#133 PENINSULA CAMPAIGN (Part the Fourth)

The Civil War & Reconstruction

Richard Youngdahl

History

4.8 • 4.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2015

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

In which we look at the engagement at Williamsburg on May 5, 1862 and the heavy skirmish at Eltham's Landing on May 7.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, welcome to episode number 133 of our Civil War podcast.
0:29.1	My name is Rich. And I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Thanks for tuning into the podcast.
0:34.2	When we left off last time, it was early May 1862 and the Confederate forces on the peninsula
0:41.6	were retreating from the Yorktown Warwick River defensive line. The Confederate Commander General Joseph
0:48.0	E. Johnston had ordered this preemptive withdrawal in order to avoid the big bombardment that the Union
0:53.6	Commander George Me McClellan had in store for the rebel defenders of Yorktown.
0:59.7	McClellan had spent the past month making preparations for his heavy siege artillery
1:04.8	to obliterate the Confederate defenses at Yorktown and by the beginning of May,
1:09.5	everything was just about ready. Little Max bombardment was scheduled to begin on May 5th,
1:15.0	but across the way Joe Johnston had plans of his own and they didn't include staying put at
1:20.4	Yorktown to be pounded by the big federal guns. After a few delays, Johnston ordered his army to
1:27.0	withdraw from their positions on the night of May 3rd. To cover the withdrawal, Johnston ordered a
1:32.9	massive artillery barrage of his own. Under the distraction of these impressive fireworks, the
1:38.5	Confederate army quietly retreated. The rebels retreated up the peninsula toward the old colonial
1:45.2	capital Williamsburg about 12 miles away. Due to heavy rains that Confederate withdrawal from
1:51.3	Yorktown was extremely slow, hardly progressing one mile an hour. The roads were a muddy quagmire
1:58.2	and only made worse by the passage of the rebel infantry, wagons, and artillery. The Confederate
2:04.3	retreat by the way of the Yorktown Road and the Lee's Mill Road made the Union pursuit over
2:09.4	these same routes and even more arduous undertaking. On Sunday, May 4th, however, the advanced
2:15.8	guard of Union Cavalry, commanded by Brigadier General George Stoneman, caught up to and threatened
2:21.5	the Confederate rear guard. The Confederate rear guard consisted of Jeb Stewart's cavalry
2:27.7	and laid in the afternoon of the fourth, there was some sharp skirmishing between Stewart's
	...

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