DK - The American Civil War

THE SEVEN DAYS BATTLES

The Seven Days Battles drove the Union

army back 20 miles (32km), lifting the

threat to Richmond and ensuring that

McClellan’s campaign ended in failure.

CONFEDERATE STRATEGY

Lee had not demonstrated masterly generalship in

the Seven Days Battles. He admitted: “Our success

has not been as great or as complete as we should

have desired.” But he had set up a moral

supremacy over the Union army, aiming to keep

up the initiative. As soon as his own army had

recovered, he marched it north of Richmond.

Lee counted on McClellan remaining

inactive, which he did. The Army of the

Potomac dug in defensively at Harrison’s

Landing under the protection of naval guns.

While continuing to demand reinforcements,

McClellan did not resume the offensive. In

August he reluctantly obeyed orders to ship

the Army of the Potomac back to

Washington to assist in the fighting in

northern Virginia 120–21 ❯❯.

McClellan’s response to having won
this tactical victory was to order his
men to withdraw from the positions
they had so determinedly held, to
higher ground behind a swamp. Still
convinced he would be assaulted by
large numbers of Confederates, he also
set about shifting his supply base to the
James River. Lee, however, was
determined to continue his offensive.

Lee’s victory at Gaines’ Mill
Pursuing the retreating enemy the next
day, Lee came up against the Union
army’s new defensive line at Gaines’
Mill. Once again, coordination between
Lee’s subordinates failed and A. P. Hill’s

division took heavy casualties, fighting
alone for much of the afternoon. Late
in the day Brigadier General John Bell
Hood’s tough Texan brigade pierced the
Union center with a charge in which
every officer but Hood himself was
killed or wounded. The Union forces
withdrew, leaving the Confederates
victorious but at a heavy cost, losing
around 9,000 men. While this brutal
contest took place on its right flank, the
majority of the Union army remained
inactive, more than 60,000 men being
kept out of the fight.

McClellan’s rage
After Gaines’ Mill, McClellan lost his
nerve. Despite his superior forces, he
retreated toward Harrison’s Landing on
the James River, convinced that he was
saving his army from imminent
destruction and firing off angry
telegrams to Washington blaming the
government for the debacle.
Lee pursued his adversary
ruthlessly, seeking to land a decisive
blow, but repeatedly failed. His
ambitious orders for coordinated
maneuvers to outflank and trap Union
forces proved beyond the capacity
of his subordinates. Jackson was
unusually sluggish, singularly failing to

master the speed and

decisiveness he had shown

in the Shenandoah Valley

campaign. At Savage’s

Station on June 29, the

Union rearguard escaped

ruin because Jackson

was slow crossing the

Chickahominy River.

Yet Lee saw a prime

opportunity the next day

as much of the Army of

the Potomac struggled

along congested roads

between White Oak

Swamp and Glendale. The

Confederate commander

was determined to

bring all his forces

to bear in a

climactic battle, but

divisions lost their way or

were stuck on blocked roads.

Jackson, ordered to attack from

the north across White Oak

Swamp, failed to join in, even when

fighting broke out within earshot of

his position. Only two divisions, under

Longstreet and A. P. Hill, attacked the

Yankees, who put up stiff resistance

despite failing to form a proper

defensive line. Casualties on both sides

were heavy and the result indecisive.

Bloodshed at Malvern Hill

Meanwhile, McClellan withdrew to

the safety of the ironclad USS Galena

off shore, leaving effective command

to Brigadier General Fitz

John Porter. Most of the

retreating Army of the

Potomac concentrated in a

formidable defensive position

on Malvern Hill. Flanked by

ravines, it could only be

assaulted from the front by

troops advancing up a slope

and across an open plain. The

Union artillery unlimbered

its cannons and waited for

the enemy to show.

Lee guessed that the

Union soldiers were demoralized and

would crack if put under pressure. He

devised a plan for his artillery to open

holes in the Union line for his infantry

to exploit. But everything went wrong.

The Confederate guns could not be

moved forward in sufficient strength

and faired poorly in the artillery duel.

Next, Lee’s infantry assaults began

piecemeal as men stormed forward

singly and were shot down by shrapnel,

canister, and grapeshot. Those few units

that reached the Union lines were

driven back by counterattacks. The

following day, McClellan again ordered

a Union withdrawal, but Lee did not

pursue and the fighting ended.

AFTER

“The soul of the brave general was fit to burst

for the awful and useless sacrifice.”

CAPTAIN MOXLEY SORREL OF MAJOR GENERAL RICHARD EWELL AFTER MALVERN HILL

Union casualties
The Battle of Gaines’ Mill on June 27 saw thousands of
Union casualties. Many of the wounded were transferred
by flatbed rail cars to a Northern field hospital at Savage’s
Station. When the Confederates attacked the site on June
29 the hospital was abandoned and the patients captured.

Medal of Honor

The award of the Medal of Honor for

conspicuous bravery was instituted for the

Union Army in 1862. This one was awarded

to Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield for his

“distinguished gallantry” at Gaines’ Mill.

HARRISON’S LANDING

The number of Southern

casualties at the Battle

of Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862. In total,

the Confederacy lost 20,204 soldiers in

the Seven Days Battles, compared with

15,855 losses for the Union Army.

5,400

The closest

McClellan’s Army

of the Potomac came to Richmond

during the Peninsula Campaign.

9 MILES