Extraordinary Circumstances

Brian K. Burton

Description

A Selection of the History Book Club2011 AAUP Public and Secondary School Library Selection

The first campaign in the Civil War in which Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia, the Seven Days Battles were fought southeast of the Confederate capital of Richmond in the summer of 1862. Lee and his fellow officers, including "Stonewall" Jackson, James Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and D. H. Hill, pushed George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac from the gates of Richmond to the James River, where the Union forces reached safety. Along the way, Lee lost several opportunities to harm McClellan. The Seven Days have been the subject of numerous historical treatments, but none more detailed and engaging than Brian K. Burton's retelling of the campaign that lifted Southern spirits, began Lee's ascent to fame, and almost prompted European recognition of the Confederacy.

1. "The Nation Has Been Making Progress"

2. "How Are We to Get at Those People"

3. "The Responsibility Cannot Be Thrown on My Shoulders"

4. "Charging Batteries Is Highly Dangerous"

5. "Little Powell Will Do His Full Duty To-Day"

6. "We're Holding Them, But It's Getting Hotter and Hotter"

7. "I Have A Regiment That Can Take It"

8. "You Have Done Your Best to Sacrifice This Army"

9. "His Only Course Seemed to Me Was to Make for James River"

10. "But What Do You Think? Is the Enemy in Large Force?"

11. "He Has Other Important Duty to Perform"

12. "Why, Those Men Are Rebels!"

13. "We've Got Him"

14. "He . . . Rose and Walked Off in Silence"

15. "I Thought I Heard Firing"

16. "It Is Nothing When You Get Used to It"

17. "We Had Better Let Him Alone"

18. "Press Forward You Whole Line and Follow Up Armistead's Success"

19. "General Macgruder, Why Did You Attack?"

20. "The Thickest Red Mud Imaginable"

21. "Under Ordinary Circumstances the Federal Army Should Have Been Destroyed"

Important Persons in the Seven Days Campaign

Orders of Battle

Appendices

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Military history
• General officer
• Military
• History of the Americas
• American Civil War
• General
• United States
• Civil War
• Combat
• Guerre de Sécession

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 05 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780253108449
• Langue: English

Extrait

E XTRAORDINARY C IRCUMSTANCES
The Seven Days Battles
 
Brian K. Burton
 
Indiana University Press / Bloomington and Indianapolis
The book is a publication of
Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA
www.iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone orders     800-842-6796 Fax orders     812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail     [e-mail]
First paperback edition 2011 © 2001 by Brian K. Burton All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publicaiton meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences–Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
The Library of Congress cataloged the original edition as follows:
Burton, Brian K., [date] Extraordinary circumstances : the Seven Days Battles / Brian K. Burton. p.     cm. Includes bibliographical references (p.   ) and index. ISBN 0-253-33963-4 (alk. paper) 1. Seven Days’ Battles, 1862. I. Title.
E473.68 .B87 2001
973.7’32—dc21
   2001000532
ISBN 978-0-253-33963-8 (cl.)            ISBN 978-0-253-22277-0 (pbk.)
2  3  4  5  6     16  15  14  13  12  11
CONTENTS
List of Maps
Acknowledgments
1. “The Nation Has Been Making Progress”
2. “How Are We to Get at Those People?”
3. “The Responsibility Cannot Be Thrown on My Shoulders”
4. “Charging Batteries Is Highly Dangerous”
5. “Little Powell Will Do His Full Duty To-day”
6. “We’re Holding Them, but It’s Getting Hotter and Hotter”
7. “I Have a Regiment That Can Take It”
8. “You Have Done Your Best to Sacrifice This Army”
9. “His Only Course Seemed to Me Was to Make for James River”
10. “But What Do You Think? Is the Enemy in Large Force?”
11. “He Has Other Important Duty to Perform”
12. “Why, Those Men Are Rebels!”
13. “We’ve Got Him”
14. “He…Rose and Walked Off in Silence”
15. “I Thought I Heard Firing”
16. “It Is Nothing When You Get Used to It”
17. “We Had Better Let Him Alone”
18. “Press Forward Your Whole Line and Follow Up Armistead’s Success”
19. “General Magruder, Why Did You Attack?”
20. “It Was a Very Tedious, Tiresome March”
21. “Under Ordinary Circumstances the Federal Army Should Have Been Destroyed”
Appendix A. Union and Confederate Troop Strengths
Appendix B. Lee’s General Orders no. 75
Appendix C. Jackson’s Dabbs House Conference Memorandum
Appendix D. McClellan’s June 28 Telegram to Stanton
Appendix E. Chilton’s June 29 Message to Stuart
Appendix F. Orders of Battle
Notes
Bibliography
Index
MAPS
The area of the Seven Days campaign
Lee’s plan as given in General Orders no. 75
Oak Grove, June 25, 1862
Confederate movements, June 26, 1862
Mechanicsville, June 26, 1862
Troop movements, June 27, 1862
A. P. Hill’s attacks, Gaines’s Mill, June 27, 1862
Ewell’s attacks, Gaines’s Mill, June 27, 1862
Final assaults on Sykes’s line, Gaines’s Mill, June 27, 1862
Final assaults on Morell’s line, Gaines’s Mill, June 27, 1862
Garnett’s Farm, June 27, 1862
Troop movements, June 28, 1862
Garnett’s or Golding’s Farm, June 28, 1862
Lee’s plan for June 29, 1862
Allen’s Farm, June 29, 1862
Troop movements, June 29, 1862
Savage Station, June 29, 1862
Lee’s plan for June 30, 1862
Troop movements, June 30, 1862
White Oak Swamp and Brackett’s, June 30, 1862
Longstreet’s assaults, Glendale, June 30, 1862
A. P. Hill’s assaults, Glendale, June 30, 1862
Troop movements, July 1, 1862
First assaults, Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862
Second assaults, Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862
Final assaults, Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862
Troop movements, July 2 and 3, 1862
Evelington Heights, July 3, 1862
 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I N 1984, WHEN I FIRST HAD the idea of writing what became Extraordinary Circumstances , I was a journalist and MBA student. Now, sixteen years later, I am an associate professor specializing in business ethics and the director of an MBA program. Obviously, much has changed in those sixteen years. One thing that has not changed, however, is my motivation for writing this book. I distinctly remember looking at a book that listed good studies of various Civil War campaigns and being astonished that none were listed for the Seven Days Battles. I had just finished J. F. C. Fuller's Military History of the Western World , in which the Seven Days were listed as one of the decisive campaigns in Western history. How could such an important campaign have lacked storytellers? I resolved to tell the story.
This book is the product of that resolution. However, its style has changed over the years. At the beginning I was influenced by such general histories as Fuller's and Kenneth P. Williams's Lincoln Finds a General , which focused on command decisions and critiques. In the process of writing the book, however, I read more campaign histories—in particular John J. Hennessy's Return to Bull Run. These books showed me that a true history of a campaign must include not only the command decisions and critiques I had focused on, but also the stories of the people those decisions affected: the soldiers themselves. So the story has changed to fit my new purpose.
Many people have crossed my path as I have worked on this story. Almost all of them have had a hand in this book in one way or another. To tell how would be to write an autobiography, not a brief acknowledgments section. Many people who deserve inclusion here will thus be left unmentioned, but you know who you are, and I thank you.
Many others must be mentioned because their contributions have been substantial. Of my professional colleagues, Harvey C. Bunke and W. Harvey Hegarty, my mentors, have given great encouragement in many ways. David McCalman and Jonathan Johnson, my fellow doctoral students at Indiana University, pushed me to work on the manuscript. Dr. McCalman read and commented on drafts of the earlier chapters. Peter Haug, Mark Springer, and Bruce Wonder in Western Washington University's Department of Management have supported this endeavor for the last five years, Peter and Mark as fellow members of the department's military history section. Peter, whose interest in the Seven Days is as keen as mine, made many helpful comments and accompanied me on my last prepublication trip to Richmond.
The librarians, archivists, and members of the Civil War community I have met in the course of my research have been unfailingly helpful and encouraging. I wish I had space to list all the people in various libraries around the country who worked to fulfill my wishes, many of which probably seemed excessive. I must mention Dr. Richard Sommers, David Keough, and Pamela Cheney at the U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. My two weeks spent there were very enjoyable because of their help. The encouragement I received from Dr. Sommers was particularly helpful. Also of great help was Donald C. Pfanz at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, who graciously helped with some last-minute long-distance research.
Richard A. Sauers spent some of his precious time compiling a list of articles pertaining to the Seven Days from the National Tribune. Mark Davis, Vesta Lee Gordon, Helen Milliken, Kimberly Morris, Charlotte Ray, Anne Rodda, Jordan Ross, Robert N. Smith, Floyd Weatherbee Jr., Patti Woolery-Price, and Karan Zucal all helped gather material in places I could not reach easily from Ferndale, Washington. Stephanie Yuhl, now at Valparaiso University, was particularly diligent in finding material I would have overlooked. Agnes Gish was a godsend, especially in her willingness to travel from Richmond to Fredericksburg on a moment's notice. David Lambert was very helpful in finding material in the Boston area. Ronald L. Waddell spent more time, I am sure, than he desired in copying material from rare books in the U.S. Army Military History Institute's library.
At Richmond National Military Park, Michael Andrus conducted me around the battlefields on a rainy afternoon in 1990, when this book was little more than a pipe dream and some pages. Robert E. L. Krick is an acquaintance of more recent vintage, but his help in pinpointing sites and maps and his overall interest in the project have been greatly appreciated.
Members of the Indiana University Press staff have been very helpful and encouraging