CHAPTER III.
IN Virginia, Gen. George B. McClellan had been placed in command of the great army which he had fully organized, and his headquarters had been established at Fort Monroe early in April, preparatory to his advance upon Richmond by way of the James river and the peninsula. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston commanded the Confederate army for the defense of Richmond, with head quarters at Yorktown, April 17th. Holding Yorktown and the line which ran across the peninsula to the War wick, until the 4th of May, Johnston retired from Williamsburg. His army, about 53,000 strong, was opposed by McClellan s splendidly equipped and organized army, estimated by General Johnston at 133,000. It was Johnston’s intention to fall back slowly on the defenses of Richmond, and then, being joined by the division of Huger from Norfolk, and other reinforcements which he expected the Confederate government would order to his army, to give McClellan battle in front of those defenses on more equal terms.
Johnston s army at that time was composed of the divisions of Magruder (commanded by D. R. Jones), Longstreet, D. H. Hill and G. W. Smith. Magruder and Smith had passed beyond Williamsburg on the march to Richmond, and Hill, encumbered with the trains and baggage, was also moving beyond that point, on the afternoon of the 4th, when Longstreet’s rear
