The Peninsula Were any other options discussed prior to the Peninsula campaign?

Another that loomed large was a large number of veterans were going home by Oct. 1864. Priv Emmel was one of those.
Sept 28, 1864 The rebels crawl upon the darkey troops on the left of us last night and was going to take the picket line. We opened the 8 12 pounders from the fort (Fort Davis) and soon drove the rebels back. The lead from the rebel rifles flew pretty thick in the fort for a few minutes.
Sept 29 1864 We leave Fort Davis on the Plank Road at 4PM and march to Hancock Station and get on top of the cars and ride to City Point where the regiment (7th NJ) turn in their rifles.
Priv Heyward Emmell 7th NJ
 
That´s not how a siege works. Grant pinned Lee in a position with little maneuver room, then continued to move to his left, cutting off supply routes (railroads and roads) until Lee´s position is untenable. Remember the analogy: ¨our cat has the longer tail?¨
On multiple occasions Grant undertook targeted offensives that extended the siege lines, occupied the Weldon RR, and, of course, also further depleted the strength of the ANV. All while Early was being ultimately destroyed in the Valley. Those are facts - not rhetorical fantasy.
 
OK, I will boil this down into a very simple question for you.

What makes you think that McClellan's estimate of 80,000 or more Confederates on April 20th is "correct"? Please show the evidence and sources you are using to come to your conclusion.
While we're at it, I'd like to know what measure of strength McClellan was using for these estimates.

There are other questions. The poster says that McClellan had 46,000 for the period April 6 - at least April 9. Yet on April 7 he telegraphed Lincoln that he had 53,000, after deducting Wool's troops from his total of 85,000.

I note that - the numerous material questions about the April 20 estimate of 80,000 enemy strength entirely aside - McClellan's side of the equation for that date seems to be missing. On April 19 he wrote Ellen that he had "a little over 100,000 effective men". Of course, we have no precise definition of the term "effective" and how McClellan calculated it. We do know that when he occasionally provided detailed calculations of his own strength between August 1861 and November 1862, he was "conservative" in counting troops he could call on for action, to say the least. With McClellan's representations about numbers, it's always essential to ask (1) what measure of strength he was using for his opponent and (2) what measure of strength he was using for himself. Most of the time, we see only numbers with nothing revealing how they were calculated.
 
Thinking about the actual topic of the thread ... :smile: :smile:

The Navy wanted to expand Burnside's North Carolina Expedition into an effort to take Norfolk. The Navy talked to Barnard about this idea in a conference.

McClellan had no interest (probably thinking it was secondary to his win-with-one-big-effort design and that Norfolk would eventually fall anyway as he advanced up the Peninsula). The Navy idea was to bring Burnside up from the south while a second effort was made from the north (Wool out of Fort Monroe; Goldsborough commands the USN in both places).

The Burnside Expedition got as far north as Elizabeth City, NC (47 miles by highway today to Norfolk). The Confederates were working on building at least one more ironclad at Richmond (CSS Richmond) and Burnside wanted to wreck the locks at the southern end of the Great Dismal Swamp Canal to keep the Rebels from bringing them down into Albemarle Sound.

  • April 18, 1862 - Jesse Reno left Roanoke Island, landing just below Elizabeth City about Midnight. Reno has about 3,000 men.
  • April 19, 1862 - Reno marches north towards South Mills. Col. Ambrose Wright with about 900 men and a few guns met them on the road just below the town, positioned behind the "roasted ditch" across the only road. A four-hour fight ensued after which the Rebels pulled back and the Yankees paused. That night Reno (troubled by rumors of heavy Confederate reinforcements) withdrew.
  • April 22, 1862 - Reno is back in Roanoke.

See Battle of South Mills

McClellan/the Union has the troops to expand this operation if they want to do it. Franklin's division (10,000?) is sitting aboard ships up by Fort Monroe. Wool has some more and McClellan doesn't need all of his force on the Peninsula to guard the trenches. If they had actually wanted to do this, Burnside might have been reinforced (a brigade?) and a landing made by the McClellan/Wool forces up near Norfolk (out of range of the heavy guns, so probably to the East, nearer Virginia Beach). Huger in Norfolk would be greatly outnumbered and attacked from two directions. I doubt Johnston would have been enthusiastic about sending Huger reinforcements.
 
Thinking about the actual topic of the thread ... :smile: :smile:

The Navy wanted to expand Burnside's North Carolina Expedition into an effort to take Norfolk. The Navy talked to Barnard about this idea in a conference.

McClellan had no interest (probably thinking it was secondary to his win-with-one-big-effort design and that Norfolk would eventually fall anyway as he advanced up the Peninsula). The Navy idea was to bring Burnside up from the south while a second effort was made from the north (Wool out of Fort Monroe; Goldsborough commands the USN in both places).

The Burnside Expedition got as far north as Elizabeth City, NC (47 miles by highway today to Norfolk). The Confederates were working on building at least one more ironclad at Richmond (CSS Richmond) and Burnside wanted to wreck the locks at the southern end of the Great Dismal Swamp Canal to keep the Rebels from bringing them down into Albemarle Sound.

  • April 18, 1862 - Jesse Reno left Roanoke Island, landing just below Elizabeth City about Midnight. Reno has about 3,000 men.
  • April 19, 1862 - Reno marches north towards South Mills. Col. Ambrose Wright with about 900 men and a few guns met them on the road just below the town, positioned behind the "roasted ditch" across the only road. A four-hour fight ensued after which the Rebels pulled back and the Yankees paused. That night Reno (troubled by rumors of heavy Confederate reinforcements) withdrew.
  • April 22, 1862 - Reno is back in Roanoke.

See Battle of South Mills

McClellan/the Union has the troops to expand this operation if they want to do it. Franklin's division (10,000?) is sitting aboard ships up by Fort Monroe. Wool has some more and McClellan doesn't need all of his force on the Peninsula to guard the trenches. If they had actually wanted to do this, Burnside might have been reinforced (a brigade?) and a landing made by the McClellan/Wool forces up near Norfolk (out of range of the heavy guns, so probably to the East, nearer Virginia Beach). Huger in Norfolk would be greatly outnumbered and attacked from two directions. I doubt Johnston would have been enthusiastic about sending Huger reinforcements.
An interesting sidelight of the Battle of South Mills is that Reno's field artillery was an unusual unit - the 1st New York Marine Artillery. Recruited for service on gunboats, their uniforms were modeled on USN uniforms. For their land service on April 18-19, they were outfitted with 2 12 lb Naval howitzers and 2 12 lb M1841 field howitzers (borrowed from one of Reno's infantry regiments). They were one of Reno's units that were guided to the wrong road on the approach and a march that should have covered 14 miles apparently took 32. They also were short of horses and much of their movement of the guns was by drag ropes. They appear to have done effective work with canister.
 
An interesting sidelight of the Battle of South Mills is that Reno's field artillery was an unusual unit - the 1st New York Marine Artillery. Recruited for service on gunboats, their uniforms were modeled on USN uniforms. For their land service on April 18-19, they were outfitted with 2 12 lb Naval howitzers and 2 12 lb M1841 field howitzers (borrowed from one of Reno's infantry regiments). They were one of Reno's units that were guided to the wrong road on the approach and a march that should have covered 14 miles apparently took 32. They also were short of horses and much of their movement of the guns was by drag ropes. They appear to have done effective work with canister.
No wonder Reno's troops were tired. :smile:
 
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