280,318 views
1 vote
1 vote
What was one reason for the failure of the Union's Peninsula Campaign?

User Aggsol
by
2.8k points

2 Answers

12 votes
12 votes

Answer:

The Peninsula (or Peninsular) Campaign was a major Union offensive against the Confederate capital of Richmond led by Major General George B. McClellan in the spring and summer of 1862, during the American Civil War. After moving his Army of the Potomac by boat to Fort Monroe on the Atlantic coast in late April, McClellan planned an advance toward Richmond via the peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers. Due to a habit of consistently overestimating his enemy’s numbers, the Union general refused to act until late May. The first stage of the Peninsula Campaign ended in the inconclusive Battle of Seven Pines, during which Confederate General Joseph Johnston was injured and command passed to Robert E. Lee. Beginning on June 25, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia held off the Army of the Potomac in a series of engagements known as the Seven Days’ Battles, effectively ending McClellan’s campaign toward Richmond.

Peninsula Campaign: General vs. President

In November 1861, President Abraham Lincoln named George B. McClellan to replace the aging Winfield Scott as general in chief of all Union armies. A rising star in the U.S. Army before the war, the West-Point educated McClellan had been summoned to Washington after the Union’s devastating defeat at Bull Run (Manassas) the previous July and had since managed to shape the mass of inexperienced volunteer troops into a disciplined fighting force, known as the Army of the Potomac. Though much loved by his men, McClellan was deliberate and cautious in the extreme, and from early in the conflict he consistently overestimated the strength of Confederate troops facing him. Lincoln soon grew frustrated with McClellan’s reluctance to take the initiative, and in late January 1862 he issued General War Order No. 1, calling for all armies to move forward.

User Maryana
by
3.4k points
28 votes
28 votes

If you’re on apex, the answer is that the confederate armies were more aggressive.

(I just took the quiz)

User Gavin Palmer
by
2.9k points