Existing comment:
January 27, 1862:
Lincoln Takes Charge:
On January 27, Lincoln issued General War Order Number 1, calling for all Northern armies and naval units to take the offensive by Washington's Birthday, February 22. Four days later, the president issued a second order, directing McClellan to attack Confederate forces west of Washington.
McClellan had a different plan. He would transport the Army of the Potomac -- over 100,000 men -- by water to the Virginia coast, then fight his way to Richmond. Lincoln yielded the initiative. After several weeks passed with no movement, the president announced a re-organization of the army. McClellan, he declared, "has got the slows."
Shoveling Fleas:
It was the end of April before McClellan launched his plans to take Richmond from the southeast. For weeks a small Confederate force at Yorktown tricked "Little Mac" into thinking he was opposed by a huge army. Actually, McClellan had a nearly three to one advantage at one point coming within four miles to Richmond.
Believing himself outnumbered, he appealed to Lincoln for reinforcements. "Sending men to that army is like shoveling fleas across a barnyard," said the president, "not half of them get there." Outmaneuvered by Robert E. Lee, McClellan had lost his nerve. He was about to lose his command.
March 6, 1862:
Battle of the Ironclads:
Washington was in a panic. At a hastily called Cabinet meeting, Secretary Stanton looked out a window toward the Potomac River and predicted a cannonball might sail through the White House any minute. The object of his alarm was an ungainly naval vessel called the Virginia by her Confederate builders -- but better known as the Merrimac, which was the name she had worn as a Union frigate of 40 guns.
Sinking the Stars and Stripes:
Scuttled by retreating Northern forces, the Merrimac's hull and engine had been raised by her Confederate captors, then sheathed in iron plates, and equipped with a four-foot iron battering ram. On the afternoon of March 8, the world's first ironclad made quick work of two wooden ships flying the Stars and Stripes. Overnight, the entire Union fleet was rendered obsolete. The nation's capital cowered in terror.
A Fighting Cheesebox in a Raft:
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles had a secret weapon of his own in reserve -- an even stranger looking ironclad, the Monitor, likened in appearance to a cheesebox in a raft. The next day the Monitor and the Merrimac fought a savage battle off Hampton Roads, Virginia that lasted four hours and ended in a draw. But the Merrimac's brief reign of terror was over. |