Summary of Stephen W. Sears's To the Gates of Richmond

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The council of war that McClellan called on Friday, March 7, was actually being convened to decide how and where to launch the Army of the Potomac’s grand campaign to end the war. McClellan was extremely popular with his soldiers, but he was extremely unpopular with major figures in the government.
#2 General McClellan was summoned to the White House by President Lincoln, where he was accused of treasonous intentions. He proposed moving the Army of the Potomac’s base of operations from Washington to the lower Chesapeake, and the generals voted to approve his plans.
#3 The council of war debated the Urbanna plan, which was to move the army to the Rappahannock River by water, and whether any action needed to be taken against the Potomac batteries. The three senior generals, Edwin V. Sumner, Irvin McDowell, and Samuel Heintzelman, opposed the change of base, and they were joined by John G. Barnard, the army’s chief engineer.
#4 The war council voted to change the army’s base from Bladensburg to Urbanna, and to organize the present divisions into army corps for the campaign. It was evening now, and Lincoln told the generals to return the next morning when he would make his decision.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Military
• United States
• Civil War
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 24 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798822520660
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Stephen W. Sears's To the Gates of Richmond
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The council of war that McClellan called on Friday, March 7, was actually being convened to decide how and where to launch the Army of the Potomac’s grand campaign to end the war. McClellan was extremely popular with his soldiers, but he was extremely unpopular with major figures in the government.

#2

General McClellan was summoned to the White House by President Lincoln, where he was accused of treasonous intentions. He proposed moving the Army of the Potomac’s base of operations from Washington to the lower Chesapeake, and the generals voted to approve his plans.

#3

The council of war debated the Urbanna plan, which was to move the army to the Rappahannock River by water, and whether any action needed to be taken against the Potomac batteries. The three senior generals, Edwin V. Sumner, Irvin McDowell, and Samuel Heintzelman, opposed the change of base, and they were joined by John G. Barnard, the army’s chief engineer.

#4

The war council voted to change the army’s base from Bladensburg to Urbanna, and to organize the present divisions into army corps for the campaign. It was evening now, and Lincoln told the generals to return the next morning when he would make his decision.

#5

The birth of the Peninsula campaign was actually planned by President Lincoln in November 1861, when he named General-in-Chief George McClellan. The plan was extremely ambitious in scope, and it aimed to destroy the heart of the enemy’s power in the East.

#6

General McClellan was made general-in-chief of the army in late July 1862. He had a plan to take West Point, the terminus of the Richmond and York River Railroad, and use it to support his drive on Richmond. He anticipated that his advance from the Rappahannock River would either cut off and capture the Confederates holding the lower Peninsula or force them into retreat, opening the York River as well as the James River to the Federal navy.

#7

The Urbanna plan was very grand, but the actual planning was sporadic and halting. The gathering of intelligence on enemy strengths and positions was unfocused. The terrain study of the Peninsula proved to be superficial and markedly inaccurate.

#8

General Joseph E. Johnston was summoned to a meeting of equal importance by President Jefferson Davis. The war news was grim. Two key outposts in Tennessee, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, had been captured by the Yankees, with a high toll of prisoners. Nashville was sure to fall, and everywhere in the western theater Confederate forces were in retreat.

#9

The evacuation of Manassas was a difficult one, and it proved to be the only time in four years of war that the Confederacy’s commissary department had outdone itself, stockpiling 3,240,000 pounds of subsistence stores.

#10

The Confederate navy had launched an attack on the Federals and destroyed their blockading squadron in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on Sunday morning, March 9. The news shocked President Lincoln and his advisers.

#11

The reports from Hampton Roads began a Sunday crowded with momentous events. Army headquarters was suddenly barraged by telegrams. From the upper Potomac came word that the Confederates were gone from their outpost at Leesburg. Dispatches from the lower Potomac told of the enemy battery positions on the river blown up and abandoned.

#12

The president deputized William Dennison, the former governor of Ohio, to see McClellan and explain the order. He was relieved of command of all but the Army of the Potomac.

#13

When he first contemplated the changed state of affairs from his field headquarters at Fairfax Court House, McClellan had determined not to let the enemy’s retreat deflect him from his Urbanna plan. But soon afterward, he realized that the alternative, an overland advance against the Rebel army on the Rappahannock, was unthinkable.

#14

On March 12, the second council of war was held in the shabby parlor of an abandoned house at Fairfax Court House. The generals agreed that the army should move forward by way of the Chesapeake and take Fort Monroe as its new base.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

McClellan’s address to the Army of the Potomac was received with great enthusiasm. It was a thrilling and patriotic address, and the army redoubled its cheers for the Young Napoleon.

#2

The Army of the Potomac was moved to the Virginia Peninsula, and McClellan directed its embarkation. He wrote his friend Samuel L. M. Barlow that history would mark the Rebels’ retreat from their stronghold so close to Washington as the brightest passage of his life.

#3

The Army of the Potomac was able to deliver 121,500 men and 14,592 animals to Fort Monroe in less than three weeks. They were able to do this because the river and bay were never empty of heavily laden southbound traffic or northbound steamers and tugs.

#4

The Confederacy had a difficult time finding resources to defend themselves. They were short on manpower, and their pieces were widely dispersed. General Robert E. Lee was assigned the task of organizing defenses for the South Atlantic coast.

#5

The Federals at Fort Monroe were planning to attack either Richmond or Norfolk, or they might be just using the fort as a staging ground to reinforce Burnside in North Carolina.

#6

The Battle of Fort Monroe was the largest coastal fortress in America, and it was now a secure sally port for the Federals. The fort had been too strongly defended for the Rebels to capture at the start of the war, and now it was a secure base from which the Federals could advance on Richmond.

#7

The opening weeks of the operation saw the armies land at Fort Monroe and march to camps around Newport News and Hampton. The ground around Fort Monroe grew into a great armed camp. The enemy put a stop to McClellan’s plans to use the James River as an artery to supply his army.

#8

The only time during the Peninsula campaign that Federal intelligence came close to an accurate count of the opposing army was when John Wool estimated that Magruder had 15,000 to 18,000 men. After this point, the Army of the Potomac would always face a phantom Rebel army in the mind of their commander.

#9

General McClellan planned to land 130,000 men at Urbanna and march them up the Peninsula to capture the Richmond and York River Railroad, which would support his final march on Richmond. He thought that he would encounter no great obstacle in reaching his objective.

#10

The ease with which the Merrimack destroyed two of the navy’s finest warships was frightening. What if she went after every wooden vessel in sight, including the Potomac army’s transports and supply ships. The navy would be driven from Hampton Roads and McClellan’s campaign would be over before it was even started.

#11

On March 31, Lincoln transferred Louis Blenker’s division from the Army of the Potomac to the newly formed Mountain Department commanded by John Charles Fremont. McClellan, who was against the move, suddenly began focusing on defense of Washington. He believed that the best way to defend Washington was to attack Richmond.

#12

When General McClellan arrived at Fort Monroe, he wrote his wife about how he had gotten under way with all due speed: he had feared that if he remained at Alexandria, he would be annoyed very much and perhaps be sent for from Washington.

#13

On April 2, the Commodore anchored off Fort Monroe, and General McClellan immediately boarded the Minnesota to confer with Flag Officer Goldsborough. The navy’s scheme for coping with the Merrimack was again explained to him. McClellan was satisfied, and he put his army on the march just 36 hours after he arrived at Fort Monroe.

#14

The second day of the operation, April 5, proved to be a day of great disillusionment for General McClellan. The roads were not as advertised, and the Yankees sank in mud. The opposition he encountered was not as expected.

#15

The Yankees viewed the Prince John Magruder players as they marched toward Yorktown. The illusion was heightened by the sounds of drum and bugle calls, as well as shouting marching orders and firing shots.