George B. McClellan at Yorktown
Union General George B. McClellan outwitted the Confederate main army in Northern Virginia in March, 1862, and landed 121,000 men on the Virginia Peninsula to his enemy’s 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 smoothly at first, as McClellan successfully disembarked with no difficulty, and marched towards Richmond. The only opposition between McClellan and Richmond were 12,000 Confederates at Yorktown, commanded by John B. Magruder and outnumbered 10 to 1. Aware 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 to slow down. The Union commander proved gullible enough to let a certain victory slip from his grasp.
From the Confederates’ perspective, Magruder was the right man in the right place at the right time. Before the war, he had a reputation for florid mannerisms and a proneness to theatrics and ostentatious displays. Those traits came in handy when Magruder turned to theatrics and display to put on a show, and get McClellan to believe that he faced far stronger opposition than was the case. Magruder took advantage of the small Warwick River that separated him from the advancing federals. He set out to convince McClellan that its 14-mile length on the opposite bank was heavily fortified and strongly garrisoned. While the fortifications were real, Magruder lacked the men to occupy them in any strength that could have stopped McClellan had he attacked. In a major blunder, as seen below, McClellan failed to attack.
