CONTRASTS IN COMMAND: The Battle of Fair Oaks -- May 31 - June 1, 1862

1-240990

This first major combat in the Eastern Theater since Bull Run (Manassas) almost a year earlier left more than 11,000 casualties in its wake and cost the primary Southern field army its commander. The possession of Richmond hung in its balance.

Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan marched his Army of the Potomac up the Virginia Peninsula during the early spring of 1862 and placed his inexperienced IV Corps at the tip of the spear south of the flood-prone Chickahominy River. McClellan's opponent Joe Johnston took the opportunity to strike and crafted an overly complex attack plan for his Virginia army to crush the exposed corps. A series of bungled marches, piecemeal attacks, and a lack of assertive leadership doomed the Southern plan. One of the wounded late in the day on May 31 was Johnston, whose injury led to the appointment of Robert E. Lee to take his place -- a decision that changed the course of the entire Civil War.