the Revolutionary War Battle of Yorktown called "the peninsular campaign". There was a campaign during the American Civil War on this same peninsula in 1862 which IS called the Peninsular Campaign, involving Union and Confederate forces. This involved the effort of Federal troops under McClellan to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond by approaching from the east, after landing at the tip of the Peninsula. The initial Confederate defense line the Federal troops encountered was in the vicinity of Yorktown, and some of the trenches from eighty years before were occupied again.
The Union began the Peninsular Campaign in March 1862. General-in-Chief McClellan moved his Army of the Potomac from Washington down the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay to the peninsula south of the Confederate Capital of Richmond, Virginia, before advancing toward Richmond. McClellan planned a giant amphibious operation to capture Yorktown before moving on Richmond from the south. However, the Confederate Merrimack blocked the water route up the James River to Richmond, so McClellan decided to advance up the peninsula between the York and James rivers. By early April 1862 McClellan's forces had been transported by sea to the south end of the peninsula and were ready to take Yorktown. The Confederates had fewer troops than the North so they needed a diversion to keep the Union soldiers from taking Richmond. to capture Richmond, Virgina
Virginia. The first big campaign in Virginia, launched by George McLellan, was called the Peninsula Campaign.
The USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fought at Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, during Union general McClellan's "Peninsula Campaign".
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.
The operation George McClellan is most noted for is the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. It was designed to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, but it failed due to his greatly over estimating the strength of Robert E. Lee's army after a series of battles known as the Seven Days. He grew fearful that his Army of the Potomac would be destroyed by Lee, even though the Federals had held there own against the rebels. He withdrew and evacuated his army with the final units leaving Virginia August 26, 1862.Peninsula campaign
Right across Virginia to the Peninsula - the Seven Days battles.
On March 8, 1862, the Southern ironclad, the CSS Virginia sailed into Hampton Road's and destroyed two Union warships. Additionally, it dispersed the transport ships assembled to support the Union's Peninsula campaign. The CSS Virginia blocked Union General George B. McClellan's plans to approach Richmond via the James River. As for a time the CSS Virginia blocked entrance to the James River and forced McClellan to focus on the York River as a means to the approach to Richmond and the York River would then be used for the Union's lines of communications.
The operation George McClellan is most noted for is the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. It was designed to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, but it failed due to his greatly over estimating the strength of Robert E. Lee's army after a series of battles known as the Seven Days. He grew fearful that his Army of the Potomac would be destroyed by Lee, even though the Federals had held there own against the rebels. He withdrew and evacuated his army with the final units leaving Virginia August 26, 1862.Peninsula campaign
Although both the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia suffered heavy casualties, the Peninsula Campaign is considered to be a victory for the Confederacy. The reason for this idea was because McClellan had failed to achieve his primary objective and had to retreat. George McClellan, commanding general of the federal Army of the Potomac, invaded Virginia with the design of capturing Richmond and ending the war. The able manuevering by Robert E. Lee of the Army of Northern Virginia caused McClellan to withdraw, thus easing the pressure on the Confederacy's capital. McClellan's withdraw caused elation in the South and foreboding throughout the North. It cause of great concern to US President Lincoln and he asked General Halleck to assess McClellan's position as he rested his army before finally retreating back to Fort Monroe. Additionally, Halleck came to the conclusion that McClellan had lost of whatever good military judgment he had. Halleck also lost any credibility he may have had regarding McClellan's ability to access the strength of the Confederate army. The Peninsula campaign was nearly a success as at one point Union forces were only six miles from Richmond.