was especially charged with the destruction of the Merrimac should this vessel again seek a conflict with the United States fleet in Hampton Roads, and he was precluded from diminishing his naval strength so long as this formidable armor-clad was afloat.

Under these circumstances McClellan was forced to plan his campaign up the Peninsula, with the James River on his left flank controlled by the Confederate navy. The strip of country called the Peninsula lies. between the James and York Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay south of the mouth of the York. These rivers form tidal estuaries of the Chesapeake, and from them and the bay itself many smaller estuaries, also affected by the tides, make well up into the Peninsula, thus affording many excellent positions of defense where a small force may hold a much greater one in temporary check. But these could readily be turned should the flank approaches by water be in the possession of the aggressor. The ground is generally lowlying and covered with dense wood, except where clearings have been made for cultivation; the soil is a sandy loam which readily becomes miry and boggy after light rains. Many marshes occur in the neighborhood of the numerous creeks, which in rainy weather are impassable except upon corduroy roads. The Peninsula is traversed by but two main roads from the vicinity of Fort Monroe to Williamsburg, near where they unite to separate again in their progress northward; the westerly, or Warwick road, starting from Newport News skirts the James River and passes through Warwick Court House and crosses the Warwick River at Lee's Mill; the easterly, or Yorktown road, starts from Hampton, running generally parallel to the Warwick road, crossing the head waters of the Back and Poquosin Rivers, and passes through Big Bethel and Cockletown until it reaches Yorktown; thence it approaches the Warwick road to within a mile at the Halfway House and joins it at Williamsburg. Several connecting roads unite these main roads, but they are all ordinary country roads generally found in

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a sparsely settled territory of an agricultural people. Beyond Williamsburg the Peninsula is divided by the Chickahominy into two portions; that on the east lying between the Pamunkey and the Chickahominy, and the western portion between the Chickahominy and the James. Here the land is somewhat higher and drier, but it is also much better adapted to a defensive than to an offensive campaign, owing to its indifferent roads, marshy streams, and dense woods.

The importance of the Peninsula as affording a possible line of operations to the Union forces toward Richmond as an objective had not been ignored. As early as May 21, 1861, General J. B. Magruder, having been assigned to the command of the Confederate forces on the Peninsula, was directed to take immediate measures to strengthen the defenses at Yorktown and to hasten the construction of a line of defense at Williamsburg by joining the heads of College and Queen's Creeks by an intrenched line. Recognizing the extreme importance of his problem, Magruder did not hesitate to employ every means within his power to accomplish it at the very earliest opportunity. Not only did he utilize every soldier of his command for the necessary labor, but also made requisitions upon the slave owners to the extent of half of their slaves, and impressed all the free negroes for compulsory labor to construct the lines of works deemed necessary for his purpose. By the latter part of July, 1861, he had practically completed three strong defensive lines across the Peninsula. The first or more advanced of these extended from Harrod's Mill on the Poquosin to Young's Mill on Deep Creek, having supporting batteries covering its flanks; the second, or what afterward became the main line, had its left flank at Gloucester and Yorktown, whose works closed the mouth of the York River; then followed the right bank of the Warwick to the vicinity of Lee's Mill, where it turned to cross Mulberry Island, and rested its right upon Skiff Creek; the third, consisting of a series of detached redoubts, was placed in front of Williamsburg

effectively to command all the roads approaching the village from the direction of Fort Monroe. With a living faith in the supreme importance of his trust, he labored with indefatigable industry to strengthen his lines with all possible accessory means of defense, and at the same time never ceased to importune the Confederate War Department for additions to his forces. and to his armament during this period of preparation.

In the meantime the Assistant Secretary of War, Mr. John Tucker, assisted by Colonel Ingalls and Captain Hodges, of the Quartermaster's Department of the regular army, was fully occupied in effecting the transfer of the Army of the Potomac to its new base at Fort Monroe. "In thirty-seven days," says he, "from the time I received the order in Washington, the vessels chartered (one hundred and thirteen steamers, one hundred and eighty-eight schooners, and eighty-eight barges) had transported from Perryville, Alexandria, and Washington, one hundred and twenty-one thousand five hundred men, fourteen thousand five hundred and ninety-two animals, eleven hundred and fifty wagons, forty-four batteries, seventy-four ambulances, besides pontoon bridges, telegraph materials and the enormous quantity of equipage, etc., required for an army of such magnitude.' While this problem of logistics was in process of execution it was a matter of the gravest apprehension lest the Merrimac should steal from her anchorage and inflict a deadly blow upon the transports while unloading their precious. freight at the wharves of Fort Monroe.

Notwithstanding the great success that attended the transshipment of so vast an army, unexpected delays and difficulties had occurred, especially with regard to the wagons and animals belonging to the land transportation of some of the troops. At the time. of McClellan's arrival at Fort Monroe, in the afternoon of April 2d, the disembarkation of the cavalry and artillery reserve was still in progress. Deciding upon an immediate advance he hastened the unloading of the transports then in the harbor, and proceeded to

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organize the available troops for this purpose. These were Sedgwick's division of the Second Corps, Hamilton's and Porter's of the Third, and Couch's and Smith's of the Fourth; Sykes's brigade of regular infantry, Hunt's reserve artillery, and the Fifth United States and the Third Pennsylvania Regiments of cavalry-in all about fifty-eight thousand men and one hundred guns, besides the artillery batteries attached to the several divisions. Casey's division of the Fourth Corps had also been disembarked at this time, but as it was not then supplied with wagon transportation it could not participate in the forward movement.

With the exception of the more prominent features of the Peninsula, such as were delineated upon the Coast Survey charts, much of the important topography of his new theater of operations was practically unknown to General McClellan. In planning his campaign he relied mainly upon the topographical details as laid down upon what was known as the "Cram map, compiled by Colonel T. J. Cram, of the Topographical Engineers, serving at Fort Monroe as staff In his report McClellan officer of General Wool. says: "As to the force and position of the enemy, the information then in our possession was vague and untrustworthy. Much of it was obtained from the staff officers of General Wool, and was simply to the effect that Yorktown was surrounded by a continuous line of earthworks, with strong water batteries on the York River, and garrisoned by not less than fifteen thousand troops, under the command of General J. B. Magruder. Maps which had been prepared by the Topographical Engineers under General Wool's command were furnished me, in which the Warwick River was represented as flowing parallel to, but not crossing the road from Newport News to Williamsburg, making the so-called Mulberry Island a real island; and we had no information as to the true course of the Warwick across the Peninsula, nor of the formidable line of works which it covered." This is in strong contrast to the language he used in describing the

character of the theater of operations he desired to assume in his letter of February 3d to the President.

The condition of things at this time, as they must have presented themselves to his mind, may be described as follows: The greater bulk of his army had reached its new base, and the remainder, either en route or about to embark, would give him four full army corps with which to carry on his campaign; with sufficient wagons to move the greater part of the force already landed, he deemed it more prudent to advance upon Yorktown at once without waiting to collect the transports necessary to land a force on the Gloucester side of the York River, and, expecting to invest Yorktown on the second day of his movement, he confidently hoped to be then in a better position to determine his future plans. Ignorant of the obstacle presented by the strong defenses of the Warwick, which were not delineated on the Cram map, his plan appeared to be entirely feasible. Accordingly, on April 3d he issued orders for the movement to begin early the next morning. His command was organized into two columns, each to follow separate roads; the left column, under the command of General Keyes, was directed to follow the James River or Warwick road to the vicinity of Young's Mill, while the right column was to move upon the Yorktown road by way of Big Bethel and Howard's Bridge. The former was composed of Smith's and Couch's divisions with the Fifth United States Cavalry attached, and the latter, commanded by General Heintzelman, comprised Porter's, Hamilton's, and Sedgwick's divisions, to which Averill's Third Pennsylvania Cavalry was assigned. Following the right column came the reserve infantry, cavalry, and artillery of the army. The object of the first day's march was to force the enemy to abandon the works at Big Bethel, Howard's Bridge, and Ship Point on the right, and those of Young's Mill on the left, all of which was successfully accomplished. Orders for the next day directed Keyes to move upon Lee's Mill, brush aside any of the enemy's force found