Yorktown and the Peninsular Campaign

General McClellan decided to use the superior mobility of the Union Army to move quickly and land behind Richmond on the Peninsular. He succeeded in moving the Union army by sea quickly there. But instead of moving rapidly on Richmond he move slowly and gave the Confederates enough time to reinforce their forces and block him.

General McClellan developed a plan to advance on Richmond via the Peninsular. The plan called for the movement of the Army of the Potomac by sea to Fort Monroe at Hampton Road, Virginia. Once there, it called for a rapid movement up the peninsular before the Confederates could reinforce Richmond. President Lincoln reluctantly approved the plan, with the stipulation that enough troops be left behind to defend Washington and keep the Confederate army away from Northern Virginia. On April 1, McClellan embarked for Fort Monroe. After being told that McClellan had not left as many men behind as he was suppose to, Lincoln ordered the army of General McDowell be detached from McClellan and told to continue to operate in the Manassas area.

McDowell’s force contained 35,000. McClellan was furious by this action, and felt it crippled him. It may have, but only psychologically. McClellan had 85,000 troops in his army, facing a Confederate force of the time that numbered less than 15,000. McClellan was convinced that he faced an army larger than his own. Thus, when his forces began moving up the Peninsula, and found the fortress at Yorktown a more formidable obstacle than expected, he decided to lay siege to it. It took one month to get the siege guns in place. During that time the Confederate army had plenty of time to reinforce the lines around Richmond. On May 3rd, as McClellan was about to begin in bombardment, the Confederates withdrew. On May 4th, McClellan's army occupied the now empty Yorktown. Advance troops headed up to Williamsburg, where they were met by a Confederate force. The Union army lost 2,200 men and the Confederates 1,700 in a short fight.