The 85th Pennsylvania and the Peninsula Campaign

     

Map by Hal Jespersen       www.cwmaps.com

 
     [NOTE: The participation of the 85th Pennsylvania is described in more detailed fashion in a Chapter 4 of my book, "Such Hard and Severe Service: The 85th Pennsylvania in the Civil War."
          I am also currently chronicling the 85th Pennsylvania during the Peninsula Campaign on my Facebook blog called "85th Pennsylvania Civil War Page." That blog  follows the regiment on a day to day basis.]

          The Peninsula Campaign was the costliest military campaign in which the 85th Pennsylvania was ever involved. Seventy-eight men died during the approximately four-month operation from April to early July of 1862. Two thirds of the deaths resulted from diseases. Another seventy-two men were medically discharged and sent home.

General George B. McClellan   LOC

          After initially being stationed in Washington, DC in 1861-62, the 85th Pennsylvania sailed away from the nation's capital in the spring of 1862 to participate in the Peninsula Campaign. This was General George B. McClellan's grand effort to capture the Confederate capital city of Richmond, VA by executing an amphibious landing at Fort Monroe and marching up the Virginia peninsula between the James and York rivers towards their objective seventy miles away.
        Due to McClellan's delays, misjudgment of the enemy strength and the emergence of Robert E. Lee as the leader of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Union campaign ended in failure. McClellan withdrew his army from the peninsula in July of 1862. It took two years for the Union to once again threaten the capital city of the Confederacy.
       The Peninsula Campaign had long-term repercussions, mainly the cold realization for the Union that the war would not end quickly. President Lincoln called for a draft in which the states would provide 300,000 additional troops to subdue the rebellion.
       The Peninsula Campaign would comprise a series of battles beginning with the Yorktown siege and Battle of Williamsburg in early May, at Seven Pines and then the Seven Days Battles. The 85th Pennsylvania was heavily involved in the first-day fighting at Seven Pines but sent to the rear for the ensuing Seven Days Battles. Finally, the 85th Pennsylvania was among the Union regiment which were tasked with helping guard McClellan's retreat to Harrison's Landing in July.
       At the outset, the march up the peninsula took its toll on McClellan's army. This was especially true for the regiments (including the 85th) of General Silas Casey's Division of Erasmus Keyes' IV Corps. Casey's Division was the most inexperienced in McCellan's army, not yet fully trained when they left Washington, DC. Casey's men lacked basic supplies for weeks and often had to haul supplies over rain-soaked and muddy roads.
       The 85th regiment marched out of Newport News at the bottom of the peninsula on April 16 and

Soldiers Assisting with Lowe's Balloon    LOC

were soon encamped at Camp Winfield Scott near Warwick Court House. They were stationed here for two weeks on McClellan's left flank while Union forces prepared for a siege of Yorktown, famous of being the site of the British defeat at the hands of George Washington's Continental Army in 1781 that effectively ended the Revolutionary War. Immediately upon arriving at Warwick Court House, Company A of the 85th Pennsylvania was detailed to help Professor Thaddeus Lowe launch his observation balloon on April 17.
         McClellan finally struck at Yorktown on May 4, only to find the much smaller Confederate force had abandoned the fortification the previous night. As the Confederates were marching away from Yorktown,  Union forces caught up to their rearguard. The Battle of Williamsburg ensued on May 5. During this battle, casualties numbered 4000 (2300 on the Union side).With Colonel Joshua B. Howell of the 85th Pennsylvania replacing the severely ill brigade leader General William Keim, the regiment was called into a line of attack in a reserve role. Although they stayed aligned in formation during a cold night of freezing rain and were targeted by Confederate artillery, the regiment was not called upon to enter the battle. Two of their men were wounded by shells; one (Sergeant Daniel Miller of Company K, the regiment's first man to fall in battle) fatally.
         The IV Corps of General Erasmus Keyes, which included the divisions of Casey and Darius Couch, continued towards Richmond and crossed the Chickahominy River in late May. The III Corps of Samuel Heintzelman soon followed. While the III Corps stayed close to the Chickahominy, Keyes' Corps advanced. Couch's Division established a camp at Seven Pines; Casey's Division advance another 3/4 of a mile and set up a camp at Fair Oaks. Why McClellan would place his smallest and least-experienced division at the vanguard of his army just three miles from Richmond in an exposed position remains a mystery.
      Noting the vulnerable position of McClellan's split army, Confederate General Joseph Johnston decided to attack the two Union corps on the last day of May following a torrential rainstorm that swelled the Chickahominy. This would make it difficult or perhaps impossible for McClellan to reinforce Keyes and Heintzelman across the suddenly fast-moving waters of the  Chickahominy.

Map by Hal Jespersen           www.cwmaps.com

     Despite being severely reduced by disease and being outnumbered 2-to-1 or 3-to-1, Casey's Division valiantly held off the Confederates for 2-3 hours before being enveloped on three sides and retreating. For this they were severely rebuked by McClellan, who was far behind the fight hobbled by an attack of malaria. But because of the effort of Casey's men, the Union had time to get additional men into the fight from across the Chickahominy that stabilized the field for the Union and kept the Confederates from swallowing up nearly half of McClellan's army.   
        The two-day battle of Seven Pines ended with no decisive winner. It did result in 11,000 casualties, mostly on the Confederate side. It was the largest battle in the East up until that time and the closest ever fought near Richmond.
        Casey's Division, which took more casualties than any other Union division on the first day of the fight,was sent to the rear for the next month. Silas Casey, erroneously scapegoated for retreating on the first day, was replaced by John J. Peck.
       For three weeks, the 85th Pennsylvania was stationed on McClellan's extreme left near White Oak Swamp. The had no tents or knapsacks, which were left behind at Seven Pines. Scores of men got sick in this environment and many died. Camp hospitals were filled; their doctors were called away to help with the wounded from the Seven Days Battles. The 85th Pennsylvania did no fighting during the Seven Days Battles; instead they were tasked with several reconnaissance missions and with digging entrenchments, They were in a reserve role for the final encounter Malvern Hill.
       When McClellan decided to abandon the peninsula, his army was ordered to march from Malvern Hill to Harrison's Landing for the withdrawal. Peck's division was tasked with guarding the withdrawal. The irony did not escape the 85th Pennsylvania and other regiments from Casey's former command. Once shamed for retreating from Seven Pines,  it was now their task to monitor the retreat of the rest of McClellan's huge army.
    The 85th Pennsylvania, now part of a brigade led by General Henry Wessells who was named Keim's permanent replacement, marched back down the peninsula to Hampton, VA. While the rest of McClellan's army was shipped to northern Virginia for the Battle of Second Bull Run, Wessells' Brigade was sent to Suffolk, VA where they spent the next four months.

Union Retreat from Harrison's Landing, VA
Frank Leslie's Illustrated