McClellan and the Seven Days Battles

Updated Special Offer: Receive a complimentary ticket to this online program on Zoom by registering for the May 4 Seven Days Battles in-person tour by April 25. Further information will be shared with qualifying registrants via email in late April.

Early 1862 was a time of frustration for President Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet, particularly in the Civil War’s eastern theater. Gen. George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac seemed immobilized in its camps around Washington, D.C., and McClellan himself unwilling to confront the Confederate Army, a mere 35 miles away. Yet things were about to change.

In March, McClellan began to move his 100,000-man army by ship from Alexandria to Fort Monroe, Virginia, only 80 miles from Richmond, the Confederate capital. In May, McClellan and his army were just outside Richmond, ready to execute the coup de grâce to the Confederacy. Ultimately, however, McClellan’s strategy failed.

Civil War tour guide and career military intelligence officer Marc Thompson looks at McClellan’s 1862 Peninsula Campaign with an emphasis on the Seven Days Battles. Evaluating McClellan’s state of mind and actions, Thompson explains why this bold campaign plan yielded disastrous results.

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