Existing comment:
Orphaned Army:
"If I save this Army now I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks to you or any other person in Washington -- you have done your best to sacrifice this Army."
-- George B. McClellan to Secretary of War, June 28, 1862
With army commander McClellan absent from the battlefield at Glendale, several junior officers stepped forward to save the Union army from disaster. Surprised and threatened by four separate converging Confederate columns, each Union force had to fend for itself during the crisis without the coordination normally supplied by an army commander.
A trio of Union generals stood above the rest during this crisis: George Meade, Joseph Hooker, and John Sedgwick.
These three men ascended to positions of great responsibility later in the Civil War. They could point to their improvisation here, which helped to save the army that day, as a building block in their development as successful soldiers.
Rising to the Challenge:
George Meade:
George Meade rallied his Pennsylvania brigade in the Long Bridge Road, only to fall badly wounded at a critical moment. More than 6,000 Pennsylvanians, including Meade's force, absorbed the power of the first Confederate attacks, but at a numbing human cost. Meade commanded the entire Army of the Potomac from the Gettysburg Campaign in June of 1863 until Lee's surrender in April 1865.
John Sedgwick:
Late in the battle jubilant Southern riflemen stood poised to sever the Union army's road of retreat. General John Segwick (fondly called "Uncle John" by his men), placed his division at the perfect spot along the Willis Church Road. Although he lost nearly 700 men, the gallantry of his division bought time until darkness closed the fighting.
Joseph Hooker:
Feisty Joseph Hooker discovered the Confederates unwittingly advancing across his division's front during the Battle of Glendale. He seized the opportunity and attacked, cheering his men forward with profanity. A year later Hooker commanded the army at Chancellorsvile.
General McClellan spent much of the afternoon aboard a Navy gunboat in the James River. His ill-advised absence plagued him two years later during the 1864 presidential campaign. The leading modern critic of the general has asserted that McClellan "had lost the courage to command" by June 30. [Note: the unspecified historian is Stephen W. Sears in his book "To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign.") |