Battle of Oak Grove, Opening of the Seven Days Battles

General George McClellan

June 25 found the Army of the Potomac fighting General Joseph Johnston south of the Chickahominy, just six miles outside of Richmond in what would be the first of the Seven Days Battles—at the Battle of Oak Grove, also known as King’s School House. 

The Seven Days Battles occurred during a time of flux for both armies. Robert E. Lee found himself at the head of three disparate armies. He had just assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia less than a month before engaging McClellan in the Seven Days Campaign. General John B. Magruder’s force, formerly the Army of the Peninsula, merged with Lee’s army, and Stonewall Jackson’s command joined Lee for the campaign.

Worse still, Lee had no experience commanding such a large force. For him, the Seven Days Battles served as a training ground. The first day at Oak Grove was bumpy at best, but Lee learned quickly and soon found himself driving McClellan back.

When Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia, his men nicknamed him “Granny Lee” because he concentrated all his efforts on defending Richmond rather than attacking the enemy. That would soon change. Although it didn’t look like it, Lee had a plan.

“The intention of the enemy seemed to be to attack Richmond by regular approaches,” said Lee. “The strength of his left-wing rendered a direct assault injudicious, if not impracticable,” so... I “determined to construct defensive lines, so as to enable a part of the army to defend the city and the other part free to cross the Chickahominy and operate on the north bank. By sweeping down the river on that side and threatening his communications with York River, it was thought that the enemy would be compelled to retreat or give battle out of his entrenchments.”

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Battle of Malvern Hill Civil War

 

A Union cannon battery firing at Malvern Hill

The last action of the Seven Days Battles took place at Malvern Hill on Tuesday, July 1st, 1862.

No one could fault McClellan for making his stand at Malvern Hill. It was a strong position. “Malvern Hill...is a lofty bluff, unapproachable, almost impregnable on the riverside and the declivity looking down the swamp,” wrote General Fitz-John Porter. Just outside the opening were woodlands and plantations along Turkey Creek. One soldier was overheard saying, “Satan himself couldn’t whip us out of this.”

It was a safe position and still close enough to Richmond should the opportunity to attack present itself again. Richmond sat seventeen miles away if you followed along the river. Fort Darling rested on the opposite side of the river, some ten miles distant.

Fitz-John Porter moved his army to Malvern Hill overnight on June 29th. His chief artillery officer—Colonel Henry Hunt, placed his artillery on a high spot overlooking the north bank of Turkey Creek, about one mile south of Crews Hill, where he could cover the army’s trains during their withdrawal to Harrison’s Landing. 

“The position was better adapted for a defensive battle than any with which we had been favored,” said Porter. “It was elevated and more or less protected on each flank by small streams or swamps.” The enemy had to crawl through dense, tangled marshes to attack him from the front. Getting infantry through the woods and marshes would be tough—moving artillery through them would be damn near impossible.

The roads from Richmond over which the rebels would have to pass ran directly in front of Crew Hill. Hunt positioned his reserve artillery on the hills above, where he could easily rake the clearing within a thousand yards. 

Life in Tidewater Virginia

 

(Based on a map of Tidewater Virgina published in Harper's Monthly Magazine. 1896)

If you had money in early Virginia, you wanted a river out front and tobacco out back. Throw in a boat landing, and you were in business. Nobody wanted to drag a load of tobacco through ten miles of mud if a ship could come collect it.

 

That was Tidewater. Low country, stretching from the Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay inland to the falls near Richmond and Fredericksburg. The James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac ran through it, with creeks branching off all over the place.

 

You could wave at your neighbor across the water. Getting to his house by road was another matter. Better take a boat unless you had most of the day to kill.

 

Native Virginians knew those waterways long before the English arrived. They farmed, fished, and got around by canoe. The newcomers took their land and brought war, but communities like the Pamunkey and Mattaponi held on.

 

By the early 1700s, everybody wanted tobacco money. Grow it, dry it, pack it into wooden barrels called hogsheads, and send it overseas. Ships came back with tools, cloth, dishes, and a fresh batch of things to spend money on.

George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and the Making of the Constitution

 

James Madison, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton at Mount Vernon
debating the constitution

As early as 1784, it was apparent to George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and other politicians that the new government wasn’t working. Under the Articles of Confederation, the government was weak. It didn’t have the power to raise taxes and police disputes among the thirteen states.

One of the first attempts to rework the Articles of Confederation was the Annapolis Convention, held in 1786. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia got together to rework the Confederation. One outcome of the meeting was the call for a broader Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia the following year.

Meanwhile, George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Henry Knox worked behind the scenes from Mount Vernon to draft a new Constitution. James Madison was the principal architect of what would become known as the Virginia Plan. It laid out a vision for the new government that included a strong central government, a bicameral legislative system (that included the House and Senate), and an executive and legislative branch.

The Constitutional Convention was held at Independence Hall in Philadelphia from May 14—September 17, 1787. George Washington was elected President of the Convention. He wore his military uniform and presided over it, sitting in a tall chair on a raised platform overlooking the other delegates.

Charles Dickens Comes to America—and America Won’t Leave Him Alone

 

Charles Dickens in 1842 (Munsey's Magazine. 1893)

Charles Dickens came to America in 1842 and again in 1867.

 

He could barely get through the crowds. People who’d never laid eyes on him acted like he owed them an evening. The papers looked his wife over, took inventory of his clothes, and gave his hair a thorough going-over.

 

Dickens was twenty-nine. Americans ate up his books.The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, and The Old Curiosity Shop.

 

Now, everyone wanted to get close enough to go home and brag about it.

 

At first, Dickens loved the attention. He’d looked forward to visiting America for years. The newspapers welcomed him with open arms—and took a good, long look while they had him.

 

The Boston Transcript found him “frank, sociable, noble-hearted.” A Worcester reporter described Dickens’s dress—brown coat, red waistcoat, fancy cravat, corkscrew curls, forehead, eyeballs, nose, and mouth.

 

The verdict was that he had “more animation than grace, and more intelligence than beauty.”

 

Welcome to America, Mr. Dickens.

General Mad Anthony Wayne and the Attack On Stony Point, American Revolution

 

A musket ball grazed Anthony Wayne’s skull. Blood ran down his forehead. Around him, American soldiers pushed uphill through broken timber and musket fire.

Their muskets were empty. They couldn’t shoot back, and stopping to load would leave them under British fire. They had to shove through the sharpened branches and claw their way uphill to the men shooting at them.

It was just past midnight on July 16, 1779. About 1,300 Americans were going after Stony Point. They’d slipped through the marshes without a sound, but now the British were firing and men were falling.

Six weeks earlier, the British had seized Stony Point and the landing across the river at Verplanck’s Point. Between them lay King’s Ferry, a busy crossing that helped carry American supplies and travelers between New England and the states farther south. British troops now stood across that route.

Sir Henry Clinton, Britain’s commander-in-chief in America, wanted Washington to fight for it. If the ferry wasn’t enough of a temptation, British troops threatening the Hudson Highlands might do the trick. Clinton needed Washington somewhere he could strike him.