At the behest of Stanton and Lincoln one of Halleck's first chores as the newly appointed General-in-Chief of the Union Armies was to visit McClellan at Harrison's Landing on the James River and ascertain if that General had plans to renew his offensive on the Peninsula. If so, Lincoln was ready to give McClellan 20,000 extra men: if not, the troops would go to Pope! This was the culmination of almost a full month of prodding and inquiry on the part of Washington to renew the offensive against Richmond, a month in which McClellan obfuscated and pleaded for reinforcements for the Army of the Potomac. But when Halleck arrived at the end of the month McClellan had apparantly put together something of a scheme to take his army across the James and strike for Petersburg. When queried by Halleck if he felt the plan would succeed, McClellan qualified his answer by stating that he would require at least an additional 30,000 more men to stand a chance. That was not the answer Halleck, Stanton and Lincoln wanted to hear.
Halleck returned to Washington, the plug was pulled on "Little Mac," and he was ordered to embark his troops to join Pope north of the Rappahannock.
But what if McClellan had found his sand, convinced Lincoln and Halleck that the 20,000 additional troops would suit him just fine, promptly spanned the James as Grant did in 1864 and headed southwest for Petersburg? Such a move, theoretically, could not possibly have been effected until mid-August, by which time the Battle of Cedar Mountain had been fought and Lee's entire army, minus 25,000 troops left to guard Richmond, had begun moving north to take up positions on the Rapidan in a prelude to attack Pope's main army.
What do you think might have happened?
_________________ General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC Union Army Chief of Staff Commander, Army of the Shenandoah Commander, Army of the Tennessee (2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)
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