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[119] White House, to which supplies were brought by water, and the columns moved forward on the line of the York River and Richmond Railroad; which, repaired as the army proceeded, became its line of communication with the base at White House. Thus the divisions advanced till they reached the Chickahominy, and by the 21st they were posted in echelon along the left or north bank of that stream, destined soon to become the scene of stirring events.1 The consummate strategist that had directed the skilful withdrawal from Yorktown and checked the advance of the Union columns at Williamsburg now proceeded to gather the Confederate forces around the lines of Richmond. In the exposition I have already given of Johnston's plan of operations to meet the advance of the Union army against Richmond, it has been indicated that it was his fixed purpose to refuse battle until his opponent should approach that city. Having now retired behind the line of the Chickahominy, he proceeded to urge upon the Richmond administration the policy of an immediate concentration of all available forces at that point, as affording the best means for a true defence of Richmond by a vigorous assumption of the offensive at the proper moment. Johnston found fully as much difficulty in impressing his views upon the cabinet at Richmond, as Me-
1 It will thus appear that it required two weeks for the march of fifty miles from White House to the Chickahominy. Regarded as a pursuit of the enemy, this was certainly tardy. But the nature of McClellan's operation can hardly be so defined. His ultimate aim was directed against Richmond, and he expected that McDowell's corps would make a junction with him. His operations were necessarily of a somewhat methodical character, and he was forced to open up a new base, and form depots of supplies. Besides, the roads were bad Beyond all precedent. This tardiness has not escaped the censure of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, who, without admitting any mitigating circumstances, thus deliver verdict: βThe distance between Williamsburg and the line of operations on the Chickahominy was from forty to fifty miles, and the army was about two weeks in moving that distance.β (Report on the Conduct of the War, vol. i, p. 20.) But perhaps military men may be disposed to dispute the justness of the judgment of a body of strategists with whom the Chickahominy figures as a βline of operations!β
1866.
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