McClellan's Gambit

The American Civil War

The fighting between the North and the South intensifies as the new Union commander, General George McClellan, launches his powerful, two-pronged offensive into Virginia, in a bid to cut Confederate-occupied Washington from the Alexandria-Orange railroad, the supply lifeline of General Robert E. Lee occupying the American capital city.

McClellan has devised a pincer strategy that unfolds on March 27th, 1862, with a 90,000-strong landing in Fredericksburg and a 30,000-strong attack on the Manassas Gap from Western Maryland. As both sides scramble for the gigantic fight ahead, both Lee and McClellan reassess their position, as the Southern commander decides to move the bulk of his troops southward to confront his Northern nemesis, now attempting to outflank him.

In the West, General Albert Sidney Johnston reassess his position and his strategy. Grant's successful capture of both forts Henry and Donelson) forces him to move south and to evacuate Kentucky, along with northern Tennessee. He now sits in Corinth, in Western Mississippi, husbanding, concentrating his strength and thinking of offense. The Confederate General is not in Corinth to rest, and he doesn't feel defeated in any way. He prepares to strike Grant in an offensive that promises to be powerful, and the two opposing forces will soon meet at Shiloh.

Meanwhile, the wheels of European diplomacy turn, with French Emperor Napoleon III's Mexican invasion and his increasingly probable intervention on behalf of the South taking shape. Britain, still neutral and wary of the Union's dismal performance since the start of the war, watches from the sidelines as it hesitates.

This is the story of the American Civil War as it might have been.