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h of their old commander was announced, the soldiers rushed to the door to meet him; and as he entered the room they crowded round him so that he could hardly walk. After an interchange of greetings between him and the officers, Colonel McReynolds, who commanded the regiment, spoke as follows:-- soldiers:--But a short time ago the chairman of this occasion did us the honor to refer to the fact that the First New York Cavalry were the last on the Chickahominy and the first to reach the James River. It was a proud announcement, gentlemen, and it was true. I now have the honor, and the great pleasure, to announce to you that the noble chieftain who led the Army of tho Potomac on that occasion, that matchless chieftain, General George B. McClellan--[cheers lasting several minutes],--I do not blame you for your enthusiasm,--General George B. McClellan, has honored you with his presence. If you will keep still for a moment, I have no doubt he will speak to you. General McClellan
l in American history,--those days in which the noble soldiers of the Union and Constitution fought an overwhelming enemy by day, and retreated from successive victories by night, through a week of battle, closing the terrible scenes of conflicts with the ever-memorable victory at Malvern, where they drove back, beaten and shattered, the entire Eastern army of the Confederacy, and thus secured for themselves a place of rest and a point for a new advance upon the capital from the banks of the James. Richmond was still within our grasp, had the Army of the Potomac been reinforced and permitted to advance. But counsels which I cannot but think subsequent events proved unwise prevailed in Washington, and we were ordered to abandon the campaign. Never did soldiers better deserve the thanks of a nation than the Army of the Potomac for the deeds of the Peninsular campaign; and, although that meed was withheld from them by the authorities, I am persuaded they have received the applause of
satisfactorily demonstrated, and the other naval preparations were so extensive and formidable, that the security of Fortress Monroe as a base of operations was placed beyond a doubt; but, on the other hand, the presence of the Merrimac in the James River closed that river to us, and threw us upon the York River, with its tributaries, as our only line of water-communication with the fortress. The general plan, therefore, remained undisturbed, though less promising in its details than when JameJames River was in our control. On Sunday, the 9th of March, trustworthy information came to Washington that the enemy was beginning to evacuate his positions at Centreville and Manassas, as well as on the Upper and Lower Potomac. It is not improbable that, in some mysterious way, they had heard of the council of general officers held on the preceding day, and of the conclusions arrived at. We have the right, we think, to say that McClellan never intended to advance upon Centreville. Hi
rible Merrimac lay, hushed in grim repose, in the James River; and no one knew when she might reappear or in hos on the narrowest part of the peninsula between the James and York Rivers, being about three miles from the fowas such that she could not get far enough up the James River to be out of the reach of the Federal navy, to whmap. The Peninsula has York River on one side and James River on the other; these rivers must sooner or later hle. The destruction of the Merrimac opened the James River to our gunboats, but not until the Confederates hdid to us. In the first place, she controlled the James River so long as she lived. This rendered it impossiblrival would have been more certain. Now that the James River was open, they might have been sent by that routeking of Norfolk by the Federals, which opened the James River, Commodore Goldsborough had proposed to General McClellan to take the James River as a base of operations and have it flank his left wing. This change of base,
ovisions and forage, under a convoy of gunboats, sent up James River. They reached Harrison's Landing in time to be of use tk movement and establish a new base of operations on the James River. On Wednesday, June 25, the Army of the Potomac was t that plan of transferring his base of operations to the James River which he had been meditating for some days, and in view ge's Station, to forward as many supplies as possible to James River, and to destroy the rest. These commands were all obeyeh, the execution of his plan for a flank movement to the James River was commenced at once, under his own direction. Gener was marching rapidly towards Harrison's Landing, on the James River. As there was but one main road, it was necessary to cre,--speaking of the retreat from the Chickahominy to the James River, says, This plan of defence reflects the highest credit gun, and the spade. The general in command, when the James River had been reached, had a right to look around with just p
Chapter 9: The army of the Potomac withdrawn from Richmond The history of the Army of the Potomac during the months of July and August, 1862, may be told in a few words. During their retrograde movement to the banks of the James, they had been fearfully weakened by losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners; but they were not in the least demoralized. They had conducted themselves in a way to move the admiration and win the gratitude of their commander; and from a full heart, on available man brought here. A decided victory here, and the military strength of the rebellion is crushed. It matters not what partial reverses we may meet with elsewhere: here is the true defence of Washington; it is here, on the banks of the James, that the fate of the Union should be decided. Clear in my convictions of right, strong in the consciousness that I have ever been, and still am, actuated solely by the love of my country, knowing that no ambitious or selfish motives have infl