George B. Anderson

For the other Civil War general with a similar name, see George T. Anderson.

George Burgwyn Anderson
April 21, 1831(1831-04-21) �?? October 16, 1862 (aged 31)
George Burgwyn Anderson photo taken in 1862
Place of birth	Orange County, North Carolina
Place of death	Raleigh, North Carolina
Place of burial	Historic Oakwood Cemetery Raleigh, North Carolina
Allegiance	United States of America Confederate States of America
Service/branch	United States Army Cavalry Confederate States Army Infantry
Years of service	1852-1861 (USA) 1861�??62 (CSA)
Rank	First Lieutenant (USA) Brigadier General (CSA)
Battles/wars	Utah War American Civil War Battle of Williamsburg Seven Days Battles Battle of Malvern Hill Battle of South Mountain Battle of Antietam

George Burgwyn Anderson (April 12, 1831 �?? October 16, 1862) was a career military officer, serving first in the antebellum U.S. Army and then dying from wounds inflicted during the American Civil War while a general officer in the Confederate Army. He was among six generals killed or mortally wounded at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862.

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Early life

George B. Anderson, the oldest son of plantation owner William E. Anderson and his wife Frances Eliza Burgwyn, was born near Hillsboro, North Carolina. Anderson was the second cousin of Col. Henry K. Burgwyn of the 26th North Carolina. He entered the Caldwell Institute, where he graduated at the top of his class. While attending the University of North Carolina, he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy and graduated tenth of forty-three cadets in the Class of 1852. He was brevetted as a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons and trained at the cavalry school at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.[1] Anderson was promoted to second lieutenant on March 21, 1854.[2]

Military career and marriage

Following his training, Anderson was sent to California to assist in the survey of a proposed railroad route before joining his regiment at Fort Chadbourne in Texas. On December 13, 1855, he was promoted to first lieutenant.[2] He commanded his cavalry troop in the march from Texas across the plains to Fort Riley, Kansas. In 1858, he was the adjutant of the regiment while serving in the Utah Territory during the Utah War. In 1859, he was ordered to Louisville, Kentucky, for duty as a recruiting officer. There, he met and married Mildred Ewing. He also served another stint as Adjutant from August 1858 to September 1859.[2]

Civil War service

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Anderson resigned his U.S. Army commission on April 25, 1861 and returned home. The Governor of North Carolina, John Willis Ellis, appointed him as colonel of the 4th North Carolina Infantry on July 16. Anderson capably led his regiment at the Battle of Williamsburg in May 1862 and was rewarded a month later with a promotion to brigadier general on June 9.[2] He was assigned command of a brigade in Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill's division, fighting at the Seven Days Battles and Malvern Hill, where he was wounded in the hand during the Confederate assault. While recovering, he was part of the defenses around Richmond, Virginia in July 1862, serving in the 4th Brigade of Maj. Gen. G.W. Smith's Division.[2]

Maryland Campaign and death

Now able to return to active duty, Anderson resumed his brigade command in time for the Maryland Campaign. He fought at the Battle of South Mountain before marching into the Cumberland Valley to Sharpsburg, Maryland, as the Army of Northern Virginia concentrated. During the subsequent Battle of Antietam, Anderson's veteran North Carolinians defended a portion of the Sunken Road (known as "Bloody Lane") against repeated Union attacks. A Minié ball struck Anderson near his ankle, injuring it badly. Anderson was transported to Shepherdstown and then by wagon up the Shenandoah Valley to Staunton, Virginia, to recuperate. He was eventually shipped by train to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he died following surgery to amputate the infected foot.[2]

Anderson is buried in Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh.[2]

See also

List of American Civil War generals

References

Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
Evans, Clement A., Confederate Military History, Vol. III, Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899.
Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.

External links

National Park Service brief bio of Anderson
Anderson biography
George B. Anderson at Find A Grave Retrieved on 2008-02-13

Persondata
NAME	Anderson, George B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Confederate Army general
DATE OF BIRTH	April 12, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH	Orange County, North Carolina
DATE OF DEATH	October 16, 1862
PLACE OF DEATH	Raleigh, North Carolina

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_B._Anderson"Categories: Confederate Army generals | American military personnel killed in the American

Seven Days Battle

Seven Days Battles

Part of the American Civil War

McClellan and Lee of the Seven Days

Date	June 25 �?? July 1, 1862
Location	Henrico County, Virginia
Result	Confederate victory

Belligerents

United States of America

Confederate States of America

Commanders

George B. McClellan

Robert E. Lee

Strength

104,100[1]

92,000[2]

Casualties and losses

15,855 (1,734 killed
8,066 wounded
6,055 missing/captured)[3]

20,204 (3,494 killed
15,758 wounded
952 missing/captured)[4]

[show] v �?� d �?� e Peninsula Campaign

Hampton Roads �?? Yorktown �?? Williamsburg �?? Eltham's Landing �?? Drewry's Bluff �?? Hanover Court House �?? Seven Pines �?? Seven Days Battles (Oak Grove �?? Beaver Dam Creek �?? Gaines' Mill �?? Garnett's & Golding's Farm �?? Savage's Station �?? White Oak Swamp �?? Glendale �?? Malvern Hill)

The Seven Days Battles was a series of six major battles over the seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, away from Richmond and into a retreat down the Virginia Peninsula. The series of battles is sometimes known erroneously as the Seven Days Campaign, but it was actually the culmination of the Peninsula Campaign, not a separate campaign in its own right.

The Seven Days began on June 25, 1862, with a Union attack in the minor Battle of Oak Grove, but McClellan quickly lost the initiative as Lee began a series of attacks at Beaver Dam Creek (Mechanicsville) on June 26, Gaines' Mill on June 27, the minor actions at Garnett's and Golding's Farm on June 27 and June 28, and the attack on the Union rear guard at Savage's Station on June 29. McClellan's Army of the Potomac continued its retreat toward the safety of Harrison's Landing on the James River. Lee's final opportunity to intercept the Union Army was at the Battle of Glendale on June 30, but poorly executed orders allowed his enemy to escape to a strong defensive position on Malvern Hill. At the Battle of Malvern Hill on July 1, Lee launched futile frontal assaults and suffered heavy casualties in the face of strong infantry and artillery defenses.

The Seven Days ended with McClellan's army in relative safety next to the James River, having suffered almost 16,000 casualties during the retreat. Lee's army, which had been on the offensive during the Seven Days, lost over 20,000. As Lee became convinced that McClellan would not resume his threat against Richmond, he moved north for the Northern Virginia Campaign and the Maryland Campaign.

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Start of the Peninsula Campaign

Map of events during the Peninsula Campaign to the Battle of Seven Pines.

The Peninsula Campaign was the unsuccessful attempt by McClellan to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond and end the war. It started in March 1862, when McClellan landed his army at Fort Monroe and moved northwest, up the Virginia Peninsula beginning in early April. Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Magruder's defensive position on the Warwick Line caught McClellan by surprise. His hopes for a quick advance foiled, McClellan ordered his army to prepare for a siege of Yorktown. Just before the siege preparations were completed, the Confederates, now under the direct command of Johnston, began a withdrawal toward Richmond. The first heavy fighting of the campaign occurred in the Battle of Williamsburg (May 5), in which the Union troops managed some tactical victories, but the Confederates continued their withdrawal. An amphibious flanking movement to Eltham's Landing (May 7) was ineffective in cutting off the Confederate retreat. In the Battle of Drewry's Bluff (May 15), an attempt by the United States Navy to reach Richmond by way of the James River was repulsed.[5]

As McClellan's army reached the outskirts of Richmond, a minor battle occurred at Hanover Court House (May 27), but it was followed by a surprise attack by Johnston at the Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks on May 31 and June 1. The battle was inconclusive, with heavy casualties, but it had lasting effects on the campaign. Johnston was wounded and replaced on June 1 by the more aggressive Robert E. Lee. Lee spent almost a month extending his defensive lines and organizing his Army of Northern Virginia; McClellan accommodated this by sitting passively to his front, waiting for dry weather and roads, until the start of the Seven Days. Lee, who had developed a reputation for caution early in the war, knew he had no numerical superiority over McClellan, but he planned an offensive campaign that marked the aggressive nature by which he was characterized for the remainder of the war.[6]

Opposing forces

Further information: Seven Days Confederate order of battle, Seven Days Union order of battle

The armies that fought in the Seven Days Battles comprised almost 200,000 men, which offered the potential for the largest battles of the war. However, the inexperience or caution of the generals involved usually prevented the appropriate concentration of forces and mass necessary for decisive tactical victories.

Union

Union corps commanders

Brig. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner	Brig. Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman	Brig. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes
Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter	Brig. Gen. William B. Franklin

McClellan's Army of the Potomac, with approximately 104,000 men,[1] was organized largely as it had been at Seven Pines.[7]

II Corps, Brig. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner commanding: divisions of Brig. Gens. Israel B. Richardson and John Sedgwick.
III Corps, Brig. Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman commanding: divisions of Brig. Gens. Joseph Hooker and Philip Kearny.
IV Corps, Brig. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes commanding: divisions of Brig. Gens. Darius N. Couch and John J. Peck.
V Corps, Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter commanding: divisions of Brig. Gens. George W. Morell, George Sykes, and George A. McCall.
VI Corps, Brig. Gen. William B. Franklin commanding: divisions of Brig. Gens. Henry W. Slocum and William F. "Baldy" Smith.
Reserve forces included the cavalry reserve under Brig. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke (Jeb Stuart's father-in-law) and the supply base at White House Landing under Brig. Gen. Silas Casey.

Confederate

Confederate commanders

Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson	Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill	Maj. Gen. James Longstreet
Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder	Maj. Gen. Benjamin Huger	Maj. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes

Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was larger than the one he inherited from Johnston, and, at about 92,000 men,[2] the largest Confederate army assembled during the war.[8]

Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, having just arrived from his victories in the Valley Campaign, commanded a force consisting of his own division (now commanded by Brig. Gen. Charles S. Winder) and those of Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, Brig. Gen. William H. C. Whiting, and Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill.
Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill's "Light Division" (which was so named because it traveled light and was able to maneuver and strike quickly) consisted of the brigades of Brig. Gens. Charles W. Field, Maxcy Gregg, Joseph R. Anderson, Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, James J. Archer, and William Dorsey Pender.
Maj. Gen. James Longstreet's division consisted of the brigades of Brig. Gens. James L. Kemper, Richard H. Anderson, George E. Pickett, Cadmus M. Wilcox, Roger A. Pryor, and Winfield Scott Featherston. Longstreet also had operational command over Hill's Light Division.
Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder commanded the divisions of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws, Brig. Gen. David R. Jones, and Magruder's own division, commanded by Brig. Gen. Howell Cobb.
Maj. Gen. Benjamin Huger's division consisted of the brigades of Brig. Gens. William Mahone, Ambrose R. Wright, Lewis A. Armistead, and Robert Ransom, Jr.
Maj. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes's division consisted of the brigades of Brig. Gens. Junius Daniel, John G. Walker, Henry A. Wise, and the cavalry brigade of Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart.

Planning for offensives

Lee's initial attack plan, similar to Johnston's plan at Seven Pines, was complex and required expert coordination and execution by all of his subordinates, but Lee knew that he could not win in a battle of attrition or siege against the Union Army. It was developed at a meeting on June 23. The Union Army straddled the rain-swollen Chickahominy River, with the bulk of the army, four corps, arrayed in a semicircular line south of the river. The remainder, the V Corps under Brig. Gen. Fitz John Porter, was north of the river near Mechanicsville in an L-shaped line facing north-south behind Beaver Dam Creek and southeast along the Chickahominy. Lee's plan was to cross the Chickahominy with the bulk of his army to attack the Union north flank, leaving only two divisions (under Maj. Gens. Benjamin Huger and John B. Magruder) to hold a line of entrenchments against McClellan's superior strength. This would concentrate about 65,500 troops to oppose 30,000, leaving only 25,000 to protect Richmond and to contain the other 60,000 men of the Union Army. The Confederate cavalry under Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart had reconnoitered Porter's right flank (as part of a daring, although militarily pointless, circumnavigation of the entire Union Army from June 12 to June 15) and found it vulnerable.[9]

Lee intended for Jackson to attack Porter's right flank early on the morning of June 26, and A.P. Hill would move from Meadow Bridge to Beaver Dam Creek, which flows into the Chickahominy, advancing on the Federal trenches. (Lee hoped that Porter would evacuate his trenches under pressure, obviating the need for a direct frontal assault.) Following this, Longstreet and D.H. Hill would pass through Mechanicsville and join the battle. Huger and Magruder would provide diversions on their fronts to distract McClellan as to Lee's real intentions. Lee hoped that Porter would be overwhelmed from two sides by the mass of 65,000 men, and the two leading Confederate divisions would move on Cold Harbor and cut McClellan's communications with White House Landing.[10]

McClellan also planned an offensive. He had received intelligence that Lee was prepared to move and that the arrival of Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's force from the Shenandoah Valley was imminent. (McClellan was aware of Jackson's presence at Ashland Station, but did nothing to reinforce Porter's vulnerable corps north of the river.)[11] He decided to resume the offensive before Lee could. Anticipating Jackson's reinforcements marching from the north, he increased cavalry patrols on likely avenues of approach. He wanted to advance his siege artillery about a mile and a half closer to the city by taking the high ground on Nine Mile Road around Old Tavern. In preparation for that, he planned an attack on Oak Grove, south of Old Tavern and the Richmond and York River Railroad, which would position his men to attack Old Tavern from two directions.[12]

The Seven Days

Seven Days Battles, June 26�??27, 1862.

Oak Grove

Further information: Battle of Oak Grove

McClellan planned to advance to the west, along the axis of the Williamsburg Road, in the direction of Richmond. Between the two armies was a small, dense forest, 1,200 yards wide, bisected by the headwaters of White Oak Swamp. Two divisions of the III Corps were selected for the assault, commanded by Brig. Gens. Joseph Hooker and Philip Kearny. Facing them was the division of Confederate Maj. Gen. Benjamin Huger.[13]

Soon after 8 a.m., June 25, the Union brigades of Brig. Gens. Daniel E. Sickles (the Excelsior Brigade), Cuvier Grover, both of Hooker's division, and John C. Robinson stepped off. Although Robinson and Grover made good progress on the left and in the center, Sickles's New Yorkers encountered difficulties moving through their abatis, then through the upper portions of the swamp, and finally met stiff Confederate resistance, all of which threw the Federal line out of alignment. Huger took advantage of the confusion by launching a counterattack with the brigade of Brig. Gen. Ambrose R. Wright against Grover's brigade. At a crucial moment in the battle, the 25th North Carolina of Brig. Gen. Robert Ransom's brigade, in their first combat engagement, delivered a perfectly synchronized volley of rifle fire against Sickles's brigade, breaking up its delayed attack and sending the 71st New York into a panicked retreat, which Sickles described as "disgraceful confusion."[14]

Heintzelman ordered reinforcements sent forward and also notified army commander McClellan, who was attempting to manage the battle by telegraph from 3 miles away. McClellan ordered his men to withdraw back to their entrenchments, mystifying his subordinates on the scene. Arriving at the front at 1 p.m., seeing that the situation was not as bad as he had feared, McClellan ordered his men forward to retake the ground for which they had already fought once that day. The fighting lasted until nightfall.[15]

The minor battle was McClellan's only tactical offensive action against Richmond. His attack gained only 600 yards at a cost of over 1,000 casualties on both sides and was not strong enough to derail the offensive planned by Robert E. Lee, which already had been set in motion.[16]

Beaver Dam Creek (Mechanicsville)

Anderson, George Burgwyn, GEN