Why did mcclellan attack on richmond fail

Soldiers hurried to the U. While they waited, heavy rains began to fall. The little river rose. Soon, it cut the Union force in two. Confederate forces seized the opening to attack. After the first few hours of battle, the Confederates were close to victory. But one bridge over the river remained. Union soldiers were able to cross it. The Confederates were forced to withdraw to their earlier positions.

Neither side gained ground. And more than 11, men were killed or wounded. Among the wounded was the commander of all Confederate forces, General Joe Johnston.

General Robert E. Lee took his place. General Lee took a big chance. He left only a few thousand men to defend Richmond. He moved most of his men to attack the weak side of the Union line.

Lee hoped General McClellan would be fooled by this plan. If McClellan discovered how few men were left behind, he could break through Confederate defenses easily and capture the city. Lee chased McClellan for a while. The South won the series of battles, called the Seven Days Campaign. The threat to Richmond was ended. The Confederacy was saved. But victory came at a terrible price. Twenty thousand Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded. The Civil War was becoming more costly than either side had imagined.

In the comments section, write a sentence using one of these words and we will provide feedback on your use of vocabulary and grammar. Brigadier General William F. The poorly coordinated and supported assaults on April 16, , failed to break through this Confederate weak point.

The siege continued another two weeks even though Johnston counseled retreat. Johnston advised that "the fight for Yorktown must be one of artillery, in which we cannot win.

The result is certain; the time only doubtful. McClellan was surprised by the Confederate withdrawal. The result was the bloody, indecisive May 5 Battle of Williamsburg. The battle was fought along the Williamsburg Line, a series of 14 redoubts built between Queens and College creeks.

Fighting raged in front of Fort Magruder Redoubt 6 all day. The Confederates repelled the first Union assaults and then pressed the Federals back down the Hampton Road.

By mid-afternoon the Union lines were in disarray when Brigadier General Philip Kearny personally led his command into the fray shouting, "I am a one-armed Jersey Sonof- a-Gun, follow me! The Battle of Williamsburg, called by McClellan "an accident caused by too rapid a pursuit," was an opportunity to destroy Johnston's army before it could reach the Confederate capital; however, success slipped away from the Army of the Potomac.

The Union victory at Williamsburg was marred by the Federal command's inability to aggressively grasp the tactical opportunities made available by the Confederate retreat. McClellan did not arrive on the Williamsburg battlefield until dark, when the engagement was ending.

Franklin's move up the York River, which threatened to block Johnston's withdrawal to Richmond. Although able to secure a beachhead at Eltham's Landing on May 6, Franklin's timid move inland on the next day was halted by elements of G.

Smith's command led by William C. Whiting and John Bell Hood. Lincoln, disenchanted with what he deemed McClellan's general lack of initiative, arrived at Fort Monroe May 6.

Since the Confederate army was now in retreat toward Richmond, Lincoln sought to open the James River to the Union's use. The only obstacle was the C. The Confederate retreat from the lower Peninsula exposed the port city of Norfolk to Union capture.

Lincoln directed Flag Officer Louis N. Goldsborough and Major General John E. Wool to end the Virginia's control of Hampton Roads by occupying its base. Major General Benjamin Huger, threatened by the Union advance, was forced to abandon the port city on May 9.

Without its base, the ironclad's deep draught made the vessel unable to steam up the James to Richmond. Consequently, the Virginia was destroyed by its crew off Craney Island on May 11, The door to the Confederate capital via the James River now lay open. A Union fleet, including the ironclads Galena and Monitor; slowly moved up the river to within seven miles of Richmond. On May 15, , hastily constructed Confederate batteries perched atop Drewry's Bluff repelled the Union naval advance.

Obstructions limited the mobility of Federal vessels as plunging shot from Confederate cannons severely damaged the Galena. Despite the repulse given to the Federal fleet's thrust up the James River, McClellan's army neared the outskirts of the Confederate capital by the end of May.

McClellan had established a major supply base near West Point and appeared ready to invest Richmond with his siege artillery. However, his delays on the lower Peninsula once again altered his plans. Thomas J. McClellan, extending his right flank to meet the expected reinforcements, found his army divided by the swampy Chickahominy River. The poorly coordinated assaults on May 31 failed to destroy the exposed Union corps.

Although McClellan organized and trained the Union recruits, he proved reluctant to commit them to battle. McClellan immediately responded with a proposal to send Union troops down the Potomac River and then up the Rappahannock, a plan Lincoln distrusted.

The president also worried that McClellan was too intent on capturing the Confederate capital at the expense of the Confederate army.

Rather than pursue Johnston, McClellan marched his army to inspect the abandoned entrenchments at Manassas. Pressure on McClellan to act increased, and soon he submitted a revised plan, which Lincoln approved only after stripping McClellan of his status as commander-in-chief.

By moving quickly, the Union general hoped to steal a march on Johnston in a race toward Richmond, where he would force a decisive battle. McClellan admirably met the huge logistical challenge of transporting his army—including , troops, 15, horses, 1, wagons, and 44 artillery batteries—down the Chesapeake to Fort Monroe, but once on land he stalled.

Magruder met him at Yorktown. Although he outnumbered Magruder four to one, McClellan began a siege on April 5 rather than attack. His concerns included the rainy weather, Confederate fortifications, the swampy terrain, and his own unreliable maps.

I am powerless to help this … The country will not fail to note—is now noting—that the present hesitation to move upon an intrenched enemy, is but the story of Manassas repeated. Johnston, meanwhile, moved his army to the Peninsula, and for a month the Union and Confederate men dug in, with only an engagement at Dam No. McClellan was preparing an assault for May 4, but Johnston, once again convinced his outnumbered men could not hold the lines, pulled back under the cover of darkness on the night of May 3.

His retreat would not end until reaching the gates of Richmond. Neither side gained a definite advantage, and the Confederates resumed their retreat. McClellan followed, and by the middle of May half his army had crossed the Chickahominy River, the last major natural obstacle in front of Richmond. The Confederate government and the citizens of Richmond prepared to evacuate. The Union advance was slowed by heavy rains that swelled the Chickahominy and made it difficult to cross.

Muddy roads became nearly impassable, and local residents burned farms, ran off livestock, and filled wells with stones. But instead of pursuing his advantage, McClellan, who outnumbered Johnston by 40,, stopped and requested reinforcements. On May 31, Johnston attacked those corps on the south side of the river, near the village of Seven Pines. The Confederate plan was complex and its execution was poor, but part of the Union line was pushed back in disorder.

Timely reinforcements, which crossed the Chickahominy on a bridge only precariously connected to dry land, stabilized the Union line, and further action the next day accomplished nothing. Johnston, however, was badly wounded in the fighting. Confederate general Gustavus W. Smith briefly took control of the Army of Northern Virginia before President Davis, on hand to observe the fighting, gave command to Robert E. Fighting paused for several weeks as McClellan, hoping to lay siege to Richmond, attempted to move his big guns closer to the city.

Lee, meanwhile, began to plan an offensive, convinced that any siege of the Confederate capital would be disastrous. He ordered Thomas J. Stuart on a long ride around the Army of the Potomac to gather intelligence.

However, the next day Lee attacked north of the Chickahominy near Mechanicsville. Lee and Jackson finally forced Porter to retreat after a savage struggle there on June That night McClellan abandoned his supply line and began to move south and east to the James. Lee pursued. On June 30 Lee had a chance to cut off half the Union army from its retreat route. Lee and James Longstreet saw that a successful artillery concentration might lead to a breakthrough.

The artillery action failed, but through a combination of mistakes the Confederates attacked a nearly impregnable position and suffered a serious defeat. The Peninsula Campaign had two primary outcomes.