Federal artillery at Yorktown
On April 4, 1862 General George McClellan and his huge Union Army of the Potomac set out from Fortress Monroe for Richmond. By April 7th the army had made it to the Warwick River and the Yorktown area (approximately 25 miles from the Fortress), where there was a line of Confederate fortifications. Since then the Union troops were settling down into siege-mode except for a few relatively minor altercations. 150 years ago today President Lincoln telegraphed General McClellan to try to get the army moving on toward Richmond.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL McCLELLAN
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, MAY 1, 1862
MAJOR-GENERAL McCLELLAN:
Your call for Parrott guns from Washington alarms me, chiefly because it argues indefinite procrastination. Is anything to be done?
A. LINCOLN.
One place you can read President Lincoln’s writings is at Project Gutenberg.
Yorktown 1862
