Hey everyone, welcome to the 160th episode of our Civil War podcast.

My name is Rich.

And I'm Tracy.

Hello y'all.

Thanks for tuning into the podcast.

As y'all recall last week, we set the stage for the Battle of Gainesville, which took

place on Friday, June 27th, 1862.

Gainesville will be the third battle of the Seven Days campaign following the battles

of Oak Grove and Mechanicsville.

The Battle of Mechanicsville on Thursday, June 26th, had been a badly bungled affair by

the Confederates.

But, to borrow a phrase from Nathan Bedford Forest, it was enough to put the skier into

George B. McClellan.

With the Battle of Mechanicsville, Robert E. Lee sees the initiative from McClellan, not

because the fighting that day resulted in a great battlefield victory for the rebels.

It didn't, but Robert E. Lee sees the initiative from McClellan because, well, because George

McClellan was George McClellan, and purely by the fact Lee threw an offensive punch,

Little Mac that night took counsel of his fears and allowed himself to be defeated in his

own mind.

And having thus surrendered the initiative to Lee, McClellan would spend the rest of the

Seven Days campaign simply trying to save his army from the hammer blows that the Confederate

commander continued to reign upon it.

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