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The "Year of Glory" is the story of the first twelve months of the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee. It begins with Lee's assumption of command on June 1, 1862, and terminates on the eve of the "high tide" of the Confederacy, as the Army makes it's way into Pennsylvania for a climactic battle at Gettysburg. In between, despite being outnumbered, outgunned, and under-equipped, the Army of Northern Virginia, or ANV, fought a series of brilliant campaigns, under Lee's leadership, that brought it to the brink of victory.
Six days after the Federal defeat at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, Gen Irvin McDowell was replaced as commander of the Union Army in the east by Major Gen George B. McClellan. Known affectionately as "Little Mac", he transformed the green Army of the Potomac into a formidable 150,000 man force. Throughout the winter of 1861/62 his leadership instilled the army with pride and great affection for their leader. However, the U.S. Government, particularly President Lincoln, were impatient for Union victories in the field.
Finally, in March, 1862, McClellan was persuaded to move. His plan - the Peninsula Campaign - was to march on Richmond by moving the army via ship down the Potomac to Fort Monroe, then overland, 75 miles up the Virginia Peninsula. His Confederate opponent, General Joseph E. Johnston, anticipating a flank attack, pulled his troops back from Manassas Junction, the site of the war's first great battle the year before, and established his headquarters near Rappahanock Station, Virginia, halfway between Washington and Richmond, and from which he could intercept McClellan, whichever way he went.
Had he moved quickly, things may have been different, but Little Mac was a cautious man, and based on his Chief of Secret Service, Allan Pinkerton's estimates of the Rebel Army, he believed the Army of the Potomac to be outnumbered. Employing siege tactics, he laboriously worked his way up the peninsula, and on May 31, 1862 the Union Army encamped less than a dozen miles from the Confederate capital.
Gen Johnston fearing that McClellan would be reinforced by McDowell's corp from Washington, decided to strike first. The Union Army was split by the Chickahominy River which, due to extraordinarily violent spring rains, was extensively flooded. Johnston believed he could isolate one wing of the army from the other and defeat each in detail.
He launced his attack on May 31 planning to move Gen D.H Hill's division against the Union center south of the Chickahominy River. Gen's Longstreet and Huger would then fall on the Federal's flanks. However, due to misinterpreted orders the attack rapidly went awry and even though the Confederates made strong gains, the battle, known as "Seven Pines" to the South, and "Fair Oaks" to the North, didn't come off as planned. By the evening of the second day, both armies were nearly back in their original camp of the day before.
A turning point for the Confederacy occured on the evening of May 31st. Gen Johnston had ridden forward to examine the battlelines as dusk was falling. He was hit in the shoulder by a minié ball, and in the chest by a shell fragment. As he was carried from the field, Maj Gen Gustavus W. Smith assumed command. The next morning Smith, himself in poor health, decided not to renew the attack. As a result, the Union forces made strong gains. Later that day, Smith was replaced as Commander of the Army, by Gen Robert E. Lee. One month later on July 1, 1862, the attempted siege of Richmond was effectively lifted following the series of battles known as The Seven Days.
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