July 3, 1862

July 3, 1862:  McClellan further asks for reinforcements, doubling the number he needs to 100,000.  He tells Washington that he has currently no more than 50,000 men under arms, whereas the real number is more like 90,000.  His dispatch to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton reflects the tone of insubordination that marks his career, in addition to his defensive attitude:

A simple summary is, that this army has fought every day for a week against superior numbers, holding its own at least, often repulsing the enemy by day, then retiring at night. Our light and heavy guns are saved, with the exception of one. All the wagons are now within the line of pickets, and I hope will all be saved. The army is thoroughly worn-out, and requires rest and very heavy re-enforcements.
    Our losses have been very great, for the fighting has been desperate, and officers and men have behaved heroically.
     I am in hopes that the enemy is as completely worn-out as we are. He was certainly very severely punished in the last battle. The roads are now very bad. For these reasons I hope that we shall have enough breathing space to reorganize and rest the men and get them into position before the enemy can attack again. I have ordered Burnside to bring up all his available force, and leave to your judgment the question of evacuating New Berne and its dependencies, so as to bring any available men to re-enforce this army. It is of course impossible to estimate as yet our losses, but I doubt whether there are to-day more than 50,000 men with their colors.
    To accomplish the great task of capturing Richmond and putting an end to this rebellion re-enforcements should be sent to me rather much over than much less than 100,000 men.
    I beg that you will be fully impressed by the magnitude of the crisis in which we are placed. . . .

---In northern Virginia, Gen. John Pope takes command of the troops that used to be commanded by Fremont, Banks, and McDowell, all combined into the new Army of Virginia (US).  Fremont’s Mountain Department (nee Army of Western Virginia) became Pope’s I Corps, Banks’ Army of the Shenandoah became the II Corps, and Irwin McDowell’s Army of the Rappahannock, which had lately been McClellan’s I Corps, now is the III Corps of the Army of Virginia.  Pope is openly scornful of McClellan’s conduct of the campaign on the James Peninsula, arguing that retreating to the James River now puts the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia between Pope and McClellan, and allows Lee to attack either of the Federal armies in turn, as he chooses.  However, Fremont considers Pope’s promotion to be a de facto demotion of himself, and therefore offers his resignation in high dudgeon.  To his dismay, it is accepted betimes, and the German hero Franz Sigel is put in command of Fremont’s corps.

---In the aftermath of the fighting on the Peninsula, the New York Times offers a sober and realistic editorial:

We have at last full reports of recent movements in front of Richmond. We are sorry to say that they do not fully sustain the encouraging interpretation which the public sought to put upon the brief announcement, that our right wing had been attacked and had withdrawn to the other side of the Chickahominy. We have now no room to doubt that our army has met with a very serious reverse, and that it is in a condition of peril, which, if not imminent, at least calls for the instant and energetic efforts of the Government and the country. . . .

Our whole army, therefore, now lies upon the James River, at a point called Turkey Bend, within reach, and under cover of our gunboats. Supplies will speedily reach it from Fortress Monroe, and it seems, indeed, to have withdrawn its stores in good order and without serious loss.

Beyond all question, this intelligence will fall with heavy weight upon the public heart. It is entirely unexpected, and shatters the high hope which the whole country has of late indulged, that, with the fall of Richmond, the end of the rebellion was close at hand. But this depressing effect will be temporary. A day’s reflection will rouse the whole country to the necessity of another effort to crush the rebellion. . . .

The Government will meet this crisis with an intrepid spirit and a determined purpose, — and it must be met by the country in the same temper and with equal courage. The President, as if in anticipation of such a contingency, has already called for 300,000 additional volunteers. Every man of them ought to be enrolled within a fortnight. We shall have, we hope, no wranglings in the Press or elsewhere over the past, — no criminations or hostile criticisms, — no attempts to screen demerit or exaggerate defeat. The country needs the best service of all her sons. Let the only contest be for precedence in the race for her rescue!

---Mary Boykin Chestnut writes in her diary with soberness of the Seven Days’ Battles, and their effect on her circle of neighbors and the Confederacy at large:

July 3d. - Mem says she feels like sitting down, as an Irishwoman does at a wake, and howling night and day. Why did Huger let McClellan slip through his fingers? Arrived at Mrs. McMahan's at the wrong moment. Mrs. Bartow was reading to the stricken mother an account of the death of her son. The letter was written by a man who was standing by him when he was shot through the head. "My God!" he said; that was all, and he fell dead. James Taylor was color-bearer. He was shot three times before he gave in. Then he said, as he handed the colors to the man next him, "You see I can't stand it any longer," and dropped stone dead. He was only seventeen years old.

If anything can reconcile me to the idea of a horrid failure after all efforts to make good our independence of Yankees, it is Lincoln's proclamation freeing the negroes. Especially yours, Messieurs, who write insults to your Governor and Council, dated from Clarendon. Three hundred of Mr. Walter Blake's negroes have gone to the Yankees. Remember, that recalcitrant patriot's property on two legs may walk off without an order from the Council to work on fortifications. . . . If it were not for this horrid war, how nice it would be here. We might lead such a pleasant life. This is the most perfectly appointed establishment - such beautiful grounds, flowers, and fruits; indeed, all that heart could wish; such delightful dinners, such pleasant drives, such jolly talks, such charming people; but this horrid war poisons everything.