Union forces continue their march to Richmond. Norfolk is now occupied by Union troops, while the U.S. Navy searches for the Confederates’ flag ship ironclad, CSS Virginia. Boxed in and unable to make a run for freedom because of a low tide and unsuitable wind, the order is given to scuttle the Virginia. Early this…
For the past month, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, en route to the Confederate capital of Virginia, has besieged Yorktown, Virginia. McClellan’s drive to Richmond, known as the Peninsula campaign (having begun March 17), has not proceeded as planned. Caution on the part of McClellan, the logistics of moving a…
Impatient with General McClellan’s slowness in engaging Confederate forces, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln today issues an order reorganizing the Army of Virginia, in the process relieving McClellan of supreme command of Union forces. Given the command of the Army of the Potomac, McClellan is ordered to attack the Confederate capital of Richmond. Thus begins the…