Battle of Glendale, June 30th, 1862
Map by [HWK]Stone
The Battle
of Glendale
(also known as Frayser�s Farm or White
Oak
Swamp)
was an unsuccessful Confederate assault during the Seven Days� Battles. Having
been attacked north of the Chickahominy (Battle of Mechanicsville, 26 June),
General McClellan, the Union commander, decided to move his base south to the
James River, where he felt his supply lines would be more secure. This left the
Union army vulnerable whilst they made their move.
On
the second day of the Union move, Lee sought to take advantage of this
vulnerability and attempted to arrange a two pronged attack on the Federal
rearguard at Savages Station. However, the next day he planned a much more
ambitious seven pronged attack to take place near the village
of Glendale.
The profusion of names for this battle shows just how scattered the eventual
fighting actually was.
Once again Stonewall Jackson failed to make any
contribution to the battle, this time stopping to build a bridge over a creek.
Only two of the seven planned attacks went in (Longstreet�s and A. P. Hill�s),
resulting in a battle between five Union
and two Confederate divisions. As one would expect, the result was a
Confederate defeat. The Confederates lost twice as many men as the Federals,
suffering 3,500 casualties.
June 30th was the last day of the great move. On the
following day McClellan�s men reached the James
River, and were able to take up a much stronger
position. Lee had succeeded in pushing them away from Richmond as he intended,
however he still wanted to inflict a major defeat on the Union army. On July 1st,
he launched a final futile attack on the Union position on Malvern Hill.
The Map
The
divisions of several prominent Confederate commanders (red) are on the attack
here and the Union
must do their utmost to hold them back. Though at a slight numerical
disadvantage, the Federals have topography in their favor.� Navigating the White Oak Swamp in the north
as well as several of the rivers will be tricky for the Confederate attackers
and with few crossings, these rivers provide flank protection, forcing any
major Confederate attack to come through the Union center. There are no map
objectives or rules, and no up-grades or building allowed. ��