160 



PENDLKTON PBNIN8ULAB c.\MrAH;X 



supported thU document against the objections of 

 Patrick Henry. From 1779 till his death, Get 23, 

 1803, he waspresident of the Court of Appeals. 



I'KNDLETON, (iEORUE HKNKV. statesman, was 

 bora at Cincinnati, July 19, 1825. His grandfather. 

 Maj. Nathaniel IVndleton, had been aide to <i<n 

 Greene, in the revolutionary war. and afterwards 

 judge in New York. 1 1 is father, Nathaniel Greene 

 IVudleton (1793-1861), likewise had been aide to Gen. 

 Gainea in the war of 1812, and member of Congress 

 from Ohio, 1840-12. George was educated partly in 

 Europe and became a lawyer. He was elected to the 

 Ohio State senate in 1854, and passed thence to Con- 

 Ben in 1855, where he continued as a pro-slavery 

 Democrat until the outbreak of the war. Then he was 

 defeated for re-election, but returned in 1863, and op- 

 posed the prosecution of the war. In 1864 he was the 

 Democratic candidate for vice-president, on the ticket 

 with (Ji-ii. McClellan, but was defeated. Soon after 

 the clone of the war he became the most prominent 

 advocate of the proposal to pay the U. S. bonds in 

 "greenbacks," and as such was strongly pressed upon 

 the Democratic convention of 1868 as a candidate fur 

 the presidency, but this movement failed. In the next 

 year he was candidate for the governorship of Ohio. 

 but was defeated. In 1879 he was elected to the U. S. 

 Senate, where he was an able advocate of civil service 

 reform. On the expiration of his term in 1885 he was 

 appointed U. S. minister to Germany. 



PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN, MCCLELLAN'S. 

 After the disastrous defeat of Gen. McDowell, at Bull 

 Run, July _'!. ISiH (see BULL RI:N), Gen. George B. 

 McClellan, who had distinguished himself in West 

 Virginia, was called to Washington and put in com- 

 mand of the troops collected there for the defence of 

 the national capital. He found there 50,000 men, 

 mainly newly levied or demoralized. Two things were 

 clear to him. A large army must be created, and 

 Washington must be fortified to set at rest apprehen- 

 sions for its safety. These objects were not accom- 

 plished till the spring of 1862, and, meanwhile, on 

 Gen. Scott's retirement on Nov. 1, 1861. Gen. McClel- 

 lan had been made Commander-in-chief of the forces 

 of the Union. In the early spring of 1862 McClellan 

 had under his immediate command 180,000 men organ- 

 ized into four corps, under the name of the Army of 

 the Potomac. The enemy threatening the capital 

 numbered 75,000, under Gen. Joseph . Johnston, 

 whose head-quarters were at Manassas Junction. His 

 right wing rested on Acquia Creek and supported the 

 batteries that blocked the Potomac. McClellan's first 

 plan was to draw Johnston from his lines by transport- 

 ing the Army of the Potomac to Urbanna, on the 

 Lower Rapjiahannook, and moving it thence on Rich- 

 mond. If he failed to carry Richmond by a <<:/> </, 

 mom, his ulterior purpose was to march to the .lame.-. 

 and with that river as a base to assault the city in the 

 rear. This, he conceived, by compelling Johnston to 

 fall back on Richmond, would secure the capital, re- 

 lieve the blockade of the Potomac, and open the com- 

 munication between Washington and the West, now 

 interrupted at Harper's Ferry. 



Unfortunately the government had no longer unlim- 

 ited confidence in its commander, and a positive order 

 required him, before moving from Washington, to open 

 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and destroy the 

 batteries on the Potomac. The first of these objects 

 he effected in the end of February, and almost im me- 

 diately on his return to Washington intelligence reached 

 of Johnston's abandonment of Manassas for the Rap- . 

 idan. Thus the Potomac was freed, while the opera- 

 tions of the Monitor, near the mouth of Che-;ii>eake 

 Bay, enabled McClellan to look more confidently to the 

 James River as a hue. 



Johnston's move southwards deprived the I ' rhantia 

 scheme of its promise, for he could now reach Rich- 

 mond before the Union army. The alternative was to 

 adopt FortrcsB Monroe aa a base, and, on March 17, 



the leading divi.sions of what was meant to be an army 

 "i m were embarked at Alexandria. Precisely 

 at tin- time McClellan was deprived of the command- 

 in chief, while his army by the withdrawal of troops 

 for the defence of Washington was reduced to 120,000. 

 < >n April 2d he reached the fort and found 58,000 men 

 and 100 guns disembarked and ready to march, and at 

 once took steps to advance up the Peninsular. 



On April 1, 1862, the status of the army wan a followi : 



Second corps -.Stunner. 28,778 



Thin) corps llrintzelman 33,047 



Fourth corps Keyes S2.V24 



Regulars Sykes and Cooke 5,806 



Reserve artillery 2,731 



Different corps 900 



Sick 6,453 



Absent _ 10,616 



119,965 



The disembarkation was completed on April 6th, when 

 there were slightly over 100,000 men, with 44 batteries on 

 the Peninsula, fit for service. 



Fortress Monroe is 72 miles in a direct line S. E. of 

 liichmond. The field of operations lay between this 

 an 1 the I'pper Chickahouiinv on the north, and be- 

 tween the .lames River on the S. W. and the York 

 and ils main branch, the Pamunkey, on the N. E. The 

 region divides itself into two parts the Peninsula 

 proper between the York and the James as far up as 

 City Point, and the tract between the Pamunkey and 

 .lame- (itretchinjr above Richmond. In the former the 

 land is flat, marshy, and thickly wooded. The second 

 is undulating and divided longitudinally by the Chicka- 

 houiiny. The James was blocked by the Confederate 

 iron-clad Virginia, formerly called the Merrimac ; the 

 York and Pamunkey could be ascended by vessels as 

 far as White House, but the entrance was blocked by 

 the guns of Yorktown. Hence the importance of this 

 place. The secondary peninsula on which it stands is 

 narrowed by a swain py stream, Warwick Creek, that 

 rising about 1} mile from the town empties perpen- 

 dii-ularly into the James. Here nature marked out the 

 Confederate true line of defence. Yorktown is 20 

 mile;. N. \V. oi Fortress Monroe, and Williamsburg 10 

 mile'.- farther in the same direction. 



On the 1th McClellan put his troops in motion, and 

 his right appeared before Yorktown next day. His 

 left was detained by the unforeseen obstacle of War- 

 wick Creek, incorrectly laid down on the maps, along 

 which was Mau'ruder's line of defence extending 12 

 miles in length. His force of 11,000 men was evi- 

 dently too small tti hold a line of this length against 

 the powerful army of his antagonist, and the fortifica- 

 tions of Yorktown were insufficient Johnston urged 

 evacuation and the comvntration of all the forces in 

 Richmond To this Magruder would not listen. His 

 obstinacy led McClellan to believe that he had been 

 reinforced by part of the force from Manassas. and he 

 deemed it prudent to wait for McDowell's 3 divisions, 

 which had Ix-cn promised him. On the very evening 

 he was reconnoitring he was apprised that this whole 

 corps was withdrawn from him and that Wool, who 

 held Fortress Monroe with 15,000 men, had been made 

 independent. The naval force on which he had relied 

 for co-operation on the York failed him on the pretext 

 of watching the Virginia. He hesitated and delayed, 

 while Johnston sent part of his forces to help Magru- 

 der, following ultimately in person. When, therefore, 

 after 1 1 days, McClellan decided to attack. Mugrudcr's 

 force was doubled. Yet the disproportion was not 

 materially affected. The men cmbarki -d at \lr.\andria 

 were now all in the Peninsula, and Franklin's division 

 of McDowell's corps was restored to him. 



On April 16th a general cannonade was opened and 

 an attempt made to storm the breastworks. This re- 

 sulted in failure and McClellan determined to procood 

 by regular siege. On May 5th everything was ready 



