21. The General Who Held Off a Vastly Bigger Army With Bluffs
In March, 1862, Union General George B. McClellan outflanked the Confederate main army in Northern Virginia by landing 121,000 men on the Virginia Peninsula to the south, between the James and York rivers. The goal was to march up the Peninsula and capture Richmond before the Confederates could rush in reinforcements to protect their capital. Things went well at first, as McClellan successfully disembarked with no difficulty, and marched on Richmond. The only opposition in McClellan’s path were 12,000 Confederates at Yorktown.
The Confederates, outnumbered ten to one by McClellan’s army, were commanded by John B. Magruder. Realizing that his small force stood no chance in a fight, and desperately needing to buy time until reinforcements arrived, Magruder set out to bamboozle McClellan into slowing down. Fortunately for the Confederates and unfortunately for the Union, Magruder – renown before the war for his florid manner and proneness to theatrics and ostentatious displays – was the right man in the right place at the right time.
