... But enough of this. The fearful drama of 1862 is about to begin. In the early spring the Federal army, some 200,000 men, under Mc-Clellan, changed its base from the Potomac to the Peninsula at Yorktown , of historic memory. They were confronted by Magruder with some 10,000 or 15,000 troops, who held the vast horde of Federal troops at bay until the arrival of General Johnston, who rapidly marched ...