Posted on 06/30/2009 6:04:54 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
June 30, 1862 Battle of Glendale (White Oak Swamp)
The Seven Days' Battles continues at Glendale (White Oak Swamp), Virginia, as Robert E. Lee has a chance to deal a decisive blow against George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had already won the Seven Days' Battles, but the Confederates' attempt to rout McClellan cost many Southern casualties.
The Seven Days' Battles were the climax of McClellan's Peninsular campaign. For two months, the Union army sailed down Chesapeake Bay and then inched up the James Peninsula. In late June, the two forces began a series of clashes in which McClellan became unnerved and began to retreat to his base at Harrison's Landing on the James River. Lee hounded him on the retreat.
On June 30, Lee plotted a complex attack on the Yankees as they backed down the peninsula. He hoped to hit the front, flank, and rear of the Union army to create confusion and jam the escape routes. Those attacks did not succeed, as they required precise timing. Lee's own generals were confused, the attacks developed slowly, and they made only temporary ruptures in the Federal lines. Most disappointing for Lee was the performance of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Jackson was coming off a brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, but he showed little of his skill during the Seven Days' Battles. His corps halted at the edge of White Oak Swamp, and he focused his attention on taking a bridge from the Yankees. His officers located fords that would have allowed his men to bypass the bottleneck, but Jackson stayed put. This allowed the Union to move troops from Jackson's sector of the battlefield to halt a Confederate attack in another area.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
When men were men, and war was fought with honor.
“When men were men, and war was fought with honor.”
I wish that was 100% true, and maybe it was for the most part. But there was a very harsh reality as well, much of it in the brutal living conditions in the POW camps on both sides. The German POWs located in the US were treated like kings compared to our own captured POWs during the Civil War.
DIARY OF
A TAR HEEL CONFEDERATE SOLDIER:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/leon/leon.html
May 23 1864 - We are guarded by negro troops, who are as mean as hell. At each meal there is a guard placed over 500 prisoners, who go to their meals in ranks of four. We are not allowed to cross a certain line, called the “Dead Line,” but as 500 men go at one time to meals, of course near the door there is always a rush. To-day one of our men accidentally crossed the line. He was pushed over by the crowd, when a black devil shot and killed him, and wounded two others.
June 12 - To-day, as the negro guard was relieved, two of them commenced playing with their guns and bayonets, sticking at one another. Fortunately one of their guns, by accident, went off and made a hole in the other one’s body, which killed him instantly. The other one kicked at him several times, telling him to get up as the rebels were laughing at him, but in a very short time he found out that he had killed his comrade and that we were laughing sure enough.
October - We have got the smallpox in prison, and from six to twelve are taken out dead daily. We can buy from prisoners rats, 25 cents each, killed and dressed. Quite a number of our boys have gone into the rat business. On the 11th of this month there were 800 sick prisoners sent South on parole.
February - The smallpox is frightful. There is not a day that at least twenty men are taken out dead. Cold is no name for the weather now. They have given most of us Yankee overcoats, but have cut the skirts off. The reason of this is that the skirts are long and if they left them on we might pass out as Yankee soldiers.
Most of Lee's plans during the Seven Dats were overly comples and his command team wasn't skilled enough in maneuvering their commands to meet them. But some, like Longstreet and Jackson, proved to be quick studies.
NavyCanDo, I grew up in S. Georgia, within spitting distance of the Andersonville Prison gates. As kids we use to play on the grounds. When you walk in that place the glamor leaves, and the harsh reality of war emerges.
I think the assault on Malvern Hill was simply a result of Lee’s frustration over the previous week’s failures to destroy at least some portion of the Army of the Potomac.
In just about all the Seven Days battles Lee's commanders were sluggish and didn't follow through. The only thing that saved him was McClellan kept retreating.
Well Lee had over 200,000 men you know. /s
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