[Illustration: The Peninsula Campaign]
This peninsula, from which the campaign gets its name, lies between the York and James rivers. Landing at the lower end of it, McClellan was met by General Joseph E. Johnston, who caused a long delay by forcing him to besiege Yorktown. McClellan then advanced up the peninsula, fighting the battle of Williamsburg on the way. At White House Landing he turned toward Richmond, extending his right flank to Hanover Courthouse, where McDowell was expected to join him. But this was not to be, for General T. J. Jackson ("Stonewall" Jackson) rushed down the Shenandoah valley, driving Banks over the Potomac into Maryland, and retreated south before Frémont or McDowell could cut him off; during this campaign he won four desperate battles in thirty-five days. Jackson's success alarmed Washington, and McDowell was held in northern Virginia. McClellan's army, meanwhile, advanced on both sides of the Chickahominy River to within eight miles of Richmond. At Fair Oaks and Seven Pines (May 31) his left flank was almost overwhelmed by Johnston; but the latter was wounded and his troops defeated. Johnston was then succeeded by R. E. Lee, who, joined by Jackson, attacked McClellan at Mechanicsville and Games Mill, and forced him to fall back, fighting for six days (June 26 to July 1, 1862)[1] as he retreated to Harrisons Landing, on the James River. There the army remained till August, when it was recalled to the Potomac.
[Footnote 1: The "Seven Days' Battles" are these and one fought June 25.]
%440. Lee's Raid into Maryland; Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg.%—While the Army of the Potomac was at Harrisons Landing, a new force called the Army of Virginia was organized, and General John Pope placed in command. At the same time General Halleck was recalled from the West and made general in chief of the Union armies. Pope intended to move straight against Richmond. But when McClellan in obedience to orders left Harrisons Landing and took his army by water to the Potomac, near Washington, the Confederate army was left free to act as it pleased. Seeing his opportunity, Lee moved at once against Pope's army, whose line stretched along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers to the Shenandoah valley in western Virginia. Near the Rapidan at Cedar Mountain was General Banks. He was first attacked and beaten; after which Lee fell upon Pope on the old field of Bull Run, and put the army to flight. Pope fell back to Washington, where his forces were united with those of McClellan. Pushing northward, Lee next crossed the Potomac and entered Maryland. But he was overtaken by McClellan at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, where, September 17, 1862, a great battle was fought, after which Lee went back to Virginia.
McClellan was now removed and the command of the army given to General Burnside. He was as reckless as McClellan was cautious, and on December 13 threw his army against the Confederates posted at Fredericksburg Heights and was beaten with dreadful slaughter. Thus at the end of 1862 Richmond was not captured, and the two armies went into winter quarters with the Rappahannock River between them.
%441. Emancipation of the Slaves%.—More than two years had now passed since South Carolina had seceded, and during this time a great change had taken place in the feeling of the North towards slavery. When Lincoln was inaugurated, very few people wanted the slaves emancipated. But two years of bloody fighting had convinced the North that the Union could not exist part slave, part free. As Lincoln said in his speech at Springfield in 1858, "It must be all one thing, or all the other." Seeing that the people now felt as he did, Lincoln, in 1862 (March 6), asked Congress to agree to buy the slaves of the loyal slave states, and urged the members of Congress from those states to advise their constituents to set free their slaves and receive $300 apiece for them. This they would not do; whereupon he decided to act upon his own authority, and declared all slaves within the lines of the Confederacy to be freemen.
For this he had two good reasons: 1. So far the war had been one for the preservation of the Union. By making it a war for union and freedom the North would become more earnest than ever. 2. The rulers of England, who wanted Southern cotton, were only waiting for a pretext to acknowledge the independence of the South. If, however, the North engaged in a war for the abolition of slavery, the people of England would not allow the independence of the Confederacy to be acknowledged by their rulers.
The time to make such a declaration was after some victory gained by the Union army. When McClellan and Lee stood face to face at Antietam, Lincoln therefore "vowed to God" that if Lee were defeated he would issue the proclamation. Lee was defeated, and, on September 22, 1862, the proclamation came forth declaring that if the Confederate States did not return to their allegiance before January 1, 1863, "all persons held as slaves" within the Confederate lines "shall be then, thenceforth, and forever free." The states of course did not return to their allegiance, and on January 1, 1863, a second proclamation was issued setting the slaves free.[1]
[Footnote 1: Nicolay and Hay's _Life of Lincoln, _Vol. VI., Chaps. 6, 8.]
Now, there are three things in connection with the Emancipation
Proclamation which must be understood and remembered: